Posted on 12/11/2010 9:55:10 PM PST by Swordmaker
Google’s power in the mobile computing world seems to grow with every new product announcement and Android device that comes to market. But for all its reach, the search giant is missing one piece of the puzzle that Apple does better than anyone else: product integration.
It starts with one device. Maybe it’s an iPod; maybe it’s a first Mac; but from that first product, you discover Apple’s unique take on technology. Apple treats each device it manufactures with care, sweating the little details like font choices and icon design, and thinking about how it all fits together. Each device Apple creates plays a part in the overall ecosystem, and the links between them are clear.
I recently stepped outside the cozy Apple ecosystem and purchased an Android phone, the HTC Desire. It was on sale at a steep discount, and I thought I would be able to integrate it into my work/life flow. I was wrong, and the phone is being returned.
The phone was powerful, and had some very interesting features, but it was so entirely different from the rest of my Mac setup that nothing felt right. I could go into detail about application crashes, frustrating hardware, the sordid Android Market (I wouldn’t let my kids browse through it), and other annoyances, but suffice to say that it simply didn’t measure up to the expectations I’ve developed from using Apple devices.
Apple is the only computer company that creates all of its own hardware and software; they control the entire package. Personal computers are a mishmash of parts and pieces from different sources. Hardware from one company, software from another. By contrast, many modern smartphone and computer makers get hardware from one place, and an operating system from another. BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion is a notable exception to this rule, but a recent interview with their co-CEO Mike Lazaridis seems to suggest the company’s leadership at least has little sense of what smartphone consumers really want.
HP, which recently purchased Palm, is another exception to the rule. The stage is set for the computing giant to build its own tightly integrated smartphone environment, if they have any interest in doing so. HP now sells the Palm Pre, but unfortunately, the Pre, once seen to be a strong iPhone competitor, seems to be lagging behind. Not a single one of these companies can design and test integration between phones, tablets, computers, and online services as well as Apple can, because none controls each of these aspects the way Apple does.
Does Apple’s degree of control occasionally border on the excessive? Yes. But consumers end up benefitting from that control more often than they are harmed. It’s only because Apple controls the entire product line that you can rent Inception in iTunes on your Mac, and know that it will play on your iPad, your iPhone, and your Apple TV. It works reliably, consistently and predictably.
When you live in the Apple ecosystem, you make a deal with Apple: I’ll pay you, and in exchange, you make sure everything plays nicely together. Google doesn’t seem to be interested in providing that kind of tightly integrated experience, at least not yet. What Apple does best is remember that technology only exists to serve its users, and goes far beyond a list of features and hardware specs. And that’s why Apple will continue to drive the future of computing, regardless of whether Google and others end up winning the numbers game.
Thanks for the tips. I´m sure I´ll get the hang of this thing.
I'm looking forward to the day when every device uses wireless to communicate with other devices. I have 10 computers, 4 displays, 2 printers and other devices in my small home office with a sea of wires everywhere. It's a nightmare. As you have hinted at, manufacturers do a poor job of labeling wires and ports. Power bricks and AC adaptors also get me frustrated. I've accidentally blown devices because the polarity is reversed on some adaptors (cheap Chinese stuff).
Apple is good, mostly USB and Firewire. And you can buy wireless speakers, I've got a pair and there's no unsightly wires to deal with.
I had them in my clinic a few years ago and the key boards and mice “talked” to the computers in adjacent treatment rooms.... BIG but sometimes funny messes with that!
I should try them again. The technology may have improved.
That’s indeed weird and unsettling! The way it’s supposed to work is that keyboards or mice get paired to a specific computer. If swapped to another computer, can they be paired to two different machines?
Apple is almost completely there. The standard iMac keyboard and magic mouse are both Bluetooth my network is WIFI and my printer is WIFI. As is my AppleTV The only cable that comes to the computer is the power cord and a FireWire connection to my backup drive. If I connect my drive to the WIFI router by USB even that cable could be deleted from my desk. In other word, it's even better than this, now, no keyboard or mouse cable:
Yea, Apple is almost completely there with wireless. Although I have a MagicMouse I still prefer the trackpad for my Mac. My printer and fax are wireless, and I have a network hard drive on my wifi router that all my computers can share wirelessly. My iPad has OS 4.1, but I can’t do wireless printing with it until I patch it (hope Apple resolves patent issues).
But wires serve a need at the moment. Wired Internet is faster when I’m doing big dumps of data. And my backups are on eSata wire connected external hard drives, much faster than other options.
