You know, I just don’t get it. I don’t like Apple. Not the fruit, the company. It’s not that I don’t like their products. No, for the most part, the products are very good, well designed, and work very well. Although I don’t use many Apple products, I’ll believe the people who say how great they are. Well, to an extent. I use iTunes, and while I used to love it, not any more. I could go through all the reasons why it annoys me, but this blog isn’t that long.
Apple can really do no wrong, at least in the eyes of people who write about these kinds of things. Just recently the new MacBook Pros came out. PC Magazine website titled their review “Oooh, nice. MacBook Pros.” OK, they might really be that good. But the 17” version starts at $2500! I can buy 3 or 4 really good Dell laptops for that price. At such a premium, they better be “Oooh nice.”
Or how about this one: One reviewer said he heard the the new MacBook Airs might “actually come out in black.” He was all excited about it. Really? Black? I mean that’s nice, but I don’t think it’s something to get excited about. Unless of course, it’s from Apple, apparently.
And then I saw this headline: “iPhone 5 could launch in October, not September, tension now unbearable.” I thought they were joking. But no, apparently it’s really unbearable...
Maybe, just maybe, these people are just a tad overboard about this stuff?
Honestly, they make great stuff. But come on. One of my friends says she loves “i-anything.” Guess it doesn't matter what it is, if Apple makes it, it’s great. Or another friend wants an iPhone. She’s never seen one, she doesn't know anybody who has one, but somehow she wants it. “Because it’s cool.” Her Blackberry is soooo yesterday.
But apparently designing good products isn't enough for Apple. Now, they’re trying to sue everyone in sight. For “patent violations.” Did you know, for instance, that Apple owns the color “white?” Well they think they do. Samsung is releasing a phone that’s white, and Apple has sought an injunction, saying that “White is OUR color.” Really? The sad thing is that some court will probably side with them.
Or how about “Appstore?” Yeah, they own that word too. Seems a little generic to me, but hey, I’m not a lawyer.
They actually have dozens of these law suits going on at once. Come on, Apple, you make good stuff. Rely on that.
But the biggest reason I don’t like Apple is because the company is dangerous. Really. In the world of Steve Jobs, the Apple CEO, Apple doesn't only make the hardware, they make the software as well. And they control the distribution of it. In his view, if you're using an iPhone or iPad, you should buy the software from them. Odd, because I have a Toshiba laptop, and I can buy stuff online from anyone I want. But that's not how Apple sees it. If Apple would come to dominate the market, Steve Jobs would have final say on what hardware is made, and what software you can buy. Really. If he doesn't like it, it doesn't go into his “AppStore.” Yeah, that’s real market freedom for you. Not my idea of how the tech world should work.
Go ahead and buy their stuff. You’ll think it’s cool. No matter how much it costs. And whether it’s any good or not.
