We've got two important iPhone software-related milestones to report to you today. Combined, they set the stage for a battle between Apple's official take on iPhone software and the jailbreaked, unofficial type of native programs many iPhone users have become used to over the last several months.

The first confirms, as expected, that there will be plenty of applications headed to Apple's upcoming iPhone and iPod touch App store. The software development kit (SDK) for creating applications for the iPhone, launched to much fanfare only a week ago, has already been downloaded over 100,000 times, according to Apple. Actually, that number was reached only four days after the launch event.

“Developer reaction to the iPhone SDK has been incredible,” said Apple senior VP Philip Schiller in a statement. Meanwhile, the video of last week's event to introduce the SDK has been viewed over a million times, "further demonstrating the incredible interest developers have in creating applications for the iPhone,” Schiller added.

While the numbers cited by Apple today are impressive, hackers have already achieved something equally, if not more, notable. They've reportedly already hacked or jailbreaked the beta of iPhone firmware 2.0, which is included in the iPhone SDK. Apple will spread to the iPhone 2.0 software update to every iPhone user this June.

This news much guarantees the cat and mouse game between Apple and hackers will continue to be played for the foreseeable future, as it means iPhone users will continue to be able to run unofficial native iPhone software from third parties; of which there is a lot and, almost certainly, will be much more of in the coming months.

Of course, Apple will likely plug the hole before the iPhone 2.0 ships.  If they do, hackers will just open it up again. They've done it many times before and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

So, the much-hyped battle between Apple and RIM for the enterprise may not be the most interesting iPhone-related topic of discussion on everyone's lips in the coming weeks. Folks may be speaking more about Apple’s clash with a good-sized portion of the group of people trying to make the iPhone better.

That war's been intensifying ever since the first hacker opened up the iPhone to unofficial third-party software months and months ago, giving developers - ironically - more access to the iPhone's resources (allowing for multitasking) than Apple does itself.

Then again, there doesn't have to be a war at all. Perhaps, it'll turn out that the official and unofficial iPhone software markets will compliment each other in the end. 

It all depends on how agressive Apple is at going after the unofficial side of the equation and how happy official developers are with the system Apple setup. It could get ugly if Apple sees its bottom line or, in its opinion, the quality of the experience of iPhone users becoming negatively effected.

Or, if the rigid control Apple demands as the central gateway of all things iPhone starts to drive developers and users away. It's happened before to Apple. The iPhone may be a  the hottest thing in smartphones now and, in many ways, a technological marvel, but that may not always be the case.