My thought is more that they are going the Android route of using an intermediary bytecode, to get both platform independence, but on-device compilation for performance. If they can push hardware that will automatically run faster, that makes it all that much easier to sell new product.
Yes, I didn't mean Apple is going the MS route from a technical point of view, just the timing of their platform independence efforts leads me to believe that it has to do with pressure (or the potential thereof) by Microsoft.
