I don’t think there has been a better time to be a Cocoa developer, or a better time to start if you aren’t one already. In the past week we have heard how Apple has managed to take the #3 computer vendor spot in the US, that Leopard is being released to the public in just over a week and that in February there will be an SDK available for developing for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Leopard offers many opportunities, not only with the cool new technologies for developers to use, but also in the growth potential. I’m going to be queuing up outside my local Apple Store next Friday with two friends, one a switcher last year looking to upgrade and one who has been waiting for Leopard to switch to the Mac. And this is only two out of the many who I have seen switch in the past year or with plans to switch (most of which centre around Leopard being released). The market for Mac software is expanding and Leopard can only help accelerate that.

But a possibly more significant release will be that of the iPhone/iPod touch SDK. This will open up Cocoa developers to many potential customers who they could never have accessed before. I have another friend to use as an example. He thinks Macs are pretty cool, but would never buy one. He prefers tinkering with his hardware and is happy with Windows. Though his reaction when he saw the iPod touch released was the same as mine, “Gimmie!”. There now is a potential customer who I would never have had access to before. Yes, a lot of iPhones and iPod touches will be going to Mac users but a lot more will be going to non-Mac users.

With the mobile version of OS X using Cocoa, Apple can tap into the large Cocoa developer community out there. Because we’ll be the first on there (not including Apple) then we can help dictate the terms of 3rd party development. Of course Apple will have the overall say, they own the platform after all. But there will be a large number of developers who already sell high quality software for relatively low prices over the internet who will be getting into this new market, with a head start over those moving from other platforms. This will allow the culture around mobile OS X applications to be jump-started with the same culture around Mac OS X applications. This culture is what makes the Mac so great, both for users and as a development platform. Allowing users from other platforms to experience this culture will be as great as selling tool as any marketing campaign Apple can put forward. It will also help the iPhone and iPod touch become the thing that most people have wanted for a long time: a low cost Mac.

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