This is just silly. I expect Apple would hate it, but not because it would spell their quick demise. For one thing, even if such a thing were available today,

This is just silly. I expect Apple would hate it, but not because it would spell their quick demise. For one thing, even if such a thing were available today, the iPhone/iPad would almost certainly be the best platform for apps developed for, well, the iPhone/iPad platform. Yes, more developers might port their existing iApp to Android, etc, but if its viable for them, then its also viable for people who creating new apps who might have bet it all on Android if they didn't have an easy way to hedge with the iPhone too. If this idea were real, and it caught on, the bigger issue for Apple is that developers might be slower to adopt new features of the platform. Right now, if Apple releases a new OS feature, they can put it on new devices and move the installed base to it pretty quickly, which means developers have incentive to take advantage of the new functionality. If those developers depend on a translation layer to reach a significant portion of their audience, then they have less incentive to move quickly, because the translation layer needs to be updated, and that could take a while if the underlying platform doesn't provide the required functionality yet. Not that I think it would ever get that far. It's a lot of work already, and its going to be magnified by the fact that both iPhoneOS and Android are evolving quickly. Even if this hypothetical were real, its going to be lagging the capabilities of both platforms which means that its only really attractive for apps that don't get much benefit from the new capabilities. Look at WINE. It's been under development for over a decade. I think its impressive that it is as useful as it is, but when it comes down to it, its still pretty niche.