iPhone News Updated

By Ville Heiskanen

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc., striving to lure customers away from the BlackBerry e-mail device, said more than 100,000 developers have downloaded the kit to make programs for its iPhone since last week.

Apple introduced the development kit March 6 for the iPhone, which combines an e-mail-equipped handset with the best-selling iPod media player. Electronic Arts Inc. and Salesforce.com Inc. have demonstrated applications, Cupertino, California-based Apple said today in a statement.

Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, who plans to sell 10 million iPhones this year, has opened the handset to developers to help broaden the device's appeal with features such as games and business applications. Apple is embellishing the phone to compete with Research In Motion Ltd., whose BlackBerry dominates the U.S. market for e-mail handsets, with a 41 percent share.

Jobs had sold 4 million iPhones as of Jan. 15, giving the device second place in the U.S. market for so-called smart phones.

Apple fell $1.35 to $126 at 9:42 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares had declined 36 percent this year before today.