Apple’s last quarter was the second most profitable quarter of any company ever in US history. Only ExxonMobile topped them slightly in 2008 when oil was at an all-time high. That’s an astounding and awe-inspiring accomplishment.
But that’s not why some of us are so proud of what Apple’s been able to do; it’s much more personal.
When I switched to Apple back in 2002 after the introduction of OS X, it felt like a renegade position. The world was running Windows and anyone bothering with a Mac was by definition an outsider.
We had to deal with incompatibilities of all kind. There was the ridicule of overpriced shiny white plastic. We were somewhere in between the “first they ignore you” and the “then they laugh at you” state of adoption. But for those of us who endured it, the result was not disillusion but a hardening of the resolve.
Macs were (and are) just better. Not just because they were better built or put together, but because Apple was a better company. A braver company. A company that stood for higher ideals. When compared to the empire of Microsoft and the Dells, Sonys of the time, it simply felt like they were more right.
When I looked at that, it seemed like an injustice that Macs and Apple were the odd ones out. Like quality was being held back and barred a chance to shine just because the dominant gorillas in the room had so much power and inertia going for them.
I campaigned tirelessly to enlighten my fellow classmates at Copenhagen Business School about this injustice, about why they should get a Mac. I managed to convert my entire study group and a fair number of other people too. It was invigorating to be able to convince people of the fundamentals.
This battle is not that old. There are plenty of veterans who remember how it used to feel to evangelize the company and its products as an outsider. I still do it by habit even though we’ve long since moved into the “and then you win” phase of adoption.
Still, financial results of the likes Apple delivered yesterday serve as an affirmation of all that energy spent telling their story. Believing in the underdog. Like your favorite home team who couldn’t get into premier league while growing up just won the Superbowl, the Stanley Cup, and the World Series all together for the 10th time in a row — and you were the only one to believe in them. It’s an immensely satisfying feeling.
Nowadays we have to deal with the fact that Apple is the gorilla not just in the room but in most of the houses on the block. That’s a scary proposition in its own right. Far too many resistance movements turned drunk with power once they beat the incumbents and ended up being just as bad (or worse) than those they displaced.
While Apple has certainly shown that at times they’ve let their power corrupt, they’re still guided by the fundamental principle we fell in love with: Superior products through superior design.
There are, however, lots of people who make great products with great design. There aren’t lots of Apples who can spread that luxury to the masses and convince them of the benefits like this company has done. When you hear regular people talk about how much they love their iPhone or iPad, it really hammers home what Apple has done not just for themselves but for anyone trying to create better products and hoping to win markets because of them.
I’m well aware that this level of gushing is somewhat unbefitting in public, and I normally wouldn’t indulge the impulse. I’m just so proud of Apple that I’m willing to look foolish saying so.
No other company has inspired me more when it comes to marketing, design, focus, and even capitalism than Apple. Make the best damn product out there, charge a profitable price, and win the world.
Niels Hartvig
on 25 Jan 12A wonderful story, but I don’t like how the story is seeming to end like yet another lesson of history repeating. It’s such a shame to see such a great company transition into the mother of corporate assholes with their fucked up licensing strategies (iBooks Author), monopoly-like behaviors and insanely-over-the-top patent crusades. Fighting IP is fair, but their behavior is repeately beyond fair reasoning.
It’s not scratches on a surface, it’s a company culture of Ebola. Microsoft 2.0 – just much better looking.
ikbear
on 25 Jan 12And there are also someone inspired by 37signals :)
DHH
on 25 Jan 12Here’s a five(?) year-old promotional video that Apple recorded and featured on their site of Jason and I gushing about their products.
jan korbel
on 25 Jan 12@Niels Hartvig: I don’t think we are even at the beginning of the process you mentioned and Steve Jobs tried to build the “hunger” into the company through internal Apple university and other means.
Sure, nothing last forever, but for now, we can enjoy Apple at its brightest yet.
Chris
on 25 Jan 12Niels there is nothing bad in their iBooks Authoring licence. They are giving you a tool to produce fancier than anything else eBooks for free. A tool better (presumably) than one anyone else has produced. In return for that you can only sell the output of that program through their store. If you want to pay photoshop level prices to produce an eBook then go ahead, but for most that would be too far.
It does nothing to stop you from taking the content you have copyright over and producing an eBook in another format, with another tool, and selling that via some other channel. Apple just say it won’t be as good.
I just wish Apple would be clearer about their countdowns to new products. Sufficient non-techy people now exist that won’t know about Macrumors to check whether a new version will be out next month. Which means they get hit when the iPad 3 comes out and their new iPad 2 is now heavily discounted.
Dainius Blynas
on 25 Jan 12Apple is big, but it is still so different. I don’t know much about internal Apple culture and how things get made, but it must very different.
It really takes something entirely different to make such products, to make such bets, to have such priorities as Apple does.
I mean just think about it. To enter big market as mobile phones are, to make one model of phone when everybody makes 50, to price it so high, to f**k operators su much, to have such App Store that even fans were hesitant about.
I just don’t see how such decisions could be made in “normal” company. Not in a start-up, but corporation with thousands of employees.
Culture is probably the most valuable thing Apple has.
Jim Fuller
on 25 Jan 12interesting … I remember things differently.
I remember a company who had an operating system that was broken … very badly, it crashed and crashed and crashed. It didn’t matter how elegant the kit was or how ‘forward looking’ the tech … the operating system crashed.
Then one day this operating system was replaced with an open source derived operating system, which they contributed too and called OSX.
By embracing open source and betting their complete future on it Apple made a bold decision to change their future.
The robustness, stability and technical supremacy that was/is OSX (BSD-derived OS) became the foundation for everything else that followed and still is today.
Sure Apple contributes to Open Source but do you see any of the billions they made last quarter going to improve open source development or giving back to the original programmers (you all know the answer to that) ... I wonder if business sees this as open source winning, I doubt it as well.
Apple seems to have no problem taking full credit for all those man hours they did not pay for; then re-imagine a closed gated world for all of us to live in.
‘Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones that had their company saved by open source, then have the gall to turn their back on it to develop a closed world, so they can make a buck.’
ps: I have used osx since 2002 as well, my next computer will not be apple
rm
on 25 Jan 12I agree with Niels.
It’s a shame that you supported Apple in 2002 because they were the anti-establishment, anti-microsoft alternative. And yet continue to support them as Apple has followed in Microsoft’s footsteps. Making money hand-over fist, seemingly to just fill their legal coffers in their crusade against all of their competitors. Not that their competitors aren’t more innovative. Apple has gratuitously stolen from Android on the one side – notifications, multitasking, cloud services (but for a price, of course) twitter integration (although android doesn’t limit to just twitter), etc. etc., while on the other side litigating against the very competition that they’re stealing from. Oh excuse me, when Apple does it it’s “innovating”. I forgot they patented that as well.
Watching Apple win in 2012 is like watching Microsoft win in 2002. And indeed your gushing about Apple reminds me of the users gloating over Windows 2000 way back when.
Way to go.
Jason
on 25 Jan 12I hate Windows – it’s associated with my first dull job and crappy computer there. My daughter hates Apple – it’s associated for her with school and crappy computer there. My son loves Windows because of games and loves iPod because of games. My wife – she cannot tell the difference :)
rm
on 25 Jan 12Jim Fuller: Well put.
And yes, I’m typing this from my microsoft bluetooth keyboard connected to a Macbook Pro.
Amit Kumar
on 25 Jan 12Great article !!
I was a little late in joining the bandwagon but the ride of Apple products has been superior and smooth. I was surprised when a 2 year old kid (who is learning to speak properly) knows how to navigate iPhone/iPad. He knows to browse and find his song/pictures/cartoon. I thought the kid was exceptionally talented. It wasn’t true, I found another kid (1.5 yrs) who could do more. And then another one….
They are able to do this coz of superior design and simplicity of apple products.
I think the only place they have failed is penetration in market outside US/Europe. But they are catching up. Many of my colleagues in Indian sub-continent are now using apple products and enjoying.
Jeremiah Clark
on 25 Jan 12I’m right there with you, right down to a very similar timeline. At this point I just smile and nod when people question my use of Apple products, they don’t need my help any more, and that’s the greatest victory.