Back in 97 things were different. My roommate on USS Independence had a Mac and a new printer. He spent the entire cruise trying to get the two to work together. All the printer would do was run the paper through putting a slight bend in it. We would heckle him about his brand new paper bender.
“I am far from technically challenged”
“HP that has gone in for service 4 times, had to be system restored 5 times within the past 5 years.”
I would argue, that anyone who buys a pre-packaged HP, or any HP for that matter, would be in the technically challenged category.
I would also argue that anyone who takes their computer in for service would fall into the same boat. You may disagree, and I may be wrong, there are exceptions to every rule, but those two comments, either singularly or combined would lead me to believe that one is very technically challenged.
My son and I build computers that have never had to be “restored” nor have they ever “gone in for service”. Did they change the oil and install new cross-over pipes?
I’ll let your post speak for itself.
Apples greatest strength right now is the fanboi base. Great for them, we own apple as part of our portfolio, but will look to diverge ourselves of the assets over the next year, I am pretty certain.
In the mean time, I appreciate what folks like yourself have done to offset the hit our other holdings have caused us.
But, regarding your post, I have never been inside the Apple boardroom, but the reports that flowed out over the iPhone debacle and reception-gate indicated that Apple has once again gone into committee-think. If you have a beef with that general consensus, take it up with those write such things, or give me some indication that you are involved in Apple, and are first hand experienced in a way that can refute those claims. Just “saying so” doesn’t make it so, and no amount of wishful thinking will change that.
Secondly, Apples main stratagem has been to market to the technically challenged. If you can’t see this, it is because you take exception, or feel insulted that by using an apple, you are lumped into that category. This thread is not about emotion, where many apple posts go, it is about the closed end proprietary method that the author is touting as a strength, when that very thinking, for all practical purposes, put Apple out of business for over a decade.
Finally, Apple does market to the eco friendly, of which, most folks happen to be very gullible. To say they don’t, would lead me to believe you don’t read much. To say they don’t would lead me to believe you don’t spend much time on college campuses. You can just head over to http://www.apple.com/environment/ to see their take on it themselves. Or you can do a simple Google or whatever other method you use to search. I am guessing Google may be a bit difficult for a fanboi such as yourself. I say that, now fully convinced, that I am arguing with a fanboi, if you cannot do your own research into their marketing, or you don’t want to, because it assaults your own sensibilities. Whichever the case, in your mind, Apple is the bees-knees, and neither logic nor research will sway you otherwise. I’m cool with that. Keep that stock price up there, I do appreciate it.
I do agree that Apple HAS performed like a start up, but the trend this year, and the product line for the next year, leads myself, and those who invest into the product to be gun-shy about further investments, thinking there are other options that will play out stronger. Of course, there are always analysts on both sides of the isle, but as an investor, and not a fanboi, I have to wade through and sort out the propaganda from the fact, and base my decisions on ROI, not on what feels good.
As far as becoming the number 1 tech company... Texas Instruments also held that title for 3x the period that Apple has, and they didn’t have the benefit of the Inventor of the Internet, Al Gore on their board.
Discussing the matter with Apple folks always reminds me of this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvA8Hdmit-U
It is pointless. Once I see someone is in this category, I just simply have to say “ok, umm, well, good luck”.
so, Umm, Well.... Good Luck!
You strike me as the digital version of one of those motorheads who spends more time under his car than behind the wheel, and sneers at anyone who doesn’t change his own oil. Some folks have better things to do.
“You strike me as the digital version of one of those motorheads who spends more time under his car than behind the wheel, and sneers at anyone who doesn’t change his own oil. Some folks have better things to do.”
I do enjoy being under my car as well, and you are pretty close on your assessment. I would only add, that I sneer at those who claim to be above proficient, or who know better, while demonstrating that they know nothing beyond what they have read in a magazine.
This goes for any manner of subjects. I don’t spout off or claim to be proficient or well versed in biology, or poetry, because these are not my realms. In that regard, I am always amazed on the Apple threads to hear all about how Apple is so much better, usually by self-proclaimed computer experts, but they offer no technical comparisons, one way or the other.
My take on Apple is that it is a fine system, if that is what you need. But, it is like a train, compared to a car. Yes, the train can travel faster, yes, the train is more streamlined, yes the train doesn’t require any maintenance on your part, but the train only goes to certain stops. My car can go anywhere, and has no restrictions as to where I get my music, how I get it, what I visit, and it has many more locations I can visit in terms of games that my kids enjoy, applications that I need for work, and all around flexibility that I get from customizing my PC and upgrading and adding to it when I want and how I want.
