Jack's question on Tuesday - what processor will the iPhone use? - approaches a definitive answer, despite there being none from Apple. It's not going to be an Intel chip (good thing, since that would be both hot and battery-sucking). Much more likely it will be one from British (hooray!) company ARM.
This job ad on Apple's site mentions that you'll benefit from a "solid understanding of embedded hardware platforms (ARM processors, SDIO, UARTs, etc)". (Though a search for iPhone at ARM presently turns up nothing.)
The irony is that Apple was a big reason why ARM got started, and for many years in the 1990s its shareholding in ARM propped up profits: I lost count of the quarters where Apple just about made a profit, which mysteriously matched the one-off exceptional profit from sales of shares in ARM. (Was I the only person who spotted this?) Then Apple sold the lot, because Motorola and its PowerPC - no, IBM and its G5.. no, wait, Intel and its x86 chip were the future.
But with the iPhone, it's back to the same company that provided the Newton's processor. Plus ca change..
