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My current weblog.
Thursday, July 18, 2002Dan Gillmor: iCal signals Apple's return to the PDA market
The most interesting tidbit in Apple's Macworld Expo announcements (Macintouch) today was iCal, the calendar application. Why? Because it's the strongest signal yet toward Apple's now-obvious PDA ambitions.
iCal, like iTunes and iPhoto, is simply Apple recognizing an application space that they can add value to and dominate. iSync is where the meat is. Check out infoSync: Apple moves to syncronize.
Presuming that iSync is open and extensible, Apple is setting OS X up to be a first-class "Digital Hub" for information devices (PDAs, cell phones, "Smart Phones", and whatever else). This is a Big Deal. Historically the Macintosh platform has been neglected by most PDA vendors, and OS X has made the situation worse. Even Palm's exemplary record of supporting the Mac has been tarnished during the migration to OS X.
If Palm is smart, they will abandon Palm Desktop on the Mac and rebuild around iSync. For Zaurus and Pocket PC users, expect the developer community to offer iSync solutions very quickly.
As for Apple coming out with their own PDA within the next 12 months, or extending the iPod to offer more PDA-like functionality, don't hold your breath.
