Apple planning iPhone "software road map" event March 6; sources say SDK complete

Apple distributed invitations this morning for "an iPhone software road map" event to take place on March 6th.

Apple's official software development kit (SDK) and associated components for the iPhone are complete and ready to ship, sources familiar with the matter have told iPhone Atlas. However, a series of legal hurdles -- potentially including patent approval delays -- have thus far stalled a release to developers.

At the time of the SDK's announcement in October, 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that the company was working on "an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone's amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs," and that the company planned to "have an SDK in developers' hands in February."

The event will take place as a "town hall" meeting in Cupertino. The invite also says the event will detail "some exciting new enterprise features," according to a report from our sister site News.com.

A number of developers of unofficial third-party applications have told us that they?re planning to leap into the Apple-sanctioned realm post-SDK, but there are undoubtedly those who are waiting to see a distribution framework and other specifics before investing in the platform.