Apple 2.0?

As anyone could see from the lineup of sessions, WebKit & Safari was a key part of the conference. Of course, this was supported by the news that it was named the iPhone SDK.

Needless to say, this didn't go over well with everyone. Many developers (both web- and cocoa) I’ve been talking to have been questioning what web development techniques was even doing at an Apple developer conference. To quote one developer:

The main purpose of the web is for it to be cross-platform – what is it doing on an Apple-conference?

Sean Sperte commented on Shaun Inman’s blog: “So, because I design websites, I’m suddenly a software developer?”.

Both of which are valid points IMO. Web development, even if we’re talking Google Apps-type web development, does not yet equal software development.

So why is Apple pretending that it does?

This question was troubling me for a long time, but I believe Apple is really doing what it does best, this time. They’re skating to where the puck is going. In a couple of years, chances are, most apps will be XML/HTML/CSS-based – either by way of Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR, prev. Apollo) or by Cocoa/WebKit hybrid applications.

In other words, Apple has nothing to lose, and everything to win by getting its developers and services ready for this shift – so that when the OS matters less, OS X will still be the best around. And that’s where the puck will be. Happy skating!