Apple To Bring iPhone OS to Other Platforms?

Apple has had a lot of success in the past few years. Steve Jobs hit the gold with the iPod and the company hasn’t looked back since then. In a matter of few years, the iPhone has gone from a device that was written off by many experts to a giant powerhouse of a smart-phone. If you have owned any Apple computer or smart-phone in the past, you have probably wondered (or maybe not) why Apple doesn’t allow its software on other devices. After all, wouldn’t it be nice if netbooks could get Mac OS? That strategy has not changed. But it seems Apple is planning to give its other products (such as Apple TV) the gift of iPhone OS.

In a job listing that was first discovered by ComputerWorld, Apple clearly talks about bringing iPhone OS to new platforms but it does not specify much more than that:

The Core Platform team within Apple’s Core OS organization is looking for a talented and inspired manager to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms. The team is responsible for low level platform architecture, firmware, core drivers and bring-up of new hardware platforms. The team consists of talented engineers with experience in hardware, firmware, IOKit drivers, security and platform architecture.

Most experts seem to believe the above job listing mostly revolves around re-inventing Apple TV and put it on the track it should have been. But one can also imagine that Apple is going to milk the platform it has spent so much to built as long as it can. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple is planning other flavors of iPhones (iPhone Nano) or even its own HDTV. Considering what Vizio has done with Internet apps on its HDTVs, it’s not too far fetched to imagine Apple planning something similar.

Apple has invested a lot of money to build the iPhone platform to what it is today. If history is an indication for things to come, Apple will expand its iPhone family and add a few new other products along the way based on this platform. The company already has thousands of apps available in iTunes. So there is no reason not to utilize them on as many devices as possible. I still don’t believe that Apple has any plans to introduce a netbook or any other low-end product. But Apple did surprise us all with its iPad pricing. What other surprises Apple could have in store for us?