And Steve Jobs spake, saying
Who's going to surf the Internet with one of these?
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is from Nokia, or that is from Dell, or that is from Acer.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Steve your Jobs am a jealous Jobs, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me …
Steve Jobs is pretty damn determined that everyone will bow down before his almighty benevolence and buy something from an Apple store. The original gadget from Apple was the iPod. Clinically elegant and with a wonderfully intuitive interface, with a growth path that kept everyone wanting the next one, until they produced the 160GB iPod. Very few people wanted to carry around more music than this, so they have now stopped bothering with the disk-based iPod “Classic” and are now on the same trajectory with the iPod Touch. But the MP3 player was already out there. It was functional rather than classy, but it was a big hit before Apple came on the scene. So he took the basic idea and “Appled” it.
Then he launched the highly desirable Macbook, a clinically elegant laptop that gave rise to the term “Mac Monk”. People who buy Apple computers can’t wait to tell you how wonderful they are. Over and over. For hours on end. But the Macbook was a highly successful implementation of something that was already there, they took the format of something successful and “Appled” it.
And if this was not enough, he created the iPhone and he saw it and it was good … enough. For all its clinical elegance, there’s no denying that there are phones out there that are much more functional, and although “everybody wants an iPhone”, they will probably want another phone that they can actually use and possibly have the iPhone stuffed and mounted in a tasteful arrangement so that they can look at it and stroke it. And once again, they “Appled” something that was already there.
But still it was not enough. And I think at this point, Steve Jobs has “jumped the shark”, creating yet another clinically elegant device that is better to look at than any possible use for it. Unfortunately, this is something that other manufacturers have tried and it has not won favour with the buying public. It’s too big to use as a phone or PDA, it’s too small to use as a laptop and it is something that no-one wants to buy.
Could it turn out that he’s not God after all, and just an overwrought self-publicist?
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1
January 28, 2010 at 09:37 -
I never was a fan of Apple products it has to be said, I supported the first platforms in design departments back when the OS was horrendous and unstable.
Took me quite some time to warm to the iPod and now having owned around three of them I do think they are pretty good. It was a natural progression for me to then have an interest in the iPhone but once the initially mad rush had subsided for the 3G version. Again, it’s an excellent bit of kit and my train journeys are actually more pleasant because of it, as long as the bloody train turns up.
Problem with iMacs and powerbooks: no right click. End of.
Now this iPad, I’m not going to be camping out in front of stores to get one and right now I couldn’t justify the need for having one. Also I am not going to get one simply because it’s the new toy to have. In principle I think it has appeal but the practicality of the device I’m not so sure.
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2
January 28, 2010 at 10:07 -
The problem for the whole IT consumer business now is (1) the Chinese knocking them out for a bowl of rice and (2) for the first time, folks are asking ‘why do I really need this?’ It’s long overdue.
For me, Kindle and its followers represent a real breakthrough: use anywhere no matter what the light is, and potential for a keyboard that’s practical.
I love it when we talk techie.
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3
January 28, 2010 at 10:08 -
That most definitely does not count as ‘jumping the shark’. If he held a press conference to announce you should buy iphones because they are about to include pictures of the Fonze on them, or something else spectacularly lame, that would be jumping the shark.
I am off to buy a ‘magic mouse’ and it will be awesome.
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4
January 28, 2010 at 10:20 -
Apple products are the work of men and therefore imperfect. Not as imperfect as this warped account of history however. Apple has done a lot of innovating as a little light googling will demonstrate. It is a great design house in its own right, that’s true. It’s also true that some of us customers are happy to pay a premium for style. Not everyone feels an ugly box of bits that requires constant tinkering makes him a real man. But Apple is far more than the Bang & Olufsen of computing.
The iPad’s not powerful enough for me. I write more than can comfortably be tapped on flat glass. But most people don’t. At the very least it’s an elegant glimpse of the future. If no-one but Stephen Fry and my wife wants to buy one, n0-one suffers but Apple’s shareholders. So what’s your beef? As for why you think Steve Jobs wants you to bow before him, that’s really between you and your shrink. Frankly, it sounds a little like the usual British envy that one comes to libertarian blogs to avoid. For shame, sir.
