According to reports, the software developer kit for the iPhone is going to be delayed by one to three weeks. Apple is turning into a regular Microsoft with the recent spate of product delays.

The news comes from a Business Week article, which claims to have insider sources.

Arik Hesseldahl writes:

There's a week to go before Apple's commitment to release the iPhone Software Developers Kit in February runs out of room. I'm hearing from one source that it's going to be late. I'm not yet hearing any reasons why, and it's sounding like the official release date could slide by anywhere from one to three weeks.

Apple had no comment, and as yet there's no word on any events related to an SDK release next week. However, I'm also hearing that the situation is fluid, and a lot of last-minute decisions are close to being made about what precisely will or will not be disclosed next week, if anything. There are, apparently, a lot of moving parts to something this complex.

Just last month, at MacWorld, Jobs announced the Apple TV Take Two software. At the time, noted that it would be available by the end of January. That didn't happen. The update as two weeks late.

The biggest delay, of course, was the Leopard operating system. Originally slated for a June 2007 release, it was pushed back four full months to October. The reason? Apple said it wanted to concentrate all its efforts on getting the iPhone out the door on time at the end of June.

As you all remember, Vista was delayed repeatedly. And even the first service pack for Vista has been delayed. Apple is beginning to follow in some of Redmond's footsteps of late.

Why make commitments if they don't intend to--or can't--honor them?

Developers, fanboys and the press have all been hungrily awaiting the arrival of the iPhone SDK. We all have so many questions. What will it be like? How quickly will we see apps available from third parties? How will we load them onto our iPhones? Will we have to pay for the apps? If so, how much? We've been waiting on these answers to these questions since Jobs first announced the SDK last Fall. The SDK was to be released "by the end of February".

Well, it looks like we just might have to wait a little longer.