Searching For A Killer iPhone Application

Executives at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers had a running bet as they announced a $100 million fund to encourage developers to build tools for Apple's (AAPL) iPhone. The wager was over how many business plans they'd receive in the first 30 days after the Mar. 6 announcement. Kleiner Perkins partner Matt Murphy won't divulge the number, but says it was exceeded within 36 hours.

So great is the interest among developers in creating a software-based tool, or application, for Apple's popular iPhone or iPod Touch that on the same day Apple announced the release of the software developer's kit, or SDK, Apple's Web site crashed. Many developers resorted to grabbing the file using BitTorrent file-sharing technology. On March 12, Apple reported that more than 100,000 developers downloaded the kit in the first four days it became available.

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