I think they will do quite the opposite

Android has shown the way to beat apple:

an open(or semi-open in their case) OS on a myriad of devices and form factors.

Before long people will not say 'which phone are you going to get' they will say 'what OS do you run on your phone'

And as the software finally defines the mobile experience Apple will be relegated to what it is in the computer market, a niche player with sleekly styled overpriced hardware, whereas real manufacturers such as htc or nokia or intel will have a myriad of models available either with winmo or android or symbian or meego. Hopefully within a few years you will be buying a device like the size of a phone that is just the hardware and is somewhat OS agnostic, kind of like you buy a PC now.


This applies to the high end smartphone market only of course, the masses still don't know or care, as long as when they press 1 it beeps and shows a 1 on the screen