(note: in the title i wanted it to read iWant and iPhone but WordPress wouldn’t let that happen)
In a world long dominated by the Microsoft Windows Monopoly Apple has been both quietly and not so quietly making itself felt in the personal electronics space. Apple and Microsoft are two completely different companies both culturally and in terms of business models. Unlike Microsoft, Apple believes in creating closed system/end to end products, which are products entirely produced (both hardware and software) by a single company and that often works with only “approved” components. This differs significantly from Microsoft, which favors licensing its software for use on various capable computers and components. This business model is probably the key point that has allowed Microsoft and its Windows products to so dominate the computing world for the passed few decades. Any company can purchase Windows products to preinstall on computers that meet at least minimum operational standards.
To further differentiate the two are their key goals, Apple seeks to create products that not only function but that also establish, further, and contribute to a lifestyle. It could be argued that Microsoft often overlooks or underestimates this cultural aspect of technology, that it seeks to make things technically well but products that are not necessarily stylish or user friendly.
In the late 1990s while Microsoft was focusing on maintaining XP, developing Vista, and trying to gain a foothold in various markets with the Media Center PC and XBOX, Apple was quietly rebranding itself. In 1998, two years after Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the new iMacs were introduced along with a slick and stylish marketing campaign, such campaigns have since become the norm for Apple. With the iMac Apple saw how to blend style with substance both in the actual hardware and software but also how to market it and make the item a must have.
In 2001 came Apple’s watershed moment with introduction of the iPod, which has helped create and expand the personal media player category of electronics. The iPod was not only a financial success for the iPod, bringing much needed cash to the then struggling company, but also redefined what Apple was. Apple no longer just made “that other computer” anymore, Apple produced items that contribute to a lifestyle and not only aid that lifestyle. All items since the iPod have followed a similiar physical look, clean and modern, and attempted to maintain the software easy of use/simplicity that is established in the iPod. The iPod is possibly the first electronic device to truly be used by some as a fashion statement as much as for its purpose.
With all of its stylistic sensibilities and “easy to use” closed system, Apple still has its problems. The company has had battery problems with several of its products, including the iPod, as well as problems with computers running too hot. The closed system is also not perfect because once you are in it you can’t easily get out it because all of your data is tied up within the ecosystem. Granted once Macs attain more market share and software manufacturers write more for Apple this issue will be less. But if all of your data is tied up in Apple DRM from iTunes and everything else is optimized for Apple formats and/or programs the harder it would be to move data and work concurrently with Macs and PCs. Compare this to Microsoft which just makes the software and lets hardware makers take care of the rest, this obvious allows for a more fluid system with less centralized control, although MS is trying to get more and more control with each product and OS it releases.
Back to Apple, in a few days on Friday Apple is set to release the iPhone. This product is very possibly the more hyped and anticipate piece of electronics since the release of Windows ‘95. The iPhone, to put it simply, is porn. It appeals first to our most base wants: the want to have something new, the want to have the best (and thus be the best?), the want to be seen as cool, as sexy. It’s silver sides and smooth glass face just looking at the iPhone makes you want to touch it in all the wrong places. Then you see the demos of the icons flying away, coming back, menus gliding up, its all so elegant, so perfect. And THAT is what Apple’s marketing is perfect at, making something seem so easy, so beautiful that you can almost talk yourself into buying it out of sheer utility. Of course there is little utility, few people absolutely need an iPod/Web client/Phone, but many people want it. It’s a weird thing that happens with something like this. Of course I suggest waiting for the second generation iPhone before buying one as Apple products tend to have initial kinks. Although from the reviews I’ve read the product appears to deliver on the majority of its claims.
What remains to be seen is how much of a “game changer” the iPhone turns out to be. Will it revolutionize the phone industry just as the iPod did for the portal media player industry. I don’t know but in the passed decade I’ve learned its best not to bet against Apple.
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