iPhone application developers don’t have to go it alone. Thanks to iPhoneDevCamp, an “unconference” centered around deadline-fueled development and open-mike presentations, you can create apps along with other iPhone enthusiasts. And perhaps win some fabulous prizes in the process.

According to organizer Dom Sagolla, iPhoneDevCamp is gathering steam after two San Francisco-based sessions. The first session in 2007--held 22 days after the initial concept--had 200 attendees. 2008’s session brought in 450. The geographically inconvenienced can attend satellite camps, held either concurrently or as stand-alone events in places like Brooklyn, New York; London, England; and Auckland, New Zealand.

Although this year’s iPhoneDevCamp had gaming and a masseuse for the developers, the highlight of the weekend was the Hackathon: a weekend-long coding event where you develop an app with people you may have met at the registration table. Competitors were judged, and the winners walked away with prizes in categories such as “most educational” and “coolest” apps.

Sagolla said, “Just like Bar Camp, we provided the Wi-Fi, the space, the power, the food, the beer, and the entertainment [participants] need to relax…. We give them everything they need to get their work done quickly and questions answered quickly so they can demonstrate something at our Hackathon contest.”

Applications produced this year included “REDACTED Debugger," a debugger that runs on the phone itself as a Web service, the award-winning TouchCode open source repository, and there were a number of excellent games developed,” said Sagolla. Hackathon winners can be found here.

Due to the nature of the event, attendees should come armed with a decent knowledge of Cocoa (Objective C). Other recommended skills include Open GL, XML, and HTML. Some of the apps that emerge from the camp are proprietary, but some, like the event itself, are open source.

Its open-source, do-it-yourself nature is part of what separates iPhoneDevCamp from events like the MacWorld Expo and the World Wide Developer’s Conference. Rather than hear prepared lectures, attendees can sign up to speak at one of the two presentation areas; you can talk about your latest project, make requests or offers, and even hold a Q & A session.

“I love the WWDC. It’s like drinking from a firehose. But at a certain point you want to sit down and actually get something done. iPhone Dev Camp is a sister conference, the open source community’s version of a developer conference. It’s about the passion of the people who attend. There are few experts, and we all need each other to get along.”

Where MacWorld Expo is centered around Apple’s products and accessories that have already shipped, iPhoneDevCamp is for people who want to create the next wave of iPhone applications.

Sagolla believes upcoming iPhoneDevCamps will prove more interesting, now that Apple has lifted the non-disclosure agreements that prevented developers from sharing information. “Now you can hold a class and demonstrate your application, without violating any agreement with Apple,” he said. Need instant feedback from other developers? iPhoneDevCamp will have it on tap.

Another notable benefit of attending the iPhoneDevCamp are the connections you can make. When organizer Raven Zachary was approached by Obama for America to write an app supporting Barack Obama’s campaign, he gathered a team that included developers he met at the camp. The app has received national and international attention.

And the downside to the iPhoneDevCamp? After coding all weekend, you probably have to code when you get back to work on Monday.