I can’t do that to the train. But, yes, the train has its advantages.
I only mean to sneer at those who profess that the train is better in all aspects and anyone who drives a car is a moron. Those folks are brainwashed, and have a limited scope of the real world.
I’ve stated before, we have an Apple, and we have several PC’s. My wife loves her iPhone. It fits her, it suits her, it delivers on all of her needs, but this is not what the thread was about, it was about Apples proprietary control, and how the author of the article thought that was an asset to the company.
Just like the train being able to wiz through traffic with no chance of the wipers blowing out, he is correct in that sense, but just like my analogy above, the train doesn’t go everywhere I want to go, so it doesn’t suit me.
If Apple products fulfill your needs, then what more could you want? Why get angry at those who have more needs or desires then what Apple offers?
Have you ever used a Mac? The hardware is not as amenable to tweaking, at least in the iMac — the Mac Pro is a tower, and the laptops are usually easier to tinker with than Windows laptops (MacBook Air excepted).
On the software side, you’ve bought into a lot of the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt arguments about how “closed” and “limited” Macs are. Mac OS is Unix. Not sorta kinda, but fully compliant, certified Unix. You want power and flexibility? Here’s a bash shell.
Windows is more popular, so there are more software titles. That’s pretty much the only advantage of Windows. On Mac, you’ll have a dozen word processing apps to choose from instead of a hundred — though on both platforms, the vast majority of users choose from two or three. PCs have more game titles, if that’s important to you.
Your train/car analogy vastly overstates the “limitations” of the Mac. Your PC “can go anywhere, and has no restrictions as to where I get my music, how I get it, what I visit”? Ditto my iMac. There are software titles I cannot run natively in Mac OS, but a minuscule number of files I cannot open and edit, servers I cannot connect to, and tasks I cannot perform.
In those rare cases, I can run Windows on the Mac at native speed. Programs like Parallels and Fusion are virtual machines, not emulators — they emulate the BIOS, not the hardware. I have Fusion, and can run multiple Windows versions, Ubunti and MacOS at the same time. The only time I use that is to test Web pages I’m building, to make sure they work with browsers (I’m looking at you, IE) that aren’t standards-compliant.
I know a lot of Windows support gurus. Unix admins and developers, techies of all stripes who choose Macs at home. They are certainly capable of building and endlessly tweaking systems, but choose not to. They have better things to do off the clock.
Yeah, well, it's hard to keep up with your l33t copy-paste skillz.
If you say so....
As for your “run anything” I hope you are seriously joking here.
Lets take my kids music. Burn a CD to our apple? Fuggedabout, especially our older CD’s. They have to be connected to the internet, to sync up with the apple store for licensing and all that jazz. Share music without usage rights? Fuggetaboudit.
Games? Guess what, I have kids. Kids love games. They can’t get those games on apple. On the apple, they can get games that other kids make fun of, not the games they want. Oh, eventually they can, after several years, their Warcraft game became available on the Mac, but... it ran like crap. They refused to play it on there, so they play it on their souped up, home made (by a 12 year old) smoke your socks off PC. Which was built for around 800 bucks, plus the monitor. That same system on an Apple? maybe 5 grand.
Now, as for me, I do city bids, they MUST be in excel format. I could run them from the apple, and convert them, and lose data and/or formatting each time I do that (which I have done), but I find that to suck. I don’t like things that suck.
My load calc programs are all PC based. I have yet to find one for the mac. I guess I could buy another Mac to take on the road to run the PC programs I need for my job, but why? Why pay 3x more for something that I don’t need? Our Think Pads work great.
Also, my diagnostic programs, you know... the ones you plug into large electrical equipment to diagnose it.... PC based. Now, I guess I could rework the 20 million dollar systems that are already in place, at my cost, maybe that would cost me a few million, and make my clients really really upset, especially when they need that equipment going YESTERDAY. I know, I’ll tell them...... umm, that Heidelburg afterburner runs on PC software, but I have it on good knowledge that apple stuff is much better, so I’m going to have to shut it all down, and scrap it and start over, because I have a shiny fancy apple....” I’d be booted out the door so fast, my neck would break.
Even smaller building environmental control programs are all PC based. I couldn’t effectively tap into an office building or campus and run the software I need to run, in a timely fashion.
So, bought into fear uncertainty and doubt? I think not. I think you’ve bought something, and are very protective about your buying decision. Like I said, if it works for you, great. For the rest of us, its a PC based world, unless your world is listening to music, and working with screen savers, and even then, most kids would rather have a PC where they can grab their music off of a torrent, instead of having to be shoved into the itunes store.
