I was gone for two days at a P2P summit, so I haven't really been reading all the tech news out there. The articles I did read made no mention of 2 subtle platform plays that Apple has made with the release of the iPhone SDK.
1. The SDK and tools are Mac only
2. I don't want to repeat myself but the thoroughness and richness of the SDK, the professional grade tools, and the Exchange support are sure to buy Apple some brownie points in the Enterprise space. Apple to date has focussed mostly on the Consumer space, eschewing the Enterprise because of whatever reasons (Enterprise customers are boring, not at the cutting edge, etc, etc).
The Halo effect of these 2 moves has got to fuel sales of the Mac. Developers are an influential community, especially the amateur kind that want to tinker with the SDK, but their influence is on the fringes. The real tour de force when it comes to computer purchases is the Enterprise. It isn't hard to foresee the curiosity corporate customers will have for the Mac platform once they get a taste of the iPhone's exchange support. Curiosity, if I remember correctly, killed the cat - it sure as hell won't kill the PC, but it might make the PC's life a tad harder. If corporate orders start pouring in, economies of scale will apply to Apple's hardware too. Hardware costs will reduce with increased production volume, and Apple can embrace the strategy it used with the iPod - reduce its profit per unit sold, and bring to market more cost competitive Macs. The new Mac tagline could might as well read - Coming Soon to a Desk near you.
Or, I'm dropping acid!
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