iPhone to open up to third party developers?

There has been much hand wringing over whether or not Apple's iPhone will be open to third party application developers and what's at stake for the little phone that could. Well, it appears that Apple fanboys aren't the only ones who have been doing some serious thinking on the matter: one Mr. Steve Jobs recently said in a shareholders meeting that the company "is wrestling with" the decision that it apparently made to keep the phone closed to third parties. Clearly opening up the iPhone would allow for a much wider range of applications and utilities but conceivably, it could also introduce factors into the platform that would reduce stability and performance.

In other iPhone "non-news," West Texas A&M University president Dr. J. Patrick O'Brien has become the first consumer to lay his grubby hands on the iPhone. At the University's commencement ceremony, AT&T CEO Stan Sigman publicly gifted the much-coveted device to O'Brien. Keep your fingers crossed that it shows up on eBay.

For more on third party apps on the iPhone:
- see this TUAW post

For more on the first public iPhone gift:
- see this video