By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 03:00 PM EST

Apple on Thursday released a new version of its iPhone software developers kit (SDK) that allows third parties to develop applications for the iPhone and iPod touch digital media player.

"The second beta version of the iPhone SDK includes Interface Builder, Xcode IDE, Instruments, iPhone simulator, frameworks and samples, compilers, and Shark analysis tool," the company said on its iPhone developer website.

Thus far, the most significant changes appear to be the inclusion of a version of Interface Builder tailored specifically for the iPhone, as well as beta 2 of Apple's proprietary Xcode 3.1 integrated developer environment (IDE), which also serves as the primary IDE for Mac OS X-based application development.

For those unaware, Apple describes Interface Builder as an application for designing and testing user interfaces.

"Developers can use Interface Builder to create user interfaces that follow the Mac OS X human-interface guidelines by dragging user-interface elements from a palette of predefined controls and dropping them into the window or view they are configuring," the company says. "Interface Builder works closely with Xcode to provide a development experience that facilitates the concurrent but specialized development of an application's user interface and business logic."



The initial beta version of the iPhone SDK was released three weeks ago. It saw over 100,000 downloads from prospective developers and curious enthusiasts in its first four days.

Apple plans to release a finalized version of the SDK, along with iPhone software v2.0, in the June timeframe.