Apple does not respond to market trends by introducing “me too” entries. If there is something of value to be extracted from a market, Apple takes it and packages it into products that have a more intuitive UI, a better industrial design and consequently higher margins.
When MP3 music players were first introduced, Apple didn’t shove some ham-fisted music player out the door. It thought a lot about how to navigate content, came up with the idea for the clickwheel, and made it the joystick of a UI. The iPod Classics and Nanos still use this combination and the UI is also at the core of Front Row and the Apple TV. With the hardware‚ we also got iTunes – the eventual portal to the iTunes Music Store.
Cell phones had been on the market for over two decades before Apple decided to enter it. It did so after carefully considering what was good (almost nothing) and what sucked (nearly everything) about cell phones. From those musings, we not only got a revolutionary UI and a new model in carrier relationships, we also got advancements in SDK and app propagation. The point is Apple didn’t compete in markets by conforming to them. It redefined them through a marriage of form and UI, backed by other Apple services.
This is why, when red-faced analysts jump up and down screaming about Apple losing out on millions of potential customers by not introducing a netbook, Apple is content to quietly utter “fuck you” through their smiles.
People have been proposing what Apple’s response will be to the netbook craze for at least the past 8 months. Every time Apple acquires, hires or delivers a keynote, speculation runs rampant. I think Apple will introduce a product that will be perceived as a “response” to the netbook‚ but I believe it will be a very different animal.
Continue reading Apple’s “Response” to the Netbook

Apple is a company that brings out the worst in some people. Whether they be fanboy-bashers or CEOs of bloated software juggernauts, there’s something about Steve’s condescending little smirk that drives people absolutely batshit. I get it. I really do. For most of these individuals, the knowledge that I work with a superior OS is satisfaction enough. But for a select few, the magnitude of their assholery cannot be dismissed by that melodic C Major chord. These are the members of Douchebag Row. This series is designed to honor those who, through word and/or deed, have distinguished themselves as something more than mere assholes.
Microsoft revealed the 3rd ad in its “Bargain Hunter” series and in the great tradition of awesome cinematic 3rd installments, this commercial delivers.
Poor Brian Caufield over at Forbes really wants a Mac Netbook. Trouble is‚ instead of crapping in a bag and putting out a POS that will compete with the offerings from Dell‚ Asus et. al‚ Apple insists on making it’s money by margin and not by volume. “The computer- and gizmo-maker fiddles with its Mac lineup as the world economy burns” he wrote of Apple’s March 3 revamping of the iMac and Mac Pro lines. Translation: while PC manufacturers‚ who have no margins to begin with‚ are releasing $250 crapbooks‚ Apple is content with a paltry fluff of its existing offerings‚ all the while laughing at the poor suckers who can’t afford their insanely high-priced products.
Anyone who’s ever had a controlling interest – be they boss‚ spouse or capital investor – go off the reservation when they were allowed to unhinge their cake-traps will appreciate this story. Palm Inc. filed a “Free Writing Prospectus Published or Distributed by Media” – basically a series of qualifications and retractions – for Elevation Partners’ Roger McNamee statements to Bloomberg TV during a March 5 interview about the not-yet-released Palm Pre.
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