Actually h.264 hardware acceleration was introduced in 10.1 mid 2010 and it had a public beta in the months before. It was Windows only with Adobe saying: &quot;Mac OS X does not expose access to the required API&quot; [1]. Apple opened up the hardware API while 10.1 was on the finish line [2] and so the Mac only got support in the next 10.2 release.<p>So another interpretation is: Apple was well aware that smooth video playback was coming to other platforms and Jobs piece (and opening up the acceleration API) was an reaction to that.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.adobe.com&#x2F;cn&#x2F;devnet&#x2F;flashplayer&#x2F;articles&#x2F;fplayer10_1_hardware_acceleration.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.adobe.com&#x2F;cn&#x2F;devnet&#x2F;flashplayer&#x2F;articles&#x2F;fplayer1...</a><p>[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;kodi.tv&#x2F;osx-gets-h-264-acceleration&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;kodi.tv&#x2F;osx-gets-h-264-acceleration&#x2F;</a>