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5
January 28, 2010 at 11:01 -
Thaddeus, thou art an heretick, for thou hast misspelled “MacBook”. Forsooth, the intrusive capital is a sign of diVinity & to oMit it is a morTal sin.
Yea, let us all purchase an iPad & then perhaps the Lord Our Jobs can afford a new pair of tRousers.
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January 28, 2010 at 11:31 -
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January 28, 2010 at 11:39 -
The one button mouse from Apple sums up their computers well…for those who can’t handle normal two buttons and a scroll wheel mice. However, all is not lost as you can plug any other mouse into a Mac and all the buttons and wheels work properly. I use a genuine Microsoft bluetooth mouse on my Mac which upsets the aficionados greatly to my amusement.
I do not like iPods as you cannot operate them as a drag and drop device like the Sansa Clip or other similar devices.
Apple are like Sony, in that they try to lock you into proprietary software and hardware. Best avoided other than for novelty interest.
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8
January 28, 2010 at 11:42 -
“… a new pair of tRousers” iPants?
If Apple made trainers would they be iPeds? Apple cooking book with recipes for iPuds.
Put a mouse and keyboard on it and you have a mini iMac. It’s a digital photo frame sized web tablet e-book reader thingy. It is aimed at a slice of several different markets and should be all things to all men-enough to get a lot of people interested.
It is also the iPhone Dom Joly has been waiting for.
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9
January 28, 2010 at 11:46 -
“It is also the iPhone Dom Joly has been waiting for.”
lol.
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10
January 28, 2010 at 12:38 -
As an e-book reader it is a fail because of its back lit screen which is useless in bright sunshine. I think this http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/opinion/1589158/apple-goes says it all.
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11
January 28, 2010 at 13:24 -
I’m one of those people who have developed a virulent aversion to anything made by Apple. As I’m sure everyone here knows, David Cameron is sometimes known on blogs as iDave. Why? Well, because he’s all marketing spin and no substance, just like nearly everything else prefixed with the risible “i”. Having said that, it may be that the bizarre Mr Jobs may here have a product that finally gets the tablet format off the ground, although I’d still rather have the Viliv V70. At least that runs a standard OS, what does the iPad run? More proprietory gunk? I suggest that if you want an oversized mobile phone, then wait for products running Android.
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12
January 28, 2010 at 14:17 -
If it has a bluetooth interface, a simple ear-mounted adaptor will allow its use as a ‘phone, then perhaps it’ll find a market niche. But maybe Apple should get busy making jackets with BIG pockets as a lucrative sideline.
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13
January 28, 2010 at 14:43 -
I just heard the iPad being referred to as an iPhone for window lickers…
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14
January 28, 2010 at 14:44 -
Totally agree with Majic, I looked with scorn upon Macs until I got an iPhone, and I wouldn’t be without it now.
If only they could do something about the battery life *sigh*…
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January 28, 2010 at 14:45 -
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January 28, 2010 at 17:32 -
After years of not bothering with Apple, my daughter who is doing Art and Design at college asked for one.
To say the experience was horrendous is an understatment. I won’t bore you with the details, but watch out if you purchase anything in an Apple store and its turns out to be defective. Everything must be returned to the store that you bought it in!! No exchanges, no swaps. They also have a 14 day return policy for DOA equipment. These unexplained policies lead to several visits to various Apple stores and over 300 miles of traveling.
In the end I had to stand in the middle of the store making an utter prat of myself to get the manager to refund my money.
As far as Apple is concerned they can stick it where the sun don’t shine. After that experience I built a Hackintosh downloaded Requiem, unlocked all my DRM’d music and now buy my music from anywhere else.
I think dizzy sums up the iPAD quite sucinctly
http://dizzythinks.net/2010/01/ipad-review.html -
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January 28, 2010 at 18:04 -
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January 28, 2010 at 20:18 -
We have the pro AppleMac group and of course we have the anti AppleMac group. Each to his/her own. It is nothing for me to be exercised over. Let those who want them buy them and I might observe that is a tiny example of democracy in action as those who find the things entirely resistable and need them not will not buy them. Settle down now children as we still have the world to put to rights!
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January 28, 2010 at 20:31 -
I could hardly wait to tell you all about my wonderful Mac Book. I could go on for hours. But you appear to have heard it all before.
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