Now, if someone makes a specific claim that’s wrong I’ll offer a correction, but that’s different. I’ve actually heard the multi-button mouse fallacy a few times recently. Especially funny since it was never true, the Mac OS has supported multi-button mice longer than Windows has existed.
Also, iBooks Author is not what people think, and Apple is doing nothing wrong. Think of it as an SDK for iBooks and it all makes sense. After all, does anyone bitch that the iOS development tools don’t output Android apps? Or that the Windows Phone SDKs don’t make iOS apps?
Carlos Pero
on 25 Jan 12I’ve been playing a lot of Lux Delux (Risk game for Mac OS X) with my son lately. Apple seems on track to “win the world” indeed.
Pablo Martinez
on 25 Jan 12In the meantime we open source users (Linux, *BSD) are still renegades, dealing with incompatibilites, seeing how history is repeating and all the openness the “Interweb” promised is being swalloed by “Apps”, propietary formats, DRM, patents…
Craig
on 25 Jan 12I agree with the majority of the comments here. I’ve personally never owned a Mac, or an apple product – but I have used them all. They were nice, but Apple are greedy, and I’d hate to support a greedy company. They have the second biggest profits in US history, only beaten by an oil company – an oil company! That’s basically the definition of greed. Push down competitors, hire cheap foreign workers, and flog your products to idiots with too much money.
We don’t need greed. The future is free, and Apple will not be part of it.
Rob
on 25 Jan 12I just wanted to point out that the numbers from last Q had nothing to do with mac sales and everything to do with iphone/ipad sales.
muscadet
on 25 Jan 12Jobs was not into charity, neither is Apple. Even if they did a “so called” amazing work, I don’t expect anything good from a greedy company rising the top.
Simon H
on 25 Jan 12How sad. Who cares how much money they’ve made? You worship of this corporation is embarrassing…
GNU/Linux are what I’m proud of. Contribution, not profit.
Steven
on 25 Jan 12No need to feel foolish. I’m a proud owner of almost all Apple products and its a great feeling. Their products are great and it is perfectly okay to admit so.
bnd
on 25 Jan 12“Macs were (and are) just better. Not just because they were better built or put together, but because Apple was a better company.”
Why are Macs better? Is it just because they’re popular now? I can get a computer with much greater performance and quality for the same amount of money.
So don’t say that they’re better just because they’re shiny.
Jason Clark
on 25 Jan 12Why would you care who “wins the world” in technology, unless you’re a major shareholder? And why would you want any one tech company to “win”? With a healthy competitive landscape, society wins.
Scott
on 25 Jan 12Sometimes I think David writes articles like this just so he can sit back and watch everyone argue through the comments we write.
Eric
on 25 Jan 12bnd: Macs are better because of the ecosystem. Things just work.
When you design software for windows, you have to deal with SO much fragmentation… Versions of windows aren’t so bad, but when you start trying to figure out why a pc with an onboard sound card from company X is crashing when every other sound card to date has been fine, you start seeing a bit of the frustration that makes Mac users feel vindicated in their choice.
Matthew
on 25 Jan 12Jim Fuller: I dont remember it being buggy and crashy, pre-OS X and I used OS 6.x through 9.x Horses for courses, your experience isnt necessarily typical
Andy
on 25 Jan 12Yeah, i got a mac just before OS X (i was given one), and didn’t use it until OS X was released. I’ve never looked back, as it was just better, even back then. Windows NT was it’s closet rival (95 sucked), and OS/2 Warp just hadn’t quite worked. BeOS was also not quite there.
Working on a mac many hours a day, I just can’t imagine working on anything else. I do like Ubuntu, but i’d need a mac for non-work activities, so it’d be an insane choice. Plus, mac minis make a great home media centre.
That said, Apple are slipping / being a bit evil in areas, but not enough to leave the fold. iPhone 4S battery isn’t good, but Siri makes it worth it; Apple artificially limiting software to specific hardware is a bit annoying (e.g.: i can’t stream content from iPhone to Mac Mini, yet AppleTV would be a downgrade); etc.
I have seen a huge uptake in Macs all around me and it’s satisfying, because the rest of the world has woken up. That said, i wish the Apple store wasn’t so full all the time and the staff were a little more trained.
Michael Minton
on 25 Jan 12I’m sure you expected these “unique” replies but posted anyway. I commend thee.
Carlos da Silva
on 25 Jan 12“No other company has inspired me more when it comes to marketing, design, focus, and even capitalism than Apple. Make the best damn product out there, charge a profitable price, and win the world.”
Some good points, however, there is a huge price human beings (here in the US and China) are paying for this amazing accomplishment of Apple.
See article on NYtimes http://nyti.ms/zMvFGL
Matthew
on 25 Jan 12How is making a ton of profit off of overpriced hardware made by mistreated Chinese workers an “astounding and awe-inspiring accomplishment”?
Look, I like 37signals for a lot of reasons, but this is ridiculous. Apple’s business practices have been shady at best, and to see a small company that has stood against the norm continually play kiss-ass to Apple is starting to make me question your intentions as well.
Erik
on 25 Jan 12@Neils. Apple is Apple. They are pretty consistent but once you get beyond the knee-jerk distain for locking you into a closed eco system you realize there are benefits and the terms are pretty fair. iBooks Author for example is free and useful for those who wish to publish free books or books in the iBookstore exclusively. If you want to publish for Kindle then you need to use Amazon’s excellent and free Kindle Author application (sic).
Apple hasn’t changed much. Those who choose their platform are generally rewarded with good value and they dont screw their customers. People buy again and again and that is the real story of apples success. All of those bazillion devices they are selling now are just the first purchase of many. It’s the “halo” you only get from very satisfied customers. Are Samsung Galaxy owners likely to demand a Samsung tv or appliance or whatever because they are so blown away by their phone experience? iPhone customers are almost guaranteed to buy more Apple products again and again. It how they have such incredible growth. They sow the seeds for future quarters with each sale in the current one.
How do you compete with that?
John
on 25 Jan 12“Macs are better” or “Windows is a better OS” will always be subjective statements. Use whatever makes and keeps you the most productive.
And these days, if you want to do as Apple said, and “be different”, you’d get a Windows Phone.
Steffen Hiller
on 25 Jan 12David, I believe that you converted a lot people through Ruby on Rails. When I started with Rails in the beginning of 2007 and saw all the screencasts and videos with guys using Macs, I bought me a Mac, too. :)
Erik
on 25 Jan 12NB those whining about Apple building products in China are selective in omitting that EVERY consumer electronic device is made in those same factories with those same workers including the device they posted their condemnation from.
They omit that the suicide rate among fonconn workers is lower than the suicide rate of any similar US population.
They omit that if those jobs were made available in the US nobody would want to do them and they would need to get Mexicans to do it like all of the other boring and tedious jobs they get Latinos to do for minimum wage shortly before deporting them back to Guatemala. Who do you thing works in meat packing plants and picks the fruit, nuts and vegetables?
Rimantas
on 25 Jan 12[citation needed]
Did Apple start asking money for all the work they did on WebKit, CUPS, LLVM, GCD too?
Greg
on 25 Jan 12N00b.
Blues4Free
on 25 Jan 12Interesting that this post sort of talks about David’s love for Apple being related to using their products (computers and OS) back in the early 2000s and now Apple is now killing it.
However, where Apple is killing it (at least sales wise) is not in the OS or computer department but rather with the iPhone and iPad. Astonishingly, Apple’s market share of computers/OS has not changed much since 1990.
So, I see a bit of a disconnect in this post. Also of interest is how the new Windows Phone 7 is doing. Microsoft is actually doing something really interesting and of quality there. Its an interesting role reversal as Microsoft is now trying to unseat Apple in the mobile dept.
frockenstein
on 25 Jan 12Making ‘em in China’s as much about Chinese agility and flexibility as much as cost: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Clinton Paquin
on 25 Jan 12you should integrate a Facebook like button to these posts. I have plenty to agree with you on, but I just plain like your sentiments.
