Mobile devices should not be used for mining, they aren't designed for continuous 100% load.
Mobile devices cost more and perform less.
The M1 is a hybrid CPU (4 big + 4 small cores) which isn't ideal for mining.
It's an ARM architecture CPU, mining software is very limited.
It's OS is neither Windows nor Linux, mining software is even more limited.
That's certainly true, mate. Mobile CPUs are essentially low-powered compared to traditional ones used in today's desktops and laptop computers. I can't imagine why Apple took this route, when Intel's CPU performance exceeded expectations. We'll see how successful Apple's own ARM chips will turn out to be in the long run. If they improve over time, they might become as good as an ordinary microprocessor for mining crypto.
As you've said before, the selection of software available on the ARM architecture is very limited. I'm not aware of any mining software available for Apple that will make use of the ARM architecture yet. With this limitation, I doubt people will be able to mine CPU-based coins directly with the new M1 chip. Besides, CPU mining is not as profitable as GPU or ASIC mining. I think the chip's current limitations won't affect the crypto community whatsoever. It'll have very little impact in the mining industry, as most miners are using ASIC, FPGAs, and GPUs on top of CPUs. We're going to have to see if this changes in the future, if new cryptocurrencies with CPU-oriented PoW algorithms become extremely popular in the mainstream world.
For now, I'll just stick with my traditional Windows 10 laptop for everyday CPU mining. The returns are not the same as mining with an ASIC or GPU. But it's better something than nothing. I'm now looking into HDD mining which seems to be a viable alternative to CPU-only mining. Time will tell us whenever CPU mining will survive or not.