In anticipation of Apple’s upcoming press release, which is expected to unveil a new Software Development Kit (SDK) that will grant developers the opportunity to build native applications for the iPhone, our friends at Macworld posted an extensive “top 25” native iPhone apps wish-list.

To preserve the device’s security and stability, Apple has consistently refused requests to open the iPhone up to third-party development. However, at the Worldwide Developer Conference last summer, Apple announced a compromise, allowing developers to create Web-based applications that iPhone users would access through the device’s built-in Safari browser. Of course, for many this offer was not enough, so developers built native iPhone apps that could only be installed on jailbroken iPhones. In October, Apple signaled an end to this struggle by promising to deliver an iPhone SDK in February.

Because no one knows the specifics of Apple’s new SDK, Macworld convened a panel of iPhone users to dream up some third-party development miracles. The panel came up with 25 applications and ranked them in ascending order of urgency.

Here are a few of Macworld’s dream apps that would be especially appealing for mLearning:

• #25—Amazon Kindle client/e-book reader. This app would combine Kindle’s Internet and payment services with the iPhone’s brilliant hardware design to boost the readership of e-books, magazines and newspapers.

• #20—Unit converter. Converting yards to meters, ounces to teaspoons, and Fahrenheit to Celsius is cake with Dashboard’s Unit Converter widget. A similar converter on your iPhone would let you handle the same tasks in the classroom.

• #16—A better calculator. TLA Systems’ PCalc is a snazzy $19 calculator that blows the iPhone calculator away.

• #15—Dictionary/thesaurus. There’s plenty of space on the iPhone for an extensive dictionary, and it would certainly be faster than having to fool around with the Web.

• #7—VNC client. This would let you control other computers remotely. Since the iPhone is a portable computer, it would be great if you could use it to control your home server from class or when traveling.

• #6—Voice notes. The ideal application would automatically time- and date-stamp each voice note recording and offer a method of synching them back to your Mac. Perhaps the voice-note application could use the Maps’ new position estimation feature to stamp a location on your voice note recording—so later on, you could not only listen to what you said, but know where your were when you said it.

• #4—Text macro tool. Define your often-used words and phrases as shortcuts, then just type those shortcuts wherever you need them.

• #2—Document editor. The iPhone needs a built-in document editor, one that lets you create documents as well as modify those sent to you by others.

Like so many others educators, we’ve been keeping our own wish-list of educational apps, a list you may remember from our Pre-MacWorld post in January. In addition to essentials like voice recording and document editing, we think that iTunes U Wi-Fi with PDF support is the one killer app worth waiting for.