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Two particularly interesting topics caught the attention of the Apple-focused blogosphere this week.
iSuppli released a projected tear-down cost list for the 3G 
iPhone, sparking interest in the new US$199 price point that contract signing buyers will pay come July 11. Also, the Mac Business Unit at Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) , which is one of the world's largest Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) software development organizations, is apparently on a hiring frenzy for Apple experts.
G3 iPhone $173 to Build?
When market research firm iSuppli tore down the original 8 GB iPhone last year after its launch, the firm estimated that materials and manufacturing cost $226 per unit. This year, in anticipation of the 3G iPhone, iSuppli estimated the cost to manufacture the new unit in advance of Apple's official release, due to "strong popular demand for information on iPhone costs and pricing."
Once the 3G iPhone actually becomes available, iSuppli will perform a hands-on, detailed teardown of the new iPhone's components and cost structure, the company said. Meanwhile, the new estimated cost for the 3G iPhone is down to a measly $173, iSuppli reported.
None of iSuppli's numbers factor in the cost of software development, shipping and distribution, packaging and the miscellaneous accessories included with each phone -- just the basic cost to manufacture. iSuppli estimates that Apple will sell the iPhone to carriers at an effective price of $499, which would mean the carriers would subsidize $300 of the true cost of the iPhone.
"Holy cow! 56% margins on a cell phone?! No wonder Wall Street loves Apple these days," commented Analog Kid on the MacRumors.com post on the subject.
Some blog commenters wondered how much Apple spends on research and development as well as marketing. Only the company's accountants know for sure, although earlier reports indicate that Apple spent $100 million on the development of the original iPhone.
$53 Difference
While moving from a 2G to a 3G chipset costs a bit more, the big question is whether there are any particular components that can be credited with lowering the cost of manufacturing the 3G phone vs. the original iPhone. Might it be across-the-board incremental declines in cost that add up to the lower build price?
"The was a lot of incremental declines in costing of the various components. The biggest difference came from the memory -- memory prices have declined considerably," Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst for iSuppli, told MacNewsWorld.
The price of 8 GB of NAND Flash Memory for the G3 iPhone is $22.80, iSuppli reported, while the previous price was about $44.
Meanwhile, Andy Space, posting to the 9to5Mac.com site, has an entirely different take on the price savings:
"In order to reduce costs while still delivering a cutting edge device, the company has moved to a plastic back (a widely reported feature) and once again taken something out of the box: unlike the first-gen device, the iPhone 3G ships without a dock. You'll have to buy that separately at a cost of $49, though you don't require the dock in order to sync your phone," he wrote.
Work for Microsoft to Build Mac Software?
Last week, Craig Eisler, general manager of the Mac Business Unit (BU) at Microsoft, posted a missive on the organization's offical Mac Mojo blog announcing that Microsoft is looking for Mac-focused professionals.
"We're launching our biggest hiring initiative since the inception of MacBU eleven years ago. We are hard at work planning for products beyond Office 2008, and we are growing our team to help turn our vision into reality," Eisler noted, offering up a top 10 list of reasons for build Mac software for Microsoft.
No. 10: "We are the brightest, coolest and most interesting business unit at Microsoft -- if we do say so ourselves," he wrote. No. 2: "Our software is used by millions of people around the world."
The Mac BU is looking for program managers, developers, testers, user experience and marketing positions in Redmond and Silicon Valley. Eisler doesn't elaborate on what, exactly, the team will be working on, but speculation seems to point toward the popular iPhone.
"I just wanted to say it would be interesting to see if this hiring spree will lead toward an iPhone Office. Personally, I would find this very useful, being able to make quick edits to documents and presentations on the go without dragging around a laptop," commented Alan on the Mac Mojo post on the subject.
"I can see how it'll be difficult selecting what features to support 
, but I think the touch screen interface could lead to some interesting new ways to approach document navigation and creation," he added.
Others, however, took the news as an opportunity to gripe on the performance of Office.
"I hope they hire people who can write decent performance-optimised code and deliver a version of Office that's faster than the previous version instead of fifteen times slower," commented Mr. H on the AppleInsider.com post on the subject.
"Am I the only one that sees this as a way better alternative to Apple and Microsoft competing with each other? It's nice to see Microsoft taking Apple seriously, wanting to work with them," noted AeronPrometheus, who added, "It would be nicer if Apple finally dropped the jabs (even in good fun) and did the same, respecting one of their biggest partners despite the history that led them both to where they are now."
Either way, the Mac BU's primary product has been Office for Mac -- "And that's been a solid profitable product for Microsoft since they've offered it," Matt Rosoff, an analyst for Directions on Microsoft, told MacNewsWorld.
"They give the Office for Mac team a fair degree of freedom. They don't require that they duplicate the interface of Office on Windows. Their main concern is that it's appealing to Mac users and has interoperability with the Windows file formats," he added.
Rosoff also noted that he wouldn't be surprised to see the Mac BU working on some new, unannounced products or features for Apple's popular iPhone. After all, Microsoft's primary business is to deliver software.
"The Windows group, of course, would love for everybody to use Windows, but as long as there are Mac users out there, Microsoft is happy to create apps for them, and I think it's the same thing as far as Windows Mobile and the iPhone," he said.
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