Apple Inc. said on Thursday its iPhone soon will support corporate e-mail, targeting a new market and challenging the dominance of Research In Motion Ltd's popular Blackberry devices.

Apple also said it will roll out tools for developers to create software for the iPhone, news that was accompanied by a pledge from legendary venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers to set up a $100 million "iFund" to back iPhone software start-ups.

Apple will rejigger the iPhone in a sweeping effort to satisfy email-addicted business people, video game junkies, and third-party software developers who don't mind getting Apple's approval for their applications.

....Steve Jobs and company announced a Microsoft Exchange-friendly version of their handheld status symbol, before unveiling the long-awaited iPhone SDK and an "App Store" where you can purchase the fruits of this software developer's kit.

Due in June, the next version of the iPhone will make like BlackBerry, connecting directly to Microsoft's biz-centric server platform. This means Exchange will have the power to push emails, calendar items, and contacts onto the phone. And that will make the folks at RIM very nervous.

Apple has used its formidable marketing machine to convince many pundits and fans that the iPhone soon will be ready for use in corporate America. But once the Apple-generated excitement fades, the computer maker will face a formidable challenge from BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion, a company with a lot more credibility in business.

"If you think the iPhone is popular now, just wait," says: Computerworld's Seth Weintraub

...Sure, there's a hitch: Just like last year, when Apple unveiled the iPhone in January and then made would-be buyers wait six months to get their hands on it, everyone will have to wait until June for all the promised applications and advances to arrive.

But it will be well worth the wait....

Here's a look at just what that will be like....

One of the advantages Research in Motion's Blackberry has over Apple is the number of third-party developers writing applications for it: 650 as of last summer, according to RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis (link). Except the rogue developers writing unauthorized apps for jailbroken iPhones, there has been only one developer writing native apps for the iPhone: Apple. Everybody else has been making relatively slow, crippled web apps.

All that changed after the iPhone special event on Thursday. Not only did Apple announce that it was giving IT managers everything they'd asked for in an enterprise cellphone - from push e-mail to a kill pill for lost or stolen iPhones (see here) - it released a software developers kit (SDK) that gives third-party programmers the same tools Apple's inhouse programmers used to write the apps that come with the iPhone.

Freeverse Software has already posted a page on its Web site showing off its idea for games on the iPhone. These are more than just mockups - the company says it already has code up and running (though it declined to say just how it's made that happen, since Apple's Software Development Kit, or SDK, was only published on Thursday).

Last year, I described the iPhone as a new frontier for Mac developers, offering the promise of a clean skill transfer from Mac OS X development combined with the thrill of a completely new, uncharted world of user interface design. From the moment that giant "X" appeared on the screen during the iPhone introduction, Mac developers have been bursting with desire to get on this platform.

Yesterday's SDK announcement brought a year's worth of iPhone application fantasies to an explosive climax. (Sorry.) The technology and tools are better than most dared hope for in the first SDK release for a new platform: a simulator, a remote debugger, an impressive media stack, Interface Builder support—it's all there.

Research In Motion isn't taking Apple's move into the enterprise market it dominates without a fight. The company has confirmed plans to push back with the introduction of social networking and entertainment features.

Right....

RIM's in a fix. Apple's introduction of Exchange support means core Blackberry customers have a choice of devices, and with the iPhone offering extra value in terms of screen real estate, iPod and other sexy features, the Blackberry maker must struggle to preserve its market.

Gameloft announced that they will bring 15 of their games to the iPhone platform. Gameloft, as you may already know, has released some iPod games on iTunes already. Pocket Gamer has a mock up of what one of the games may look like....

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