I stop looking at Google Reader for a couple of days, and my speculations come true.
Apple will be releasing a software development kit for the iPhone in February.
Quoting Steve Jobs:
Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.
More here:
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/