Appletell

Apple has now opened up its iPhone and iPod Touch developer program to areas outside of the United States.  Why does this matter?  Now, developers outside of the States can create official, Apple accepted apps that can be published in the App Store that is to come out with the new iPhone software in June.  All of this news comes from a TUAW reader who says he has been accepted into the program but lives in the UK.

This is great news not only for the developers who will now be able to create apps, but also for everyone who owns an iPod Touch or iPhone.  This creates a potential for hundreds of more apps created by the large population of Apple developers outside of the States.  I’ve said it before, the SDK announcement is going to be huge, and I have a feeling the App Store is going to be filled with hundreds of goodies to waste some time trying out and using.  The usefulness of the iPhone will skyrocket with third party apps, and I can’t wait.  Are you excited?

Apple has begun to reject applicants to the iPhone Developer Program through an e-mail that they have sent out to a massive number of developers who applied recently. The news does not come as quite a shock since Apple initially announced that only a “limited number of developers will be accepted into Apple’s new iPhone Developer Program.” Unlucky applicants will have received the following e-mail from Apple shortly after applying:

Dear Registered iPhone Developer,
Thank you for expressing interest in the iPhone Developer Program. We have received your enrollment request. At this time, the iPhone Developer Program is available to a limited number of developers and we plan to expand the program during the course of the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time. Thank you for applying.

Best regards,
iPhone Developer Program.

The recent rejections from Apple may be due to the fact that the iPhone SDK has been downloaded over 100,000 times already, and the iPhone Developer Program may be becoming overcrowded with developers.