Nick
on 25 Jan 12A friend of mine posted on Facebook about a year ago asking opinions on getting a Mac vs a PC. I have both a Mac and a PC and suggested that for what she wanted to do, a PC running Windows 7 was a better choice/value. She ended up getting a Mac, because most of her other friends convinced her that having a Mac was the cooler option. One year later she needed to connect her Mac to a projector for her kids birthday party and was having difficulty. One $50 adapter later she was good, but was another reason (along with having to get new software, learn a new OS, etc, etc) of why she realized in hindsight that she should have gotten a Windows 7 machine. Some people need a hammer, some need a saw. You choice of tools should be what you need it for, not what is cool. I got fed up with my IPhone 3G crashing and freezing up with Apple’s latest OS so I upgraded to a Windows 7 Phone, nothing against the IPhone, but I found my Windows 7 to be much more useful and relevant to what I wanted a smartphone for. Good on Apple for hitting some big numbers, but don’t count out Microsoft just yet.
anandkumar ilkal
on 25 Jan 12There is no company in the past or current which isn’t greedy. There are just different levels of greed, practiced by different companies. Every great companies have done it and will continue to do that. if they forgo such goals, theres no way they can become great and Apple is one of such company. Microsoft has done it in the past, Apple is doing it now and there’s no doubt google and Facebook will do the same. In all of this there’s only one exception and thats Linux kernel org.
i have used windows since 2003, continue to use. But i spend most of my time on Linux, and using iPhone, Macbook for a year now.
Mac Martine
on 25 Jan 12I completely agree. They aren’t perfect all around, and sometimes I love to hate them, but if they didn’t have such strong opinions and stand behind them they wouldn’t be who they are. If they always did what everyone thought they should do they would be boring not not innovative. No company comes close to having customer evangelists like they do, in my mind. People love Apple products, they love to show them off and talk about them, and often be the first to buy them. It’s really an amazing thing they’ve done.
TC
on 25 Jan 12I personally have been on the exact same timeline as this article. I bought my first mac in 2002, and my eyes were opened and I became an avid apple fan and attempted to spread the word to all who needed stability and a good OS. I fell in love with the Mac and in succession, the iPod family and the iphone family as they were released.
Fast forward 10 years and find myself purposefully not buying apple products and trying to get anyone and everyone I know to stop buying them too.
They are now the giant behemoth and in my decades of following tech, I have never seen another company (even microsoft) stifle innovation more than apple has begun to. Other companies may strive to improve their product lines to better compete with apple (a benefit to all consumers) and apple promptly sues. I have moved on to android, and have found I actually far prefer it to the iOS family. I type in my email and password and the entire device sets itself up. I have no stability problems and you can’t get any easier… my love for iOS began to fade as I watched it linger and begin to pull in Android innovations instead of innovating itself (yet apple still gets credit for innovation).
I still work on a Macbook Pro. I however have not upgraded to Lion and I am not sure I ever will. The Mac app store is another attempt to control the device you OWN. I don’t want to be in a locked in ecosystem wether it “just works” or not.
My next computer purchase will purposefully not be an apple for the first time in 10 years. Windows 8 intrigues me, as does windows phone (i never thought i would say that, but if you play with one, it is actually faster and smoother than ios or android and on lesser hardware). I may even “hackintosh” it, but I will put the retail copy of snow leopard I already own on it as I refuse to give any more of my money to apple to help support their patent troll ways and litigious nature. They have stopped competing by innovating in software (their hardware still has amazing design and pushes the envelope) and instead are attempting to sue their way to avoiding competition. That’s just the way it appears to me and I just can’t support it.
Bill
on 25 Jan 12You can count me as one of your converts. I was toting one of the only Dells in the room when I went to one of your Getting Real conferences in Chicago.
After hearing about your definition of “Taste”, I switched soon after and haven’t looked back (with the exception of a year in Windows hell working as a govt contractor).
Dan
on 25 Jan 12Nice, but to suggest that using Apple circa 2002 required vision is a bit of a stretch. I remember using an Apple IIGS when I was a kid and realizing that that was a fun product aesthetically to use.
Then when the all-in-one Macintosh came out in the early 90’s, again, the software was just better than Windows.
By the time Jobs had been back for a while and the new line of Powerbooks and iMacs were coming out, it was pretty obvious that these were vastly superior in design to what was currently available from Dell/Compaq/HP.
Dmitriy Likhten
on 25 Jan 12Look, apple makes superior products, I cannot point to any machine that can beat my Macbook Air head-to-head in both performance, weight, battery life, price, and usability. In fact almost every other computer can’t even come close to any one point.
To top it all off it runs Mac OSX which I enjoy developing in much more than Windows.
Yet.
I cannot agree or support the direction of the company. The company definitely knows how to sell, but I do not agree with the ethics of their model.
Jake Parsell
on 25 Jan 12The comeback is complete: http://www.paulgraham.com/mac.html
brad
on 25 Jan 12the final stage of enlightenment comes with open source, when you realize the goal is not to “win the world” by giving the masses a better master, but to set people free.
David Andersen
on 25 Jan 12Sure Brad. Someday every software developer will work for free or for meager donations in the quest for utopian nirvana. Why stop there? Medical services, auto repair, movies, air transportation – they all want to be free if we’d only have the fortitude to drop our silly notions of exchanging value for value.
David Andersen
on 25 Jan 12@Dmitriy -
What are, exactly, the ethics of their model?
Igwe
on 25 Jan 12I prefer windows 7 to os x lion. Just a lot more practical in my opinion. Drank the mac koolaid for a while and spat it out. An os without cut and paste in the 21st century is a joke.
GeeIWonder
on 25 Jan 12This sounds something someone with a tribal or asian symbol tattoo would say.
Peter
on 25 Jan 12No I do not use mac, because it is expensive. As simple as that. This post is really ridiculous; why to prefer a company with huge profit margins? Because it is cool… Ok kids, back to the reality. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382396/Workers-Chinese-Apple-factories-forced-sign-pledges-commit-suicide.html
Tom
on 25 Jan 12David Andersen 25 Jan 12
“Sure Brad. Someday every software developer will work for free or for meager donations in the quest for utopian nirvana. Why stop there? Medical services, auto repair, movies, air transportation – they all want to be free if we’d only have the fortitude to drop our silly notions of exchanging value for value.”
It is a silly notion. One that is entirely unsustainable and inherently injust. And by the way, it’s not exchanging value for value. It’s value for tokens. Who has the most tokens wins. Stupid.
Michal
on 25 Jan 12The problem is most of the “love” effect comes from a psychological sales manipulation when you just convince yourself that you chose something backward because it was “special” and “better”. That’s the driving force behind queues in front of Apple stors (aside from another manipulation from a company otherwise noted as one with the best supply channels).
High profits also don’t come from nothing. Once you create this emotional attachment, when people have to fight back bad comments about their choice, then you can heavily overcharge on product configurations slower and cheaper than anything else. Oh it’s really inspiring to learn that 13 year old kids actually work their assess of to make a shiny iPhone or an iPad. This company has no integrity, it will manipulate the data, put stress on meaningless things (vide brand new fullscreen button in Lion).
Do their products get update prices as they age? Nope. How much does a high-spec 15 incher cost? 3k USD isn’t it (bah!). Warranty is one-year only, you can expand if you pay. Telephone support is 90 days for free – later you have to pay.
Damn, you even pay for these minor updates which they dare to call new versions of the OS.
Kendall
on 25 Jan 12Jim Fuller:
In fact you DO see Apple contributing back to open source, very heavily. Webkit is a major example. LLVM another. When Apple makes use of an open source project they DO contribute back and are making some serious advances in a number of open source projects.
Mark
on 25 Jan 12And this is why posts are better without comments. The amount of misinformation in the comments here are so grand that it’s impossible to address all or even some.
Beautiful post!
Travis
on 25 Jan 12“The future is free, and Apple will not be part of it.”
Yeah, we’ve heard that next year will be the year of Linux going on about 10 years now.
Until “free software” zealots stop complaining about Apple and actually develop a quality, well-designed, usable and manageable operating system that just works out of the box for the 99% of people who don’t care to muck about with .conf files or command-line terminals, there will never be a “Year of Linux.”
Obsydia
on 25 Jan 12My first Apple was a II+ in ‘79. I’ve had Ataris, Amigas, IBM PCs, HPs, Dells, used Xenix, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, VMS, etc.
I still go back to my Macs and my iPhones as my primary computing devices. Apple isn’t the friendly, scrappy upstart anymore and many of their business practices are those of the giants they used to rail against in the early 80s. That doesn’t phase me as much as why I started using Apple products to begin with — for me, they simply are easier to use, more pleasurable to use, and a greater value to me.
