Folks around web are commenting on last Thursday’s announcement of the iPhone SDK. Here’s what they’re saying…

iPhone SDK: Was it worth the wait?

“Worth the wait? Well, there’s a little longer to go yet – Software Update 2.0, which includes all this goodness, isn’t released until June. But on first impressions, and until we hear from actual developers as to how easy it really is to work with Apple, the answer seems to be yes.” — Chris Davies, PHONE Magazine

Every other tech company is dead in the water

“Seriously, folks, it’s game over. This announcement today is as big as the announcement of the original Macintosh in 1984. At airports all around the world they put flights on hold so that people could stay in the terminal and watch the news as it was announced. In Canada they declared a national day of mourning for RIM. It’s that huge.” — Fake Steve Jobs

Thanks for listening, for once

“Overall, this was one of the most “we get it” Apple announcements I can recall… Apple clearly understood how the iPhone has been used by those of use who are running the unapproved third party apps, and it has done its best to make the process work just the same with the official applications.” — Rob Griffiths, Macworld

Consumers first, businesses later

“Despite sitting out the first few years, Apple has arguably vaulted ahead of its competition in just 12 months. The other players in this industry came into smartphones building them for businesspeople and their IT masters. Then they tried to woo the consumer. Apple has done the complete opposite.” — Tom Krazit, CNet

We’re loving this Singapore metaphor

“Think of Apple as the Singapore of the technology world. It is impeccably clean, very functional, supportive of capitalism — and ruthless with miscreants… Now as you walk down the airplane aisle, you will not only see people watching and listening to their iPhones, you’ll see them wiggling and shaking them too. Just don’t wiggle anything Steve Jobs doesn’t approve of.” — Saul Hansell, The New York Times

But when will it go 3G?

“Another press event, another 3G iPhone no-show. Man, just think how nice it would be to have a brand spankin’ new HSDPA capable iPhone for downloading all those fancy new apps… Will that all change in June with the launch of the 2.0 firmware? That’s what the rumor mill says.” — Thomas Ricker, Engadget

Watch out Treo, Blackberry

“Is this big? Well, it will certainly help the iPhone win business customers, and it will mean that Blackberrys and Treos will have to get a whole lot better or they’re going to lose sales to Apple.”
— Kevin Maney, Tech Observer

It’s not perfect: no background IM or RSS-ing

“Only one third-party app can run at a time and it will quit when you answer a call or generally leave the app… This is a big suck.” — John Biggs, Crunchgear

It’s a short leash, but at least the consumer can go for a walk

“The plugin limitations means you aren’t going to see Mobile Firefox on the iPhone (or if you do it will have to be severely crippled) and there aren’t going to be any web service clients listening for and broadcasting updates. Still, the new iPhone SDK looks to be a win for users, if only because something, however limited, is better than nothing.” — Scott Gilbertson, Wired

Jobs’s hand was forced by Android

“I’ve been skeptical that Apple would do the right thing here. Last year, it didn’t treat third-party apps — created without Apple’s approval — very kindly when it issued an iPhone software update… it seems reasonable to guess that Google’s entry into the phone market helped prompt Jobs’ change of tune.” — Farhad Manjoo, Salon

[Via dvice]