Apple could have prepared a great iPhone related surprise for its community of developers who will be attending the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) which is starting as soon as next week in San Fransisco.

According to a New York Times report [1], Apple could be readying a software developer kit (SDK) allowing anyone to make applications for the iPhone.

A person briefed on Apple’s plans said that at its software developer conference this month, Apple intends to announce that it will make it possible for developers of small programs written for the Macintosh to easily convert them to run on the iPhone, John Markoff writes for the New York Times.

When the press asked Apple executives if the company let third party developers to create software for the iPhone, Apple had answered that it prefered keeping the platform closed.

But questionned more recently again on the matter by Walt Mossberg during the "D: All Things Digital" conference, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs who was interviewed side to side with Microsoft's co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates, told that the company is studying possibilities to let third party software developers work on the device.

Such a move would be a great response to some competitors who told the iPhone was too much closed and wouldn't compete well in the businesses area.