I think a lot of other people are finally agreeing with that, and the financial results are their IMO justified reward. I’m not going to hate something just because it’s popular or like something because it isn’t. Apple still provides superior value for my interests and will continue to have my support until they no longer do.
DH
on 25 Jan 12Michal – Your “comment” makes zero sense. Have you actually compared Apples products to the competition lately? The price argument died a long time ago buddy. People buy their products because they like them. That’s it – it’s not a psychological conspiracy. Get over it. And about China – Apple is one of the few companies that actually give a damn about worker conditions. Do you actually know the age of the average worker in a tech factory in China? A factory by the way that makes products for not just Apple, but a majority of tech companies in the world? I’m sure you use those “shiny” products as well. Get off your high horse.
Andrew
on 25 Jan 12The way DHH feels about Apple, I feel about JavaScript. 10 years ago, it was mocked; now it’s the basis for some of the most interesting innovations in software. Great JS devs have their pick of amazing opportunities and projects. It’s satisfying to see the underdog win.
Liz
on 25 Jan 12what a lame ending …
Gustav
on 25 Jan 12Apple haters have been around forever. They don’t really want to know why people think Apple products are better. They just keep spewing nonsense until someone is simply not adept at arguing with them so they can claim victory. They’ll keep spewing the same garbage about being overpriced, made by chinese slaves, etc.
Simply put, Apple products are better because they design them with user experience first and foremost. They don’t take a spreadsheet and figure out what feature gets the most return, and what they can cut to save money, etc. etc. Every button, menu placement, mouse ballistic, etc. was designed to not only be aesthetically pleasing to the user, but to maximize productivity and ease of use instead. They consider features and how they work together, not just by themselves. Sure they make mistakes here and there, but overall, much better than MS or Linux, which has no oversight to usability whatsoever.
Apple treats their Chinese contractors much better than the competition. Disagree? Go read their standards for their contractors.
The fact is Apple is winning, and the Apple haters can’t stand it. So they continue their vitriol unabated hoping to convince others.
Calm down, people. Other people’s choices in computer don’t have to match yours. Get over it.
G.Irish
on 25 Jan 12Make no mistake, Apple has always been just as evil as Microsoft, it’s just that they didn’t have the market share to act on it. Now that they have a dominant position with iOS you see them prosecuting a patent war against Android manufacturers and attempting to lock in textbook publishers to iBooks 2, among other things.
Apple makes great products but I am fearful of a day when Apple doesn’t have any competition (and the Feds) to keep them honest. With Apple you always know that you are “serving at the pleasure of the King” and they can instantly screw over a significant portion of the user base at the drop of a hat.
In a way that is also one of their strengths—they are not afraid to upend or destroy their own business to get to some place better (in their view). If they can continue taking users to ‘some place better’ they’re going to be massively profitable for some time to come.
Shock Me
on 25 Jan 12I’ve been an Apple user since 1984. I’m entirely pleased they have pulled their head from their ass and are firing on all cylinders.
jeroen
on 25 Jan 12What the hell are you talking about?
Kendall
on 25 Jan 12G.Irish:
Apple has never been as evil, or even as close to evil as Microsoft.
Apple actually improves open standards and builds atop them – HTML and Webkit, which Android in fact uses heavily (Thanks Apple!). They don’t embrace and extend, instead they simply (as you put it) advance.
They are not attempting to “lock in” publishers with iAuthor. Anyone can re-format the work in another tool and sell it elsewhere. What Apple is trying to do is to make an iPad the BEST eTextbook reader, by making a tool that lets anyone on the planet make some really interesting and advanced textbooks.
Apple is suing people right now, yes, but even that is not as evil as Microsoft was in the heyday when they were really shutting down good companies. Apple is only going after massive companies they feel are really infringing on design, not the little guys. It’s not like Apple is suing every single Android handset maker.
David Andersen
on 25 Jan 12@Tom – you’re good at baseless assertions. Now try thinking.
Eric
on 25 Jan 12Holy smoke the trolls are thick! So much misinformation. Apple has it problems, but it’s by far the best run company in the US. It’s not that Apple is so great, it’s just they’re better than the rest who put profits over people, and market share over profit. Not terribly smart in either case.
yet another steve
on 25 Jan 12Too bad a deep big picture post like this has to get dragged down by the latest nanocontroversy trolls. I’m starting to really be with gruber on comments. In fact, I’d share theses thought personally than get involved here, but here goes anyway.
1. You’re not the only one. Some of us fought this fight starting in the 80s. Against DOS (when it didn’t mean denial of serivce!)
2. There’s a new fight which I think may even be deeper than product design: Who is the customer? Am I the customer or the thing being sold? I never have to worry about this with Apple. Their loyalty is to their users who make them fabulously rich. Voluntary exchange of money for delight. It’s how business is supposed to be done.
David S.
on 25 Jan 12I’ve been fighting the pro-Apple battle since 1987, it’s a lot easier nowadays! Yes, it’s very satisfying to see how well they’ve done recently, and how many people are now comprehending the reality that was always in front of their eyes – great integrated design (of hardware and software) really does make a difference and only Apple seems to understand that. Still.
Mike
on 25 Jan 12Love those kinds of comments, been hearing them since the absolutely abysmal quality of Windows 95 drove me to the Mac platform in 1996.
I ran Macs throughout the OS 8 to OS X transition, and had little problem with crashing before or after the Unix switch. True, the old Mac OS was crash-prone in low memory situations, but there was a simple solution: Buy plenty of memory. Expensive in the 90s, but if you did it, even an OS 7-9 Mac would VERY seldom crash. Especially in comparison with the defective mess that Windows was at the time.
G.Irish
on 25 Jan 12@Kendall Apple is not locking publishers in with iAuthor, they’re locking publishers in with their iBooks2 textbooks agreement. If you sell your etextbook with Apple you cannot sell it elsewhere.
Parsing it further though, it seems like they’re just saying that you can’t sell the ibooks format elsewhere. So all of the extra interactivty that you can add with iAuthor would be exclusive to the iBooks version of your textbook. I imagine they’re trying to stall any attempt to publish the same etextbook on competing platforms.
Not the most tyrannical move ever, but certainly an attempt to hurt the competition by making it more difficult to go cross platform. Again, not unlike what MS would do back in the day.
Tom
on 25 Jan 12As numerous people have pointed out, Apple’s financial success has little do with OS X and everything to do with iphone and ipad. So we don’t need any more of these “OS X is so great” statements. It’s not relevant at all.
@david anderson: Nice counter argument. I rest my case.
Cosmin L. Neagu
on 25 Jan 12How can you be proud of something you have no contribution in creating? Can you be proud of being 6”?
Jim Fuller
on 25 Jan 12to Kendall;
I never said Apple didn’t contribute back, but the contribution is completely asymmetric to the benefit they claim … I know execution is a big part of any effort and I give Apple its due (esp with the hardware) there but what Apple is doing now is like rewriting history e.g. ‘we did it all ourselves’ or at the very least not saying very much about just how much Open Source was a part of its success. Maybe Bill Gates feels the same way when he propped up Apple’s stock by investing in it, those many years ago … probably not because he made money.
Open Source is the reason why Apple survived, I would contend its the reason why they could build such software … just the toolbase is astounding. As for people thinking there is no open source software in iphones or ipads ... oh well.
In 1995, I had to deal with 10 of those clamshell powerbooks … I think it was 7.6 then … yes these were the ones the erupted into flames due to the battery … back then I hated both windows and macs and my desktop was a stonking silicon graphics box running bsd. The only reason I eventually choose Apple in 2001 was the build quality (everything else was cheap plastic, thats seems to be changing) ... and the fact that I could get a reasonable version of unix running on it.
The ensuing decade and Apple seems to want to bury the past … maybe someday there will be an enlightened software companies who offer % to open source developers for their contributed hard work. Its already filtering its way into the hiring process which is encouraging e.g. open source experience can translate into good job opportunities.
I appreciate that Apple pushes the envelope but wished that they would give credit where due and contribute a lot more to open source developers.
ploogman
on 25 Jan 12@ Tom
I disagree entirely. OS X kept them in the game during the past 10-12 years and picked up more and more fans like myself in 2007 as people discovered (at least in my case) that it was Unix with a great GUI and great programming environment.
