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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is opening its online App Store for iPhone software in a move some think is more important than the 3G iPhone launch on Friday. The App Store will let iPhone users choose from over 500 software applications to download, including games, educational programs, mobile commerce and business productivity tools. In business, and specifically in technology, there are some people who live in the past and can't see beyond familiar and existing systems. Lucky for us, there are the true visionaries, those who innovate and take things further. Steve Jobs is one such visionary.
After seeing the success of Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) smartphones initially, and then the addictive-like relationship Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry owners have with their handsets, it is no wonder Apple could zero in on what consumers want and give it to them in an intuitive way. That has been Apple's mark all along.
Indeed, the Mac OS has always been touted as being the better operating system, and yet it is Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) with its Windows OS that dominates the market. Many say that Jobs' was overprotective of the software, causing third-party developers to shy away. If that's the case, Jobs has learned his lesson and is amending his stance now with the iPhone software, hoping to achieve a new computing platform.
Already with the iPhone/iPod Touch and the Macs, Apple has started converging the two systems of mobile and computing. Meanwhile, chip companies are working on chips for mobile internet devices (MIDs). Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), for example, has introduced a new chip category, the Atom brand, specifically designed for (MIDs). And developers are doing their part to improve mobile devices' operating software to be a better fit for the current chips so as to give the devices more computing power. The development of this category seems to be just beginning.
So it's true, Apple still has a ways to go to catch up to competitors Microsoft, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Symbian (now owned by Nokia (NYSE: NOK), but I'm glad Apple has joined the space. It can only bring more innovation and increase the stakes. Apple can take us to the next stage. I can't wait to see what the next few years will bring in the mobile computing area.
All that aside, Apple's App Store will undoubtedly help sell the iPhone, and that is what investors are really after.
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