Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver another sermon to the Mac faithful at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), but amid all the pyrotechnics about the iPhone, App Store and third party software goodies keep in mind the big picture: There’s a platform war about to start.
It’s safe to say that Apple is winning over developers–the WWDC is sold out–but the game of software has always been won in the trenches. And if the rumors (Techmeme) are to be believed Apple will roll out a new Mac just for developers. The game is clear: Win over developers–ideally as young as possible–and keep them on your platform. That’s Microsoft’s secret. The software giant has its faults, but it’s not to hard to find teenage programmers on its platform. Microsoft is good to its developers.
Open source also has its legions of developers focused on everything from desktop operating systems to mobile platforms to enterprise tools. And take the developer game out further you get the Webtop where every company from Google to Adobe to Facebook is making a play to be a platform.
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