Sure the iPad and iPhone have been huge. But OS X adoption was still on the uptick before they were released. And now look at OS X Mac sales numbers. Massive.
I think it is really all about OS X and in some ways the quality of the iPod that made people think, huh, the iPod is pretty cool and these machines look pretty cool and now they run on Intel..hmm, I’ll get one and ditch the virus world.
rm
on 25 Jan 12“2. There’s a new fight which I think may even be deeper than product design: Who is the customer? Am I the customer or the thing being sold? I never have to worry about this with Apple. Their loyalty is to their users who make them fabulously rich. Voluntary exchange of money for delight. It’s how business is supposed to be done.”
Did you never watch any of Steve’s WWDC keynotes?
Apple “loyalty” is clearly to your credit card numbers. In fact, the number of credit card numbers attached to iTunes was (and continues to be) Apple’s reference metric for Appstore success. Feel free to go back and watch the last WWDC keynote where Steve goes on and on about how Apple has x million credit cards to sell your apps to.
The most successful businesses are great at convincing the chattel into believing they are the consumer.
Tom2_as_last_tom_is_banned?
on 25 Jan 12Hey, everyone is entitled to love whatever they want. But when it gets to the dependency stage, as it seems to have done with a lot of commenters here, I think that’s sad.
They are just a company, for crying out loud. They mass produce products and sell them. They don’t love you, the way you love them. I look forward to their slide into oblivion.
Graham C
on 25 Jan 12Escaped to the world of Mac in 1995 on OS7.5. Loved it to bits compared with Windows. Helped a publishing friend put his business on the Web that year with PageMill. Wrote software in CodeWarrior Pascal.
Enjoyed using kit that didn’t hang, crash or just behave stupidly. For a while OSX was a step backwards. Had to switch back to OS9 to use useful apps that I could afford.
Bought a purple iMac for my son and he made money designing icons for Stone Studio. Helped him get a first class degree in Product design.
Having had a selection of flawed phones from Nokia, HTC, Motorola, Handspring, I bought an iPhone. It just worked and you could browse real websites – wow!
My iPad is almost years old and has paid for itself in saved international data charges. I have a wallet full of microSIMs for international trips. I no longer need an office. I can work anywhere with minimal fuss.
Thank you Apple for great, reliable, workmanlike tools….
Tom Stoecklein
on 25 Jan 12@Jim Fuller:
My only experiences with the Mac pre-OS X were from early days in school with what were outdated machines even then. But nevertheless, I remember some of the problems. And OS X was a godsend: not only compared to early Mac OS versions, but Windows as well (especially Windows).
An absolutely huge part of that’s due to it being derived from BSD. There’s no question there. But we can’t contribute all of OS X’s successes to that: it’s the framework upon which things are built, but Apple deserves the bulk of the credit for what they did on top of that framework. One need only look at other BSD-derived operating systems to see the differences where they have failed and Apple has succeeded.
Has Apple given back? Absolutely; they’ve been one of the major drivers of UI innovation, digital design & typography, and a number of areas from the very beginning. The results of such innovations are found everywhere: from nearly every computer to nearly every open source project. But such influence doesn’t have to be direct and immediate; instead, it’s easier to consider it in a fluid and organic manner.
Should they pay (and given how big a point Apple’s profit margin was in your comment, I’m going to assume this is what you mean – correct me if I’m wrong, please) the people who helped push BSD from its early academic beginnings into what it is? No; that’s not the point of open source.
Assuming for the sake of argument you could even determine who to “give back” to, that’s not why they released things as OSS in the first place.
If you believe in the open source model, you have to by extension not only recognize the possibility that some derivatives might be commercialized, but indeed, you have to embrace that possibility as a natural outgrowth of the spirit of open development. Otherwise, well, you’re being disingenuous at best. Countless companies do the same, and we’re better for it.
What Apple did didn’t harm the open source community: on the contrary, it gave to the community the highest regards by placing that sort of trust in so many open source projects. Regardless of how they’re used, when you get right down to it, just being used can only help an open source project.
But it’s all really missing the boat. Apple credits all of the open source projects they’ve utilized in both OS X and on their website where they link back to each. On top of that, they’ve released a number of their own internal projects to the world which you canview here.
Criticize Apple if you want. There’s plenty to at least base valid arguments off of. But don’t go ditching a tool you’ve used for nearly a decade just because you’re mistaken about their dedication to the open source community. If that’s the case, next time you’re at the bank skip the ATM and go in to see the teller. Bonus points if you can get her to handle your transaction without using the bank’s software systems (all of which have a number of elements based on open source projects).
Apple making money isn’t a bad thing. They make it because they offer a superior product. It’s as simple as that. Instead of criticizing them, celebrate them: after all, if you have a retirement fund it’s almost an absolute given that, either directly or indirectly, you benefit financially as well.
Tom2_as_last_tom_is_banned?
on 25 Jan 12And another thing after watching the “gushing” 37signals video about Apple. How can they say “We will always use Macs’?” How can they know that something better will not come along? The answer: they don’t care.
They have been marketed into a mindset that they believe elevates them above others. “We use Mac. We are 37signals.” It’s a perverted elitism that defies reason. I know because I have an ipod and I’ve used a Mac. Neither impresses me. Maybe I need to watch more adverts???
JimFuller
on 26 Jan 12to Tom Stoecklein;
thanks for the thoughtful response and I hope you don’t take my further remarks as trolling … I think I agree with you more then disagree.
My issue with Apple is not them making a stack of money or the capitalistic drive towards it. I give them credit as a forward looking company, superior in lots of ways and probably deserve the pile of money they have in a lot more ways then other companies do.
my main criticism is the world they are imagining today …. I see appstore as a boiling frog scenario and an indication of whats to come, its actually the oldest business trick in the book e.g. control distribution.
Its funny how they destroyed the music industry by ‘killing their cash cow’ by offering more value, but then they go and apply the same strategy the music companies themselves have employed for decades to software development and distribution of software.
As a programmer for several decades I am very glad we live in a hybrid world where we have commercial entities (to pay me) and open source software (to retain my sanity). I have contributed to open source for a few decades and whilst I may sound grumpy or unloved for my contribution that is not my point.
I just think that the value derived from the open source contribution is magnitudes greater then the commercial entities are willing to recognize, there needs to be a re-balance.
I am certainly not advocating chaos, but I do think that as Open Source continues to show itself as a superior way to innovate that the commercial side will eventually have to catch up.
The problem commercial entities have with Open Source is the lack of ownership of IP … when a company owns IP it shows on its balance sheet; when a company dies or is bought the IP gets sold … those promotes hoarding of IP versus application. Also because executing software is so difficult (once again I give Apple top marks for execution) it becomes more attractive to sit on IP and make money prosecuting or licensing it to others.
Alternately, death or change in open source typically means recycling of the more useful bits of a project, in this way Open Source emulates the genetic algorithm, where ‘good software’ bubbles up as a fit for purpose (and survives to the next generation).
IP ownership breaks the evolutionary process locking up the good and bad bits. In fact I think most people these days see the weaknesses of copyright, patents and such systems thought up in the 18th century.
I imagine Apple contribution to open source today, whilst quite impressive, is probably less altruistic e.g. it may just be a decision to improve Apple core developer morale then anything else … and really lets call the contribution what it is in relation to the benefit … sure its big compared to other companies but its crumbs compared to the benefit the commercial entity has received by employing it.
Open Source won’t go away and whilst you may not know it, its actually (independently of whatever commercial model is in affect) is slowly crawling the problem domain for a business model that will continue its survival. I welcome the day when companies like Apple see this future.
I can see how my statements appear naive, of course Apple is never going to make payments to programmers, but I am not an altruistic programmer believing that Open Source is the ‘one true way’ and we should just follow it as monk programmers. Rather just thinking out loud that things should be a little bit more balanced.
Ryan
on 26 Jan 12Apple’s financial success isn’t about Macs. It’s about iPods, iPhones and iPads.
I love my Mac, but Apple would still be an also-ran if it hadn’t diversified into products that look and function nothing like it. The Mac was a cul-de-sac. An elegant, nicely profitable (for now) dead end now maintained by Apple’s second string engineers.
