In an unexpected, but not altogether surprising announcement, Apple has sent out an email to developers to notify them that new applications will not be approved unless they are compatible with the upcoming 3.0 firmware.

From Apple:

Beginning today, all submissions to the App Store will be reviewed on the latest beta of iPhone OS 3.0. If your app submission is not compatible with iPhone OS 3.0, it will not be approved.

This comes less that 24 hours after the latest beta firmware was released.
Additionally, it seems that Apple is planning to remove any applications from the app store that are found to be incompatible with 3.0 once the firmware reaches the masses.
The full email can be read here.

(via Tuaw)

iPhone OS 3.0 beta 4 is now available to developers. Apple released build 7A300g as well as an iTunes 8.2 pre-release which they say is required in order to activate the new beta. Engadget has already posted some quick first impressions of the new firmware. According to Engadget, the previously empty “Store” pane in the settings app is no longer empty. It now allows you to sign in and out of your iTunes account and features an Account Info button that sends you to a webpage where you can view and edit your credit card information, among other things. Curious that they should require a pre-release version of iTunes to activate the new beta. Perhaps this means they’ve made some significant changes behind the scenes in the latest beta. Stay tuned for any additional information that may surface on the new firmware.

(via Engadget)

If you are keen with developing for the iPhone this might interest you.  One of my favorite places on the internet for all things digital seems to have come up with an API to help speed up the process of developing web apps for the iPhone.  Head on over to Nettuts to get your code on.

Make an iPhone App Using the Envato API – Nettuts+

With the release of the new Envato Marketplace API, third-party developers now have access to a wealth of information to create all kinds of useful applications. This tutorial will teach you how to make your very own iPhone app using data from the new API. Even if you don’t have an iPhone, you can still learn the basics about using PHP and JSON.

If you are like anyone in the known free world, you have thought of the GREATEST APP IDEA EVAAAAAA!!!!! All you need is to learn how to develop for the iPhone or…hire a developer.  The first way is pretty risk free, worse case scenario you never get around to it.  But if you really want to put your money where your mouth is, then throw some bucks behind it.

This is a pretty great idea.  Hired iPhone Developers are hard to find, but to have a service that tracks down three to submit bids for your choosing is even better.  Remember, once you make your app let us know so we can review it. 
VIA: iphoneappquotes.com

Apple has released version two of their much anticipated 3.0 beta software for the iPhone. The software, labeled build 7A259, brings with it a number of changes, including speed and stability improvements over the previous version. With the new beta also comes news that developers are now able to begin developing applications to take advantage of Apple’s upcoming push notification service. In addition, Apple has reportedly confirmed that tethering and MMS will NOT be supported at any time during the beta testing phase.

(Via Appleinsider)