But, again, to each his own. I like apple, because it turns me a profit, and their stock has done well for us. I dislike apple, because PC works better for me and my kids. My wife likes apple, because they look nice, they are easy to use, and they are dummy proof (she’s no dummy, but she’s naive when it comes to computers), and she likes to get her music with 1 click, all safe, secure, tidy.
We had an old Mac we used as a word processor back up for years. We junked it. Wife now has an iMac on the kitchen counter. For her, she loves it, but it has trouble on our home network (win 7 based), but to be fair, our XP has trouble on that network as well. Also, she loves her iphone. She loves it to DEATH. I would be a fool to tell her that she should get something else. Why would I? She likes it. End of story. I have a cheap motorola phone, that has been dropped 2 stories and works great. I can push to talk my crew, and it is unbreakable. I don’t need music. I don’t need dancing bears. I don’t need ringtones. I need a solid, rubber encased phone, with good walky talky reception, that goes through walls, and works several basements below ground. Our needs are very different.
There is a reason Baskin Robins has 31 flavors... And I’m always amazed that some folks think everyone MUST love the Apple flavor. I like pralines and cream thank you, keep your Apple.
Now, all that being said, the article was about how Apples propriety control was its biggest asset. That is fundamentally wrong, and I still stay with it. This is what put Apple on the butchers block to begin with.
The reason so many large corporations use PC is that they are not committed to one company, and it is easy to upgrade, change things around. Few companies are going to buy hundreds or thousands of computers in one year, that will be reliant on a single vendor for both hardware and software. It wouldn’t make financial sense, and it would lead to being held hostage by your vendor. Instead, it is easy to buy PC’s, and if something needs upgrading, IT can go to newegg or whatever, buy a graphics card for 30 bucks, and stick it in.
Also, apples licensing and usage rights to their OS made it impractical for others use the the OS as the foundation for all sorts of things such as robotics, building controls, electrical controls, etc. PC could be used, in any language, early ones like FORTRAN 1 and 2 are still being used for this, and they work with PC, any PC. No one gets a cut of the licensing. Apple doesn’t control it, nor does Microsoft. Its just a PC platform.
For these reasons, Apple will never get big in the computer market. Big in terms of % of users. They may dominate the PDA market, and someday they may dominate the market of the casual user, but as long as they control their OS with an iron fist, and as long as their OS does not take well to add-ons from other vendors, they will never end up in the mainstream of engineering and controls.
Even when it comes to PDA’s, I keep hearing how already the DROID has capitalized on apples weakness of proprietary content, and many speculate that apple will be losing shares of the market at a very rapid pace (thus the deal with Verizon was done), in the next 2 years. Only time will tell. If apple loses its PDA share of the market, and they only have what? maybe 3% of the PC market, and already most analysts say their stock is a bubble (of which we personally own a good amount), the propriety attitude could not by any stretch of the imagination be considered a good thing. Well, not in my opinion, but then again, I’ve been wrong before, just ask my wife.
Good luck with your Apple FRiend, I hope it serves you well. I may someday be using Apples for our business, but not until the Apple OS becomes an industry standard for my line of work. My kids may move on to Apples when they get to college, but for now, they play games with their friends on PC. My wife has already been converted. So that’s where I stand on the issue, I had no intent on offending you, or any other apple user, and I’m not sure why so many apple users are offended that not everyone thinks Apple is the greatest thing in the world since sliced bread.
Sorry for the reply, was waiting for a phone call and just kept typing away :)
There is not a single point in that paragraph that is correct.
iTunes uses the Gracenote database to identify the disc so it can fill in the album and track information; you can rip discs without an Internet connection, but you'll have to type in that information yourself. The "apple store" (by which I assume you mean the iTunes store) has nothing to do with ripping from disc.
iTunes can rip to AAC or MP3. The resulting files can be copied, burned, swapped, shared on Limewire, anything you can do with tracks on a PC. Songs purchased from the iTunes store have been free of DRM for a year and a half. You can download music from Amazon, Walmart, or Limewire, import them into iTunes and load them onto an iPod.
Games? Guess what, I have kids. Kids love games. They can’t get those games on apple. On the apple, they can get games that other kids make fun of, not the games they want. Oh, eventually they can, after several years, their Warcraft game became available on the Mac, but... it ran like crap.
I conceded that Windows has the edge in game titles. Steam for Mac has been a big step forward, but if your primary purpose is playing games, you'd be happier with a PC. Of course, you'd probably be happier still with an XBox.