Beau
on 26 Jan 12I have been a long time Mac user.
Apple has earned their success, and their heap of profit. Seems like some people think they earn to much money. How is that possible? Year after year for a decade they have proven that great products prevail over mediocre ones in the consumer market. There might be no saving corporate IT :)
There was a quote by Bill Gates once that said something to the effect “Doesn’t he (Steve Jobs) know he can’t win” To which the interviewer says… “No, I don’t think he does”.
His drive, and passion built a one of a kind company has driven our industry forward in ways unimaginable a decade ago.
But personally, I believe Apple is in need of some competition. I think Microsoft might been on to something with Windows phone. You should stop by the store and check it out if you haven’t yet. Hopefully they can do something great with it.
I love Apple, but I love great technology more. No matter where it comes from. I hope that right now someone is burning the midnight oil in their garage creating something else that I can’t quite comprehend yet.
Space Gorilla
on 26 Jan 12You know what’s fun? Reading through comments on articles like this and watching the anti-Apple crowd’s collective heads exploding. I’ve got some bad news, the next decade isn’t going to be much fun for you folks.
pdq
on 26 Jan 12”...[I] suggested that for what she wanted to do, a PC running Windows 7 was a better choice/value. She ended up getting a Mac, because most of her other friends convinced her that having a Mac was the cooler option. One year later she needed to connect her Mac to a projector for her kids birthday party and was having difficulty. One $50 adapter later she was good…”
Ummm, if you’re really a mac user, wouldn’t you know that even at the Apple Store, a Display Port to DVI or VGA video adapter is $19-29? And cheaper anywhere else.
Sounds like she needs a new computer-savvy friend.
David Andersen
on 26 Jan 12@Tom – I can’t counter argue vapor. Try substance, not unsupported emoting.
David Andersen
on 26 Jan 12“In fact I think most people these days see the weaknesses of copyright, patents and such systems thought up in the 18th century.”
Every system/thing ever created has weaknesses. What’s the point? They also have strengths.
The age of a system alone does not necessarily correlate to its utility. The human race isn’t really all that different from hundreds/thousands of years ago.
Not that you are saying this, but we don’t need to jettison everything ever created 100 years ago just because it’s 100 years old. Some ideas stand the test of time and at their core are the best we can do within the framework of human behavior. Every generation likes to think everything is different in their time, but it’s not so different.
Kendal Parks
on 26 Jan 12For nearly two decades I’ve read articles about Apple, maybe fifty a day or so. Nearly 100% of all complaints about Apple are based on some mistruth, distortion or outright lie. Sometime it’s ignorance and others it’s malice. What is noteworthy is the incredible integrity this company has maintained throughout their history, which becomes obvious the more you know about the truth of any matter pertaining to them. I would be incredibly honoured to have such a track record as Apple! I know of no company small or large that is even in the same category for corporate ethics and integrity!
David
on 26 Jan 12This article made me a little sick after reading it. I’ve used Macs and iPhones before, but I would never buy anything this company makes because they are greedy and arrogant! I don’t like greedy people and people who think they are better because they own Apple and this company inspires them to be like that! Not for me! I am much more productive using Windows 7 than Mac OSX. For anyone who thinks “everything just works better” that is pure BS. I had to provide tech support to people using Macs, and they sure didn’t know what they were doing!
Andy
on 26 Jan 12Beside the fanboy histeria: what is wrong about apple products beeing more expensive than other tech gadgets? I quote Steve Jobs: ” what I always liked about the consumer market [...] if people like what they see: they’ll buy it! And if they won’t they don’t! If people see a proper value in their products They will buy it. Unlike the situation with Microsoft during the 90s, where you were almost forced to use Windows because of the almost non existing ecosystems around other plattforms, there are plenty of other vendors you can choose from, especially if it comes to OSes… the same is true within mobile! If people choose macs: they prefer apple products! But to make myself clear: I want the other companys to create superb and great products for the consumers, so that we all have the freedom of choice, even the freedom not to jump in the apple ecosystem! another Steve Jobs Quote: we have to stop thinking that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to loose! there is room for a lot of different approaches when it comes to personal computing!
Andy
on 26 Jan 12@ all the people which are attacking Apple for their greedy business model (which include poor chinese workers working their butts of…) Do you really! in all honesty believe that the bunch of cheap products you obviously own (because you would never buy this overhyped, overpriced shiny Apple stuff) is made under better human and environmental conditions???? We as consumers have all the duty to question where the products come from we use and under which circumstances they are produced, but to blame one company for it and to buy another companys products which are made under the same or maybe worse conditions…that is rather silly!
CityKid
on 26 Jan 12Ummm NO.
Of course Apple is starting to look like Google and Microsoft. Offshore jobs and profits to bolster the bottom line. Then of course there is the issue of FCP X and how Apple dissed the very folks that made their brand. Who long can this go on? I wonder? Blackberry used to be very hot.
- “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=2&ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all
- “A response to the news from Apple” http://www.thisamericanlife.org/blog/2012/01/a-response-to-the-news-from-apple
- “How Apple is sabotaging an open standard for digital books” http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/how-apple-is-sabotaging-an-open-standard-for-digital-books/4378
Ain’t capitalism grand?
GeeIWonder
on 26 Jan 12This is ABSOLUTE bullshit, and I’m sick of hearing it.
Gates has done shitloads for the world. SHITLOADS. Meanwhile Jobs (RIP) was too much of a megalomaniac to put together a proper succession plan. This, after jumping ship from 4 fucking companies in a row right as they just about went under.
So then this poor bugger last year has to come up and try and sell an incrementally innovative widget. No wonder the thing flopped.
Windows may not be your deal—that’s cool. But this evil stuff just doesn’t mesh up with any objective reality.
Ian
on 26 Jan 12The “X vs Y” debate is fun for the young’uns, but for those of us actually out there in the trenches earning a living from IT, it pays to be platform and hardware agnostic, in terms of preference and capability. Those people who say “I simply won’t use X” are closing the door on a potential avenue of revenue. In the real world (or at least the business world), it goes beyond what looks pretty, and what is this weeks designer-tech.
Scott
on 26 Jan 12“Apple has never been as evil, or even as close to evil as Microsoft.”
You have got to be kidding, right? Wow. Just, wow. Some people really are brainwashed by Apple. Funny that comment should come out the same day Gates donates $750 million (on top of a previous $650 million) to fight global diseases.
baku
on 26 Jan 12It’s so strange DDH doesn’t come back to talk about this post, uh? he probably thought that people totally love Apple and was not ready about all the criticism that’s under the surface, not talking about discussing it.
Discuss with people it’s soooooo web 1.0
DHH
on 26 Jan 12baku, I shared a story and a feeling. People are free to express how they feel different. But arguing about a story and a feeling with what’s available here doesn’t seem like a good use of time. Knock yourself out, though!
Igwe
on 26 Jan 12@jeroen
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-183472.html
Chris Schmitt
on 26 Jan 12I’m very happy with all of my Apple purchases and experiences. (Apple, please create a video about me) Apple cares about the customer’s integrated experience. (We want you to buy everything from us) Apple is different (‘cause everyone else sucks badly)
Let’s stop whining and just be happy we’re not doing all our develop in DOS.
JG
on 26 Jan 12I’m a Mac also.
Although I know a lot of Denmarks “rough and ready” Linux mavens, I always suspected Macs would align well with the Danish/Scandinavian minimalist design aesthetic pretty fell.
Macs give me the save calmness, pleasure and satisfaction that piece of Georg Jensen jewelry or Ole Wanscher or Kaare Klint furniture.
Of course Danish modernism has its roots in German Bauhaus which is also the common root for Braun’s Dieter Rams who was the inspiration for Apple’s Steve Jobs and Jony Ives so there’s a common connection.
Anonymous Coward
on 26 Jan 12@DHH If you speak in public, as a public person, then people may judge what you said and the way you put it down. Also what they think is behind.
And criticize some simplification of reality:
“but because Apple was a better company. A braver company. A company that stood for higher ideals”. I mean…do you REALLY believe something like that? Higher ideals?
We are talking about stuff. Computer-related stuff. I mean I’m a developer, but it’s still just computer related stuff.
Built by people in china. In working conditions for whom you would be put in a jail for a long time in any western country. Higher ideals what?
