“On Feb. 15, Apple posted an ad on its Web site for an engineering manager ‘to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS [operating system] on new platforms.’ Days later, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook called the company ‘a mobile device company,” echoing remarks by Chief Executive Steve Jobs, who in January said “Apple is the largest mobile device company in the world,'” Kharif reports.
“An adaptation of the operating system used in Macintosh computers, the iPhone OS runs the iPhone, iPod Touch music player, and the forthcoming iPad tablet computer,” Kharif reports. “In the future, analysts say, Apple may put the OS onto Web-connected TV machines and devices that help viewers watch 3D programming. The Cupertino (Calif.)-based company may also consider licensing the iPhone OS to outside cell-phone manufacturers. Apple has shipped more than 75 million devices based on the iPhone OS, which lets users download and run applications such as games and calendars sold at the Apple App Store.”
“Apple may embed the iPhone OS in a Web-connected TV, says Charlie Wolf, a senior analyst at Needham & Co. ‘Where Apple is noticeably almost absent is in the living room,’ Wolf says. ‘It represents the natural migration of the operating system. And it’s going to be a big market,'” Kharif reports. “Currently, Apple sells Apple TV, a set-top box that lets users buy and rent high-definition movies through its online iTunes Store. The $229 gadget, introduced in 2007, isn’t yet a big source of revenue for Apple, executives say. Cook and Jobs have both called Apple TV a ‘hobby.’ Still, Apple will invest in Apple TV ‘because our gut tells us there’s something there,’ Cook said at a Goldman Sachs conference on Feb. 23.”
Kharif reports, “Another place Apple could use the iPhone OS is in eyewear that lets users watch 3D movies on the go, says Richard Doherty, a director at consultant Envisioneering Group… A partner like Motorola could help Apple’s software broaden its reach without jeopardizing Apple’s brand, Doherty says. In 2005, the two companies collaborated on the Motorola Rokr phone, enabling it to access songs on iTunes.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Something tells us that Richard Doherty couldn’t analyze his way out of a wet paper bag, much less accurately predict where Apple’s going next.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bill D.” for the heads up.]