They refused to play it on there, so they play it on their souped up, home made (by a 12 year old) smoke your socks off PC. Which was built for around 800 bucks, plus the monitor. That same system on an Apple? maybe 5 grand.
The $5000 Mac Pro comes with two six-core Westmere processors and an ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of video memory. Your kid did not build an equivalent computer for $800 unless he stole the parts.
Now, as for me, I do city bids, they MUST be in excel format. I could run them from the apple, and convert them, and lose data and/or formatting each time I do that (which I have done), but I find that to suck. I don’t like things that suck.
Or you could use Excel on the Mac. You did know Microsoft released Excel for the Mac before it did for Windows, right? Same file format. No conversion required. Microsoft dropped Visual Basic scripting from one version of Office for Mac for reasons that are unclear to me, but it's back in the current version.
You list several niche needs that you have. I don't know enough about embedded systems to know if there are Mac clients for that, and don't have enough information to look, even if I were inclined to spend the time. So I'll assume you have to use Windows for work. I don't envy that.
So, bought into fear uncertainty and doubt? I think not. I think you’ve bought something, and are very protective about your buying decision. Like I said, if it works for you, great. For the rest of us, its a PC based world, unless your world is listening to music, and working with screen savers, and even then, most kids would rather have a PC where they can grab their music off of a torrent, instead of having to be shoved into the itunes store.
You've bought into FUD, and you're repeating it here again. BitTorrent is not a Windows-only technology. MP3 is not a Windows-only technology. I have about 40GB of music on my Mac, and fewer than a dozen of those albums were purchased from the iTunes store.
My Mac is useful far beyond "listening to music and working with screen savers." As are the millions being used by bankers, brain surgeons, rocket scientists, engineers, and other folk doing real work. Your dismissive attitude is typical of Windows users who mistake things they don't know for things the Mac can't do.
There is a reason Baskin Robins has 31 flavors... And I’m always amazed that some folks think everyone MUST love the Apple flavor. I like pralines and cream thank you, keep your Apple.
I do not believe that everyone must love the Mac. I like it a lot better, and believe it's a better solution for what the vast majority of people use computers for. You finally, in this post, hit on some niche uses that the Mac might not meet -- after spinning off a litany of misinformed "limitations" that simply don't exist.
Also, apples licensing and usage rights to their OS made it impractical for others use the the OS as the foundation for all sorts of things such as robotics, building controls, electrical controls, etc.
Apple is not an embedded systems vendor. Windows isn't a great solution for that, either. That said, the core of Mac OS and iOS, called Darwin, is an open-source BSD implementation.
For these reasons, Apple will never get big in the computer market. Big in terms of % of users. They may dominate the PDA market, and someday they may dominate the market of the casual user, but as long as they control their OS with an iron fist, and as long as their OS does not take well to add-ons from other vendors, they will never end up in the mainstream of engineering and controls.
"The mainstream of engineering and controls" is an oxymoron. Apple builds desktop and portable workstations; they won't be big in embedded controls for the same reasons Ford isn't a big player in aviation.
The notion that MacOS "does not take well to add-ons from other vendors" is more FUD. Any code developed for other flavors of Unix is a quick port to Darwin, and Linux code isn't much more difficult.
I had no intent on offending you, or any other apple user, and I’m not sure why so many apple users are offended that not everyone thinks Apple is the greatest thing in the world since sliced bread.
I have no problem with people who don't, for whatever reason, like Macs. Well, no bigger problem than the one I have with people who don't like Miles Davis. De gustibus non est disputandum. The only reason I waded into this is that your stated reasons for disliking Macs were misinformed. A lot of passionate Windows advocates have a similar view of the Mac, and it's the faulty premises that lead to erroneous conclusions; I wouldn't want a Mac that's like the one you've been describing.
I’m not sure why, but folks who spend an enormous amount of time trying to convince me their lifestyle is the best, disturb me.
I can think of a few groups that do this: PETA types, enviro types, gay activists and Apple users.
Well, you almost convinced me to convert all of our computers to Apples. If only you tossed in how they can color coordinate my shoes and purse with my new Apple, you would have had me, and how many trees I would have saved and whales by becoming a die hard Apple fan.
We are just going to have to agree to disagree, my points stand, I am not going to argue with you further on them. You win. Apple is the greatest thing in the world. Steve Jobs is almost as cool as Al Gore. If we all had Apples, there would be peace on earth, the oceans would heal themselves and global warming would end. There would be no more computer virus, and we could all live in harmony.
Thank you for saving my soul.
I'm not sure why, but people who argue against their own straw man, instead of the argument I've actually made, annoy me.
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