iPhone gets full Exchange support, SDK available, iFund set up for budding application developers

Apple has finally announced two major pieces of news that should be music to the ears of applications developers and business users.

At an iPhone Special Event held at Apple HQ in Cupertino yesterday, Steve Jobs and co. unveiled the iPhone 2.0 beta software and Software Development Kit.

Due for full release in June, the iPhone 2.0 software will feature full, direct integration with Microsoft Exchange Server using ActiveSync, providing services such as secure, over-the-air push email, contacts and calendars as well as remote wipe, and the addition of Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to private corporate networks.

iPhone Software Development Kit coming March 6th?

Apple has called a special event at its Cupertino headquarters next Thursday, 6th March, to discuss the current state of the iPhone and its future.

It’s widely believed that Apple will use this time to launch — or at least provide a decent information update — on the Software Development Kit (SDK). Steve Jobs had originally said that this software, which will allow third-party applications to natively (and officially) run on the iPhone, would be available this month. However, that date slipped.