Apple is opening its iPhone software to outside developers in an effort to make the hot devices even more popular and wrest market share from “smart phone” market king BlackBerry.

Apple executives unveiled an iPhone software development kit created to let programmers craft programs for the touch-screen mobile devices combining telephone, video, music, and Internet connectivity.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said it wasn’t unfettering iPhones completely and that software creations would be vetted before being made available exclusively at a newly-launched online App Store.

“We think this is going to be a boon for developers,” Jobs said during an invitation-only preview of the kit at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.

“Hopefully, people will think iPhones are even more valuable and buy more of them. This is not an open source project, it is a for-profit project.”

Citing security risks, the Pentagon banned Google teams from making detailed street-level video maps of U.S. military bases after images of a Texas base ended up on the popular Internet site.

A message sent to all Defense Department bases and installations around the country late last week told officials not to allow the mapping Web site to take panoramic views inside the facilities. Google said taking such pictures is against its policy and that the incident was a mistake.

Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, chief of the U.S. Northern Command, said Thursday that that the decision to issue a formal ban was made after at least one Google crew requested and then was permitted access to a base, identified in the message as Fort Sam Houston. He said he was concerned that allowing the 360-degree, street-level view could provide sensitive information to potential adversaries and endanger base personnel.