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Apple has ramped up the pressure on RIM, the BlackBerry maker, by announcingthat the iPhone will now be able to link up with corporate e-mail systems,making it more attractive to business customers.
Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, also made a bid to widen the iPhone'sappeal by allowing software developers to write applications for the device,meaning that owners will have a broader range of features to choose from.
Until now, many businesses have shied away from giving their executivesiPhones because the device did not synchronise with the Microsoft's widelyused e-mail program, Exchange, as the BlackBerry device does.
Mr Jobs said that the new business features, which also include enhancedsecurity such as the ability to lock the device remotely in the event oftheft, would be added in June, and would be available as a free softwareupgrade to existing owners.
Apple also made a bid to turn the iPhone into a platform for third partyapplications by releasing a software kit that will enable developers towrite programs for the device. For $99, developers will be able to downloadsoftware that will let them write anything from games to financialapplications that iPhones owners can in turn install on their devices.
So far, iPhones have only been able to run a limited number of applicationsdeveloped by Apple.
"We're very excited about this," Mr Jobs saidat an event in Cupertino, California. "“We think a lot of people,after understanding where we are going, are going to want to become aniPhone developer.”
The new applications will be available exlusively to iPhone users through anonline shop called 'Apps Store'. Apple said it would keep 30 per cent of thesale price, and would also retain the right to reject applications thatincluded inappropriate elements, such as pornography.
Sega, the game manufacturer, and AOL, the internet portal, are among thecompanies who have already created applications for the iPhone using Apple'snew software kit.
John Doerr, the venture capitalist, also announced that his firm, KleinerPerkins Caufield & Byers, would establish a $100 million fundspecifically to support iPhone developers.
"The potential for iPhone is huge," Mr Doerr said, adding that thefund - called the iFund - was the largest his company had created for asingle technology.
Separately, the BBC announced today that the iPlayer, which allows viewers tostream or download BBC shows from the internet, was now available on theiPhone.
The BBC's head of digital media technologies, Anthony Rose, said that Apple'sdevice had been chosen because it was the "most optimised" of thecurrent handsets for high quality video, but that the iPlayer would soonbecome available on other phones, including Nokia's N95.
The iPhone and the iPod touch needed to be connected to wi-fi networks inorder to stream or download programs using the iPlayer, Mr Rose said.