I don’t have to tell you that iPhone application development is one of the hottest fields in the software industry. Many application developers are already earning hundreds (some even thousands) of dollars for their free and paid applications (through fees or ads). But it’s still not too late to join the party. iPhone 3.0 OS is upon us, and you can except the iPhone platform to grow even further. So if you are interested in learning how to write iPhone applications, now is the time to learn it.

Yesterday, I talked about the iPhone programming course that is being offered for free on iTunes. That’s certainly a good start. But you may find it to be too advanced or fast-paced for you. Thankfully, there are a few very good iPhone application development books that you can read to master the art of iPhone programming:

iPhone Developments for Beginners

iPhone Application Development for Dummies needs no introduction. It covers everything you need to know to get a solid iPhone programming foundation.

iPhone SDK Application Development: Building Applications for the AppStore is a solid iPhone SDK book that gets you started with iPhone programming.

Intermediate iPhone Programming

Programming in Objective-C 2.0 is a great book for those who are not that familiar with C programming. It shows you how to pull off some of those advanced apps.

The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook comes packed with sample iPhone applications that you can review and learn from. A book for those of you who like to be hands-on.

Advanced iPhone Programming:

Core Animation for Mac OS X and the iPhone shows you to write advanced iPhone applications and UIs and impress your customers.

There you have it. Getting started with iPhone development may look daunting, but the SDK is very easy to get a handle on. As long as you have a decent idea and know how to write code, there is no reason your apps can’t make it to the best sellers list on iTunes.

It was always going to be inevitable. Google is super ambitious and is aiming to achieve world domination. Apple is perhaps the most innovative tech company next to Google. Now with iPhone gaining momentum and Google entering the market with its android platform, it is going to be interesting to see who wins the battle of SDKs. Google thinks that it is winning the battle as they claim Google android allows developers to do more things that iPhone SDK.

To be honest, Google has been great at using open techniques to get domination in some markets, but going against Apple will be truly interesting as I believed both companies to be pretty much on the same side of battle against the Microsofts of this world. It will be interesting to see how Apple responds to Google claims!

Apple iPhone platform’s details were released today, and it seems we are due for the 2.0 take in June. An interesting fact is that Apple will charge developers $99 for the right to use the SDK to write applications for the iPhone. The $99 allows you list your software in the store, and Apple will take 30% cut! Well. This is the point that I usually come out and say something colorful about the greedy corporates, but I guess it’s all fair. Apple needs to get its return on investment, and charging poor developers left and right is one way to do it. Still, this should be no big deal. Read more iPhone details here.

Since the launch, which is basically 6 days ago, 100K SDK downloads have been completed. That’s an staggering number and shows how enthusiastic people are about the new iPhone SDK and the possibility of writing native applications for the Apple iPhone. I don’t know how many of these downloads are unique and how many people can actually find their way through Apple iPhone SDK, but it’s simply shows that there is a huge potential for the iPhone platform. Apple would definitely be better off if they keep more options open for the developer though.

I really think so until someone comes out and say otherwise. But it seems the very first App that is based on iPhone SDK was written by Erica. OK. It doesn’t do anything earth shattering (e.g. doesn’t make your iPhone a teleport device), but still is worth mentioning as it’s the first.