If I had to place a bet on a major change in Apple’s approach to podcasting, I’d place it on adding money to the equation.
Jason Snell over at SixColors covers a lot of Podcasting history in this article, and I think it’s all pretty much spot-on.
Apple has a virtual monopoly when it comes to Podcasting—pretty much owning the distribution of them with iTunes, and with a huge portion of the overall audience using an iPhone and Podcast app to listen to them. The only thing left for Apple to do in this arena is figure out a way to make more money.