Get set for a summer of Apple

Apple is preparing for one of the most pivotal summers in its history.

On 29 June, the company is expected to release the iPhone in the US, perhaps the most hyped gadget in history and a clear sign of where chief executive Steve Jobs is placing his bets. At Apple, in case anyone still needed reminding after Jobs & Co dropped 'computer' from the company name, people are thinking about a lot more than laptops and desktops.

"Apple isn't just a hardware company, and they aren't just a software company," said Stephen Baker, an analyst with NPD Group. "I think that's what's enabled them to be more successful in endeavours that are away from their core business."

The touchscreen phone has been the talk of both the cellular and PC industries since Jobs unveiled it on stage at Macworld in January, and competitors are likely to respond later this year. But before it gets to the iPhone launch, Apple will pause next week to shift the spotlight back to its core Mac business.

Jobs is scheduled to give the keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday in San Francisco. Events such as WWDC are extremely important to Apple's developers, but tend to be overshadowed by the more consumer-oriented Macworld and other special product shindigs, such as last year's 'showtime' event.

Indeed, WWDC is expected to be dominated by Apple's Leopard OS, just like last year's event. Developers will walk away with a near-final copy of Leopard, and Jobs is expected to provide further details on some of the features inside the new release. Apple does not plan to ship the final version until October.

While Leopard is certainly important to Apple's developers, the rest of the world is likely to be looking for any new nuggets Jobs reveals about the iPhone. The iPhone, analysts argue, is more than just a new product for Apple. It's an entirely new business that, if successful, will give the company three distinct product lines -- Macintosh computers, iPods and the iPhone (not to mention a smaller fourth line, the Apple TV) -- to maintain Apple's strong growth.

The attraction of the phone market to Apple is clear: mobile phone makers are shipping over a billion units a year, and growing. Jobs has said he'll be satisfied if the iPhone has 1 per cent of the market by the end of next year, somewhere around 10 million units.