John Gruber and the Macalope have made an artful science out of reasonably, logically, and methodically skewering the most pathetic punditry and junky journalism surrounding Apple and the iPhone.
Case in point is Gruber's recent and rather succinct dismantling of Simon Brocklehurst's complaint that Apple chose Objective C as the language behind the SDK. And while he certainly doesn't need my help, there are a few points I'd like to add.
First, anyone (but especially Simon) who thinks Apple just now (or even recently) decided to create an SDK for the iPhone knows little about SDKs and less about the polish and maturity easily observed in even the beta SDK Apple released at their special Roadmap event. The briefest look at actual developer blogs and tweets -- including developers with substantial experience in jailbroken iPhone apps -- would see the flood of remarks on the maturity of the beta SDK. Bottom line, if Apple hadn't been planning the SDK for a long time (perhaps since the launch itself) they have a hidden supply of killer engineers capable of truly mind-boggling delivery.
Second, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that, while I don't know anything about Brocklehurst's background, quoting Jonathan Schwartz indicates some level of Java-centricity. By serendipitous contrast, I just this week had a conversation with a developer at work who was being brought onto a new project. Since he'd recently done a lot of C++ and PHP, he was looking for a new language with which to stretch his skills. He wanted to try Ruby or Python, wanted to see what Rails could do. Gruber's right, good programmers can (and want to) program and can (and want to) stretch themselves to do it (even when it's not so far a stretch). Good programers who want to make good iPhone apps won't think twice about adding Objective C to their skill set.
Third, the iPhone/iPod halo is clearly helping Apple gain traction in their Mac market, and there's no reason to think the iPhone SDK won't help Apple gain traction for Objective C and Cocoa via Cocoa Touch. Apple has shown time and time again -- to the point of frustration on some occasions -- that it is a future thinking company. Getting a bunch of convenience-oriented programmers now by putting out a Java or C++ iPhone SDK pales to insignificance when compared to the mindshare Apple could gain by delivering a powerful, delightful Object C/Cocoa Touch development environment (and experience) to the uber-keen developers of the next generation, whose newfound skills -- and more importantly, tastes -- will flow right back into the Mac and future Apple products.
While Apple certainly fumbles the ball on occasion, this time they look to be smashing their way clear to a touchdown.
Sorry Simon.

Kuo: A new HomePod is coming in late 2022 or early 2023
Apple is set to announce a new HomePod either later in 2022 or in the early part of 2023, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Streaming reached a record share of total TV viewing last month
Streaming services were responsible for a record share of the total television viewing across the United States for the month of April, according to new data.

Report: Apple increases iPhone 14 OLED order to 150 million, BOE struggling
A new report says that Apple is set to make 150 million units of OLED panelts for the iPhone 14, but that supplier BOE hasn't yet been approved as one of the manufacturers.

Protect that beautiful, big 12.9-inch iPad Pro screen
Apple's flagship iPad is almost all screen. Keep that screen looking amazing with some protection.