A major turning point
According to this week’s podcast, Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky are both getting iPhones.
They’re unique in that they’re both incredibly intelligent and pragmatic, and both are big fans of using Microsoft platforms. But, as they discussed in the podcast, Apple has effectively established a Windows-like pragmatic-developer monopoly for mobile phones: iPhone OS devices are so well-established (although Joel thought the installed base was 4 times smaller than it actually is, and he seemed to think he was overestimating) with such consistent and capable hardware that it will usually be impractical and uneconomical* for an application developer to target any other mobile platform.
I love watching how quickly allegiances and positions change when developers get smartphones with sophisticated hardware and excellent development tools.
I predict Jeff Atwood will own a Mac within 6 months. On that day, I also expect pigs to fly over frozen hell, holographic storage to be released, Leo Laporte to record a fast-paced 12-minute podcast episode, and Steve Ballmer to say something intelligent to a reporter.
* I didn’t think this was a word, but OS X’s Dictionary says it is, so I’ll stick with it.