The answer is "to make money"....what is the question?

Apple is a business, and a good one. For one thing they understand that making money is not a bad thing.

So when you wonder why Apple has done X or Y, however weird and strange it seems, the answer is 99% likely to be.....so they can monetize it.

A few examples:

Why were mail and other apps missing from the iPod touch?

We got the answer this week. Because they will cost you $20. Not because the deal with AT&T precluded it, or because they wanted to differentiate the iPhone and touch.

Why was backup to an airport attached drive removed from the leopard FCS?

Because it was flaky, not working as expected? No. Again we found out this week. Because Apple wants to sell you a Time Capsule.

Why can I not create my own ringtones for my iPhone?

Ok, this one is easier. Show me the money.

Why can I only send my photos in full resolution to a .mac gallery?

Again, pretty simple. You can transfer them to your laptop at full resolution, but they are compressed when you mail them. Obviously this is due to network traffic concerns or email limits, right? No. It is to get you to buy a .mac account and guess what, I did.

Why are HD video rentals only supported on the Apple TV?

Obviously there is a technical restriction? Again no. They want to sell Apple TVs.

Why can itunes video rentals only be transfered to latest generation ipods?

There must be something they added in the new devices that is required and the old ipods are just not capable, right? Couldn't possibly be addressed by a firmware update, right? Wrong. They need you to buy a new ipod.

So let's use this to test some things we don't know the answers to yet:

Why does leopard not support synching notes with my iphone and why can I not sync wirelessly or over the net?

We all expected Leopard would finally fix this. Probably a technical restriction due to the fact that the iPhone syncs with iTunes, right? If the theory holds then there is a monetary reason for holding this back. My guess is probably that they want to tie this to an enhanced .mac account. You will be able to sync your phone with .mac and then have it sync back with all your subscribed apple devices, including Apple TV.

Why can I not put 3rd party applications "officially" on my iPhone?

Well obviously mobile devices are different to desktops. It is very risky to allow users to put random, untested applications on their phones. They might crash the phone, corrupt data or even bring down the whole network! Apple is just protecting their customers, right? Anybody can see this one for the bs that is is. The truth? Apple wants to take a cut of all iPhone app sales. With the iPhone and iPod they own the distribution mechanism. They can control it and will. Lets face it, if they could reinvent the desktop and take back the distribution mechanism there they would too. That ship has sailed, for now. And don't be naive enough to assume the announcement of an SDK means they have opened up the distribution model.

Why can I not send an SMS to multiple recipients from my iPhone?

This one highlights the exception to the rule. Sometimes the answer is "because Steve doesn't see the point". Under pressure, they finally added it. Its also why we don't have search in mobile mail.

To summarize, the answer is always "to make money". What is the question?

They make money, their stock goes up and we all complain about it....before buying what they want us to and moving on.....