planet hospital

Apple distributed invitations Thursday for a March 17 special event in Cupertino, Calif., to discuss the iPhone 3.0 software and a new software development kit.

Next Tuesday's event will come a little more than a year after Apple unveiled the original SDK at the iPhone 2.0 software event, planet hospital setting the stage for over 25,000 iPhone applications to make their way onto the App Store. Speculation about a new iPhone had mostly centered on new hardware features, rather than software upgrades, but it seems Apple has something up its sleeve.

The invitation did not say who would be leading the event, but with CEO Steve Jobs on medical leave, marketing chief Phil Schiller or iPhone software guru Scott Forstall are likely bets, unless Jobs plans on making a surprise appearance. We'll be there.