Yes, you read that right. Steve Jobs has announced just a few hours ago that Apple plans on releasing an SDK on February that will allow programmers to legitimately create 3rd party applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc.

I thought this would happen sooner or later, and I was also pretty sure that the reason why we didn’t have an SDK already was because of the reason above. Now I have Steve’s words to back me up, and now I’m absolutely certain that Apple will be able to reach, if not exceed their goal of selling millions of iPhones in the coming months.