But yeah: Designed in California.
baku
on 26 Jan 12The last comment was mine.
Space Gorilla
on 26 Jan 12Ah, but Chris, remember when the Mac came out in 1984 it was the same anti-Apple crowd that said it was a toy for babies and only idiots needed a graphical user interface with a mouse. I still have my 1984 Mac. Funny how none of the anti-Apple crowd uses that argument anymore.
Mark Frankel
on 26 Jan 12“No other company has inspired me more when it comes to marketing, design, focus, and even capitalism than Apple. Make the best damn product out there, charge a profitable price, and win the world.”
Being inspired by Apple’s marketing, design and focus is hard to argue with. But, if your view of capitalism goes beyond “he with the most chips wins”, you may want to think a little deeper whether you have an accurate story with Apple.
Take a look at the writings of Umair Haque for a model of capitalism that I think might resonate better.
David Andersen
on 26 Jan 12re: evil
Anyone referencing evil with respect to Microsoft or Apple is either incredibly careless with words or utterly clueless about the nature of evil.
David Andersen
on 26 Jan 12@baku -
It’s easy to complain about working conditions in China for the people who manufacture Apple (and most other tech) products. What I never hear from the complainers are alternatives (with their tradeoffs) and at least a tacit acknowledgement of the benefits that these people have relative to times before.
John
on 26 Jan 12While Apple is a great company, the Microsoft bashing is a little too strong. They are a great company as well.
Josh Ames
on 26 Jan 12We are talking about Apple’s products, not their business tactics. Apple still makes great products, and they are now in the mainstream. To many people, the product is all that matters.
Sideswiped
on 26 Jan 12I’m so glad my megacorporation beat their megacorporation?
SIR
on 26 Jan 12“Gates has done shitloads for the world. SHITLOADS .”
Gates. Not Microsoft, Gates as an individual. Jobs has also donated significant sums of money to charity but chose to keep it quiet. Unlike Gates, he didn’t feel he needed the publicity.
“Meanwhile Jobs (RIP) was too much of a megalomaniac to put together a proper succession plan.”
Anyone with more than half a brain bouncing around inside their skull has known that Tim Cook was the heir apparent for years.
GeeIWonder
on 26 Jan 12Actually, Gates as an organization. Actually, Gates as an organization of several organizations. And not just money. Hard things. Force multiplying things.
It seems arbitrary to be able to pick and choose where/when you credit/blame the organization. If you identify these guys as the companies, as they have oft been, it’s not even close. For the record, I think a strong case can also be made for Microsoft when compared with Apple. But the term ‘evil’ was not defined, so I suppose I’m sort of dancing in the dark here.
Facts not in evidence. Arguably because he wanted it that way. cf Forbes etc. But no one is arguing he was not a hell of a success and a guy who could get stuff done while he was still interested.
I said a succession plan, not an heir apparent. You don’t need to use your imagination here, as there are lots of case studies on how to do this in better ways. Imagine if he had used his imagination. Instead we’re left with, who was it? Cim Took?
We’ll see how they pull off the next few releases and electrify us all.
tom3
on 26 Jan 12So much nonsense from the Apple diehards. Let’s be scientific, shall we?
1. Mac is “just better” – prove it. 2. Apple cares more about the user – prove it. 3. Jobs donated significant sums to charity – prove it. 4. MS Windows is unstable / unusable – prove it. 5. Apple cares more about the Chinese workers – prove it ...etc
I can’t remember the last time I was surrounded by so many irrational, hopelessly brainwashed, imbeciles.
Space Gorilla
on 26 Jan 12“hopelessly brainwashed, imbeciles.” Yep, that’s pretty much what Apple users have been hearing for many, many years. At what point do you stop using that argument to explain away Apple’s success? Seriously, after Apple has a billion customers, will you still try to use that argument?
GeeIWonder
on 26 Jan 12He’s not arguing against their success. He’s arguing against unfounded claims that Apple users “have been [making] for many, many years” but apparently can’t be bothered to derive from first principles.
Here’s an argument against their success: Nothing Apple can really exist without Linux or Microsoft as bridge technologies at schools, as things to market against, and sources for most of the basic and applied research/tech that makes its way into the next Apple product. When Apple Kinect starts to be used and make a dent in a huge market and people start raving about how much more elegant it is, it will still just be Apple Kinect.
David Andersen
on 26 Jan 12“Nothing Apple can really exist without Linux or Microsoft as bridge technologies at schools, as things to market against, and sources for most of the basic and applied research/tech that makes its way into the next Apple product.”
You can say that about 90% or more of everything. Most new stuff is some sort of iteration of stuff that exists. Everything builds on the stuff before. So I guess no one is successful then.
David Andersen
on 26 Jan 12I also think it’s idiotic that some people only think a corporation is ‘doing good’ because of some philanthropic effort on their part. That’s icing on the cake.
If the corp creates something that others gain value and utility from, they’ve done good. There is nothing wrong with making money because you’ve produced something that other’s find beneficial. You don’t need to top that off with some sort of ‘giving back’ add-on to make it count for real.
GeeIWonder
on 26 Jan 12You’re missing the point. Apple needs to be small percent player. Their business model demands it. You need a majority of people to have switched to (not started on!) Apple tech because your tech is a premium product. Without the mean, there is no premium.
You don’t license your OS alone, so you can’t accommodate hardware configurations that are required or preferred at educational or institutional organizations. If you completely displace hardware configurations other than your own, you fail for the same reason—nevermind the fact that you no longer have the ecosystem or suppliers to develop and test the hardware you want to put in your next product before you put in your next product.
GeeIWonder
on 26 Jan 12So yes, in 2015, David Andersen will buy Apple Kinect and DHH will scold his friends for not having switched.
But hospitals and police departments and universities and high schools will be using something not Apple. And Apple will like that because it trains up a user base for them and they can learn UI lessons the easy way and makes their marketing easy.
GeeIWonder
on 27 Jan 12And one of the kids or companies playing with that non-premium graphics card or serial port will come up with a better way to use a GPU or an interface to a BASIC chip and get to work on a new technological paradigm—which Apple will need because the guys doing all the basic and applied research are in the other shops.
David Andersen
on 27 Jan 12@GW – if that was your point, it wasn’t evident in the prior post. But how is any of that an argument against their success? So they leverage basic products to create advanced or refined products? So? I can name 1,000 other companies that do the same thing. What’s the ultimate point here? Are you simply arguing that Apple needed Microsoft to all the people who hate Microsoft? Fine. I don’t hate Microsoft and I don’t really care. And it doesn’t speak anything to the kind of company they are.
David Andersen
on 27 Jan 12Apple could obviously choose to expand their product line and offer non-premium versions. And you can also argue that they did their own basic versions in earlier products and learned about what did and didn’t work (Lisa anyone?), like a lot of technology based companies (Honda comes to mind, for example). And while the first Mac was based in part on Xerox’s research, a lot of tech comes about this way (based on research out of a lab).
re Apple Kinect. Are you implying Apple is unique and no other companies are/will base their future products on Apple’s innovations?
David Andersen
on 27 Jan 12“Their business model demands it.”
I don’t think so. It’s simply how they choose to do it and it’s working. If mgmt is smart, it will evolve as needed over time.
Space Gorilla
on 27 Jan 12@GW, you are in fact putting forth arguments to explain away Apple’s success, and it’s all stuff I’ve heard for decades. You may think you’re spewing new arguments, but you’re not. It’s usually some variation of the ‘Apple products are for elitist idiots that don’t know how to use real computers’. Or that Apple simply steals ideas and makes something shiny and markets it really well, that’s how they’re successful. You’ll never admit that Apple’s success is quite simple, they build great products that work and sell them at a profit. At some point when Apple has a billion or more customers you’re going to have to give up all your excuses and admit that Apple might just be doing something real. Kind of the same way that whole ‘graphical user interfaces are for babies’ argument slowly disappeared. People just like you were saying that in the late 80s. But you don’t say it now, do you?
GeeIWonder
on 27 Jan 12Yes yes, you made that clever argument already. And I didn’t say it then.
I’m not explaining away their success. Their success is undeniable.
