Could anyone other than Apple get so many people so excited about a software development kit?

I doubt it.. I just wish people knew what the fuck it means.

No, haha. No other device has been this popular, and the method of distribution is a developer’s wet dream. They have DIRECT access to a customer and don’t have to really advertise or wait for word-of-mouth to get more users. It is stupid-easy for a customer to find your app – they just open App Store and find it through browsing!

Plus the power of the iPhone is exciting to developers. I myself have 3 ideas I want to get done, but the SDK is not compatible with my PPC PowerBook G4. /cry

I want a MacBook so badly…

Apple could whip people into a frenzy over a paperclip and the paperclip would cost $3.00 with a $1.99 fee to upgrade it so you can use it on different kinds of paper simultaneously. Then a few months after they release the paperclip, they come out with paperclip2 which can clip multiple kinds of paper and envelopes. Early adopters cry foul but buy paperclip2 anyway. Don’t get me started on the enterprise possibilities for paperclip2…

Nope!

Yes: facebook, Force.com (salesforce) and the release of .NET itself were all hugely anticipated. The Amazon AWS was a big splash in the dev world as well.

But I would contend that only the developer world was excited for those; Apple indirectly had the consumer world and enterprise world holding their breath as well. ;)

All Apple did was announce what they are doing. There’s no magical “Apple hype machine”, as the inadequate managers at Microsoft would have you believe. That’s a total cop-out. In fact, Apple says very little about its plans and products. The reason everything they do gets so much attention is because its so good. They are very good at releasing things (and actually shipping them) that are within their capabilities, fit most people’s needs, and are simple to use while being beautiful.

It’s the mystery that eats people – every time (almost) there’s a secret it delivers big…

So new secrets spur rumors and hype and excitement… and all Apple did was zip its lips.