Apple Ware

One of the greatest things about Apple products is that they are unique in design and function. The first Apple desk top that I worked on was in college and I instantly fell in love with the software. Imagine my shock a few years later when the IBM compatible computer at work was running a similar program. It seems that everyone wants to copy Apple.

This could be a good thing. Some times being the best means letting people copy what you are doing but continuing to produce the best of the best - if that makes sense. I always flash back to the Beta vs. VCR match up where the best machine lost because it was so hard to find videos (or even a choice in machines). In some ways, I think that Apple is running into a similar situation.

It is, by far, the best machine out there. It is also the minority. Unless you are in design, then you are probably running an IBM compatible machine (only now I guess they are considered Microsoft compatible). Apple has been working hard to push its products over into the mainstream use, but until there are a variety of machines that are Apple compatible it will probably not be able to make it.

It can’t be a shock to the techies out there. The fact that Apple is updating the iPhone AND at the same time crippling those phones that have been unlocked is just par for the course when it comes to the companies verses the users. Even though it was expected that Apple would respond, it still doesn’t make sense to me.

Apple gets most of its money when I buy my iPhone. It probably does get a piece of the action when I activate my phone with AT&T, but it can’t come near the initial investment. By choosing to find ways to block my ability to use MY iPhone in the way I want to use it, Apple runs the risk of losing whatever future business I would have taken its direction.

It is important for the companies in the tech industry to protect their products - at least to some extent. Apple has gone to the wrong extreme by trying to force owners to comply to its way of thinking. If the techies figured out how to unlock the iPhone in the first place, it is only a matter of time before they overcome the update snag. In the mean time, Apple looks like a bad guy in an industry where appearance is half the battle.