> I know, "apple doesn't license their OS dummy!". But think about this: > 1. Android is selling more phones right now. > 2. Apple is unable to manufacture en

> I know, "apple doesn't license their OS dummy!". But think about this: > 1. Android is selling more phones right now. > 2. Apple is unable to manufacture enough phones, and has admitted in conference calls that they have lost sales for this reason. On the other hand, Apple made 51% of all profits in mobile devices last quarter. With 4% marketshare. They've got tons of cash on-hand. If they want to start making a play for cheaper devices or somehow throw money at increasing production volume, they can do that rather than become a software OEM. The reason Apple can a high quality integrated experience is cause they control the whole thing. If they license to Nokia, then they don't control the whole thing - there's another, fairly powerful party there who will throw whatever weight they have around to get things that favor them. You also entirely ignore the problems. It's harder to develop for multiple hardware configurations. Apple and it's 3rd party developers have 2-3 iPhones that they develop for at one time (plus a few iTouches and the iPad). Limited hardware sets, fairly similar capabilities. That's a good thing for producing consistent, high quality user experiences and keeping support costs in-line. Maybe it would've been great for Nokia to license iOS, but there's nothing in it for Apple, whatever you say, and a bunch of unacceptable downsides.