Perhaps you should redefine your interpretation of ‘need’. Mine interpretation says that people generally take basic workflow for granted. No one is going to use or buy software that doesn’t meet their workflow needs. If intelligent use of animation enhances people’s understand, enjoyment and workflow, then to me it classes as a need.

It can’t have escaped the attention of many, that people are increasingly looking for applications which are interesting and exciting to use. The star apps are all going down that route – both pro apps and mass market apps.

People want applications that provide workflow, ease of use and visual stimulation. Whoever provides them with all those things, wins. Everything else will simply tag along in second, third and fourth place.

The future belongs ENTIRELY to those who write computer programs for people, and not those who write computer programs for computers, or processes, or workflows.

Core Animation isn’t just about fancy 3D effects. That’s just the stuff that’s good to demo. Xcode 3 uses Core Animation for popups and what not. Trust me, there’s more there than you think.

Same thing with Objective-C 2.0; although I’m sure many new .NET and Java developers will find it a little easier to work with, it’s not really going to let existing developers do anything they couldn’t do before.

You could say the same about Core Data. There’s nothing to stop you from using raw SQLite and KVO to build an application with Core Data-like behavior. Clearly, though, Core Data makes things a lot of things easier.

Simplifying the mechanics of programming allows you to focus on bigger things. That’s the whole idea behind Cocoa, and that’s the reason for the improvements in Objective-C 2.0.