I was inspired to write about this when I read a Cult of Mac post by Pete Mortensen. Mortensen wrote that Apple had proved once again, with the 
announcement of MobileMe, that Apple, “Still Dislikes Being a Team Player.” His point was that MobileMe could have integrated easily with other online applications. Apple should, “Help Flickr talk to iPhoto talk to GMail talk to Facebook talk to GCal talk to iCal talk to Jaiku talk to Wordpress.”
What is consistently overlooked by some is the bigger Apple picture, the big-kahuna overall plan, so to speak. Apple is a genius at this, and uses it so well that it is overlooked time and time again. I disagree with Mortensen and here’s why:
Apple built the web apps. for MobileMe with SproutCore. It’s an open source project, platform-independent, Cocoa-inspired JavaScript framework for creating web apps, such as the ones showcased at the WWDC, that look and feel like Desktop applications.
AppleInsider reported that Apple didn’t just use it to build MobileMe apps. – they enhanced it’s performance and added new functionality to the project. This sounds to me like team work, and they were generous with their efforts.
Interesting thing is (back to the bigger picture,) this is open source project, that anyone can work on. Imagine what would happen if Apple decided to do with the MobileMe service, what it is doing with the iPhone: open it to developers! Imagine the possibilities.
I think iPhone 3rd party developers right now, are barely scratching the surface of what is going to become an avalanche of amazing iPhone applications. Again, swing that view to MobileMe and you get…a bigger picture.