Well, the iPhone SDK is slated to come out near the end of this month (I'm guessing the 26th). Just some conjecturing about some security things not present in the jailbreak. First, permissions. Nothing will be run as root. Nothing. Why? Because the iPhone user's password is set to null; the hash does not match anything. So, there will be no way to elevate to root on the iPhone? Partially correct. There will be no way to run a process as root on the iPhone, however folders with permissions of root will be writable when the iPhone is mounted in iTunes, just like currently. This will let people load things in /Applications, and currently lets Apple update the firmware.
Second, application distribution. As of right now, all applications for the jailbreak version are delivered through installer.app. There have been theories that Apple will charge a distribution fee for iPhone apps through iTunes. I do not think that this will be the case, because Apple has provided other application directories, including one for the iPhone web apps. What's to prevent them from making a mobile applications page today, and host developer's applications for free, like in their other application directories?
That, of course, brings us to the topic of downloading and installing web apps. My best guess is that web apps will either be delivered as .app bundles, or as a special iPhone installer, such as .ipkg, to avoid confusion between desktop and mobile apps. This would fit in well with my predicted iPhone interface builder files.
Lastly in my conjecture, I think that Apple and its partners are going to release several applications at the same time as the SDK, such as Lotus Notes, a native bejeweled game, and the possibility of a company like Nintendo releasing some great touch screen games.
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