Within just 4 days of Apple releasing a beta version of the software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone, the company claims they’ve already had an incredibly positive response with over 100,000 downloads. This is good news for iPhone owners since there will likely be more useful and fun applications available for the iPhone soon from third party developers.

Multiple development shops have already announced plans to offer applications for the iPhone with Gameloft being one of the most hyped with 15 games planned for the iPhone yet this year. Unfortunately, even though the SDK is out and Gameloft can get these games ready quickly, they won’t be available for download until the App Store opens in June.

If you’re not so excited about waiting that long you’re not alone. A group called the iPhone Dev Team have claimed that they have already hacked the iPhone 2.0 so that it can run any applications without needing a development key from Apple. This hack only only works on the illegal activations of the iPhone mind you, and not the legit plans from AT&T, but they did provide some “proof” with screen shots of the iPhone 2.0 firmware running unapproved applications. So, the volley that we thought might end when Apple released an actual SDK for the iPhone appears far from over and the hackers lobbed one back to Apple in very short order. We have to think that the more apps that become available will eventually lessen the demand for hacking the iPhone and may someday cut down on the hacks a little…maybe.

CNET