I’m arguing against what is a foolish notion of unlimited future or an era where the only computers are Apple computers. No one that matters wants this, least of all Apple. How do you get that Gorilla kid to buy a laptop for $3000 and maybe even put himself in more debt to do it? You make sure he feels better about himself and smarter and cooler than the people using those ‘other’ computers at institutions, which are inherently big and boring and generic and where hardware is usually older and aging faster than a home computer. The last you want to do is win the world, because you market against the world. Nothing makes this case better for me then posts like yours.
So if you bought and were sold AAPL at price point reliant on 7 billion people are going to be using Macs, you’ve overpaid. The way Apple will continue to make profits will be through a premium niche computing market and probably further endeavours into consumer electronics.
I’m sorry if this offends you.
David
on 27 Jan 12“Macs give me the save calmness, pleasure and satisfaction that piece of Georg Jensen jewelry or Ole Wanscher or Kaare Klint furniture.”
That comment nailed it. Exactly the sort of nose in the air attitude many Apple users share.
David Andersen
on 27 Jan 12“The last you want to do is win the world, because you market against the world.”
Sure, for now. Until things change. Companies do change their marketing approach and their product mix over time. It will be interesting to see what happens with phones and tablets as they own hefty slices of those markets already.
ShaolinTiger
on 27 Jan 12Man, you really need to install threaded comments..
Space Gorilla
on 27 Jan 12@GW: Apple could have a billion customers in the not too distant future. I’m curious, at that point what will be your reasoning for why people are buying Apple products? You seem to be inventing a lot of reasons why people buy Apple gear, and avoiding the simple truth that Apple makes great products that work well and provide solutions for users.
Apple’s goal has always been to make “The Computer for the rest of us”, and that means simplifying, getting rid of complexity, making a computer that is essentially an appliance. Sure the nerds and geeks will hate that but my 77 year old father who picked up my iPad and started using it just thinks “Wow, this is really easy, I can use this.” The product (iPad) solves a problem for him (a normal computer, even an iMac, is too complex for him).
So, back to my original question, why do you think people buy Apple products?
GeeIWonder
on 27 Jan 12Largely to feel better about themselves and confirm their status in their own minds. This is evident in everything from marketing to licensing terms, as I have covered in detail.
I’m not ‘seeming to’ say anything. I said what I said quite clearly, in extensive detail. You may disagree (even if you’re not really sure why) with individual points or the connection of these to a coherent whole. So fine do that, take issue, make counterpoints. Anecdotes are nice I guess, but they can be made to fit most world views.
I agree with David Andersen that Apple might at one point shift strategies towards institutional licensing/software not closely tied to hardware and/or lower price points and really make a dent in the 80 rather than focus on getting as high margins as possible out of the 20. But when they do that, they will occupy the same space in the collective consciousness as Microsoft or IBM or Kraft etc.
David Andersen
on 27 Jan 12GeelWonder -
Personally, I buy Apple products because I do find them to be better across the dimensions I care about and that’s based on lots of experience with competitive products (I used Windows exclusively until 2007 and now use both) and my own personal aesthetics and beliefs about what matter. I could give a rat’s ass (if I had one) about status. Undoubtedly you are correct that there is plenty of status buying as that happens with all sorts of products.
Space Gorilla
on 27 Jan 12@GW: I was pretty sure I had your reason right, just wanted you to confirm it. So, people buy Apple products to feel better about themselves, it is a status-driven purchase, that’s your position. I’ve been hearing that since the late 80s, and when there were a few million, or only tens of millions of Apple customers, you could get away with that excuse for Apple’s success.
But when you get to a half billion customers, a billion customers, that argument simply can’t hold up. There’s just no way that amount of sales is driven by status. I would suggest you take a look at true luxury lifestyle products that are priced high and purchased mainly for status, and you’ll see the sales numbers are nowhere near as high as Apple. They tend to be niche products, the way Apple’s products used to be, which allowed your argument some traction, but that traction is now gone, kind of the same way the ‘graphical user interfaces are for babies’ argument dried up and disappeared.
You really don’t see that you are inventing a complex story to explain Apple’s success, instead of realizing the simple truth: Apple makes good stuff so people buy it. Why is it so difficult to admit that Apple products are good?
Cold Water
on 27 Jan 12Ooo ooo! Win the world, all we have to do is step all over humanity first. Exactly how are you revolutionary when you are the most profitable company in existence currently? That’s called being the establishment.
Apple is undoutedly the establishment. They got there by ripping off good ideas left and right and hiring a great marketing team. After making money hand over fist by simply adding more shiny to their ripped off ideas, they sued anyone who did the same to them.
Boring.
David Andersen
on 27 Jan 12Cold Water, your cynicism is only exceeded by your ignorance.
GeeIWonder
on 27 Jan 12@Gorilla
tom3
on 27 Jan 12Still going at it, eh? I’m amazed that “trendsetters” like DHH and co. haven’t realised that no matter what ideas Apple develop/steal; they will, if of value, be subsumed into the open source ecosystem. And then, it doesn’t matter what hardware you are using.
Ultimately the cheapskates like me win. So, you keep paying, and in the end everyone wins. Except, I didn’t pay anything for my improved OS on whatever device (OpenSUSE at present). So, keep spending and worshipping your corporation of choice, and I’ll continue to laugh at your slavery. Cheers!
Space Gorilla
on 27 Jan 12@GW: Your position does not have merit. You are inventing a story to explain why so many people are buying Apple products, and your story (the status meme) cannot explain sales of this magnitude. By the way, Apple’s CEO is Tim Cook, not Tim Cobb.
GeeIWonder
on 27 Jan 12Thanks for the correction. I’m getting better as my first guess was Cim Took, remember?
I expect no position will have merit with you, so I’ll have to hope that people who are capable of critical reasoning are open to it.
If buying Apple b/c it’s Apple makes you truly happy, either b/c it is a better product for your application or b/c it’s jewelry, and this does not put you into greater debt, who am I to argue? There are lots of studies relating spending (esp. premium spending) with general decrease in happiness levels.
The crux of the point (there have been many as this stage) is that Apple in it’s current incarnation doesn’t want to win the world. And Apple in a future iteration may look more like Philips or Microsoft or IBM.
As for numbers—Does Philips make a better let’s say razor than the next guy? Yeah, sure, lots of times. Will I pay a 6-10x premium for it? Maybe? Will 1 people in 7 when about 2/7 are in abject poverty and the middle class is getting squeezed in Western countries and cheap credit is going away never to return? Maybe? Does my product loyalty to computers have the same lifecycle as to cars or to restaurants? Maybe.
But maybe not too.
Sebastian
on 28 Jan 12There’s polish book on the table. At 2m:33s. Who was speaking polish at 37signals?
Pedro
on 29 Jan 12The Sucess of Apple is due to iPods, iPhones and iPads. The rest is just eye candy. They wouldn’t have $100 B in the bank wiithout them.
Sorry, but that’s the truth.
Carl Youngblood
on 30 Jan 12David, what do you think of the recent coverage on This American Life and in the NY Times of Apple’s support of abusive labor practices in China? Tim O’Reilly also recently spoke up about how Apple really seems to be engaged in a lot of real evil right now, as opposed to the hypothetical evil that Google might do.
I’m with you on the quality of Apple products. I’m a huge Apple fanboy too, but I was quite disturbed by that TAL piece and have been contemplating the extent to which I share in these sins—the extent to which my lifestyle is made possible by the blood, sweat and tears of my brothers and sisters in the developing world.
baku
on 30 Jan 12http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1
Just to give some related info on the subject
David Andersen
on 31 Jan 12Well there you go Carl & baku – the NYT published it so it’s a definitive case closed. Real evil?! Really? My we 21st century dwellers love our hyperbole. This is when I’d really love a time machine – so that history could be made real and perspective could be gained.
baku
on 31 Jan 12@david it is not that Apple is the only one. It is that Apple is not the shining good giant that lots of people in love with Apple product (for good reason: I don’t like mac but I like iPod touch) want to think.
They are a company, a corporation, seeking for money. And they behave as bad as others. And I would like they (and others) would change their behavior for the good of the workers and the society as a whole.
Exploit people is never a good meaning for an end as shiny as a surface of a gadget as my iPod touch.
jfgencarnacao
on 01 Feb 12David, you just made my day!
baku
on 01 Feb 12I think US people have a bias toward money. And maybe danish people too. Maybe it’s cultural. Who knows.
This discussion is closed.