Wow! This rumor from the well-respected AppleInsider rumor site, is really exciting. According to AppleInsider, Apple “has been developing an operating system based on the core technologies of Mac OS X for use with embedded devices... Apple intends to integrate the software on a couple of devices beginning early next year.”
There have been rumors before about this and it makes a lot of sense. I believe it. Here's why.
OS X is based on Unix which has already been deployed extensively in handheld devices of various types including cell phones.
A lot of the cell phone rumors of late have mentioned iChat, one of Apple's OS X applications.
The cell phone rumors talk about wi-fi and skype phone types of capabilities that are closely associated with full scale computers, not many handhelds - yet.
We know Apple wants to do small devices. That was a major reason given for going intel-based. Portable devices needed to be able to do a lot on not much power due to battery-life considerations. And, all we've seen so far is the iPod which was already out before the whole Intel switch.
The reason I'm excited about OS X in a small device is because that means you would have a lot of brute strength and full computing ability in a handheld device.
We've got rumors for a video ipod with a larger screen, multiple cell phones, a multifunctional PDA kind of device and very small notebooks. We know Apple likes small, thin and light. We know computers are more often mobile and miniaturization marches on.
Doing a lite version of OS X leverages Apple's computer company strengths to extend its reach and success in the mobile devices space.
The ambition of this project matches Steve's ambitious nature. And it would explain why we've been hearing rumors about these other devices for two years now and nothing has shipped. It's hard to do operating systems and might be harder because you have to figure out how to address all the issues of working on a smaller device plus you now have to make the smaller device work synergistically with a notebook or desktop computer.
Apple is not a beginner at doing hard computer projects. They wouldn't undertake something like this lightly and would be very painstaking to get it right. Perhaps we are going to be blown away by this new device *platform* in January. Wouldn't that be nice?