“The great scramble among software developers to write the first iPhone killer app is coming to a head,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.

“The race began in earnest in March when Steve Jobs unfolded Apple’s ‘iPhone software roadmap,’ a two-part package comprised of a tool kit to help developers write programs for the iPhone and a venue in which to sell them — a variation on Apple’s iTunes music store model called the App Store,” Elmer-DeWitt reports.

“Although the iPhone 3G is set to go on sale in nine days — at 8 a.m. Friday July 11 — Apple has still not announced when the software store will open. But on Wednesday it delivered a pretty broad hint: a midnight July 7 deadline for developers to submit their finished apps for the store’s grand opening,” Elmer-DeWitt reports. “According to Apple, 25,000 people applied to be part of its iPhone developers program, of which 4,000 were admitted.”

Full article here.