Broader strategy seen in Apple's interface unification

One of the biggest take-aways from Monday's Apple developer conference was the Mac maker's progress in unifying its user interface across multiple product lines, according to American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu.

The horizontal integration, which remains a work-in-progress, will enable users who are familiar with one Apple product to learn another relatively quickly, Wu told clients in a research note Tuesday morning.

At the same time, the analyst said he sees the company's decision to release Safari for Windows "as a strategic and smart move in giving Windows users a closer taste of the Mac experience in addition to iPod+iTunes and iPhone."

"We believe this will ultimately attract more switchers to the Apple franchise," he added.

In general, however, Wu joined fellow analysts over at PiperJaffray in calling Apple's Leopard-related announcements and secret features "somewhat underwhelming."

"Mac OS X Leopard will incorporate Boot Camp as a standard feature," he wrote. "While we believe this is positive in supporting Windows on a Mac, is it not a surprise and we believe the user community and investors were hoping that Apple would offer full virtual machine capability, allowing one to run Mac and Windows simultaneously."

Still, Wu remains bullish on Apple and its four-pronged product strategy, reiterating a "Buy" rating and $145 price target.

In his note to clients, the AmTech analyst also spoke optimistically about Electronic Art's return to the Mac gaming market.

"We find this development significant as the world's largest game developer is once again committing to the Mac platform," he wrote. "We believe other game developers could follow."