One of the things I hint at in my ebook is that Apple nearly went out of business in the mid 90s. A combination of bad management, no vision and severly underpowered yet overpriced computers almost killed Apple under the Windows 95-is-good-enough juggernaut.
Flash forward a dozen years and Apple is no longer a bit player with 4% marketshare and no voice. Suddenly they are the leader in digital music, movies and mobile devices. In short, Apple didn’t just drop the name computer from their title, they ceased being a computer company focused an a tiny user base. And with that change they may have lost the secret advantage that kept them alive during the lean years: user loyalty.
You see, when you are a small player you need the power of millions of voices singing your song to allow your chorus to rise above the noise. Apple users have always gladly added their voice. We sometimes called them zealots.
But when you are a market leader you start to attend to other things first, like protecting your platform from "hackers" to keep it safe for the masses. But these same loyal users use their same techniques to advance the product so it will appeal to more people. And while Apple has gladly accepted this help in the past (the laserprinter, PageMaker, CodeWarrier, Kerberos, and VisiCalc to name a few have all helped Apple in their various dark days) with the iPhone they currently are saying "no thanks."
We’ve used these pages to discuss this before but the question remains…is Apple the same company many of us helped rescue?
“is Apple the same company many of us helped rescue?”
No it isn’t the same company. It has evolved as have all of us.
Question for those who complaining the loudest about iPhoneGate, what is your number, how many of you were hurt? Seriously, I want to know if the great brick attack was against a small force or against an entire regiment. It seems to me that it is a vocal handful of wire heads and pundits, but I may be wrong and your numbers may be legion. So please step forward and be counted.
I use my Macs, and indeed my iPods in my work. I can’t afford to dick around under the hood and chance breaking, or bricking, something.
I am enjoying your blog tremendously- thanks for all the effort…
As a recent convert to Mac Fanboy-dom, these kinds of questions puzzle me a little. The core reasons to use a Mac and all Mac products (I do not yet have an iPhone) remains unchanged: things just work. No Windows user can say that.
The furor surrounding the bricking of iPhones I find kind of pathetic. Or quaint. Maybe pathetically quaint. We cannot have it both ways, folks. Either you WANT to spread to the cult of Mac, which means involving partners. Or you want to somehow run the company from the peanut gallery and pretend that we, as users, know what’s best for the company. I mean, it’s just another COMPANY. Granted, one that makes wonderful products that enhance our lives and make a real contribution to the democratization of media creation and distribution. But Jobs, et al are running a BUSINESS. You don’t just say, “Hey, I want to be in the cell phone business” and just go do it. Don’t believe me? Ask ESPN. Ask Disney.
They have a relationship, for better or worse, with AT&T. That relationship needs to be protected on hundreds of levels. They are no longer an autonomous operator.
And here’s something else, folks, and then I will get off my soapbox. I would be willing to bet that 99% of iPhone users never even consider adding third party apps, hacking it, unlocking it, etc. Why? Because 99% of the world doesn’t know who Leo LaPorte is or Merlin Mann or Alex Lindsay and they are perfectly happy using a device as it was meant to be used. The iPhone represents a sea change in technology and user experience.
Is there no time to be a little grateful and maybe a little reflective?
Matthew,
Thanks for the comment. I’m not railing against their need to run a business or maintaining their relationship with AT&T. (btw, if I were AT&T I’d be worried as Apple really has no history of making life easy for any of its partners) I’m simply saying that part of running the business for 30 years has always been to embrace and leverage its loyal fanbase. What I’m saying is I see this now changing. I think the zealous fans helped them when they were small and percentage limited. Now those fans are causing them heartache as they reach beyond them (AKA early adopters) and into the mass majority. Another way to say it is this: Apple used to be the hippie underdog everyone rooted for. Now in some markets they are the establishment. Deal with it.
Steve…I think you are missing something…there are old Mac zelots and new. Matthew represents the new, the ones that have now come to the Mac because it just works. The old is comprised of two types, the ones that align with Matthew and those that feel slighted. The vast majority fit into the former and is growing.
Unfortunately, the minority is the most vocal. Luckily, only other geeks and members of their club even hear their bitching or care.
Even though I’m an old Machead, I welcome the new Apple.
PXLated,
Got it. Your comment adds a welcomed, new perspective. Zealot new or old, most people are neither and just happy to have a product that’s cool, priced right, and just works.
I feel like I lead two lives sometimes. The Superman side of me is heavily involved in conversations like this one- dissecting trends, staying on top of every little blip in the tech world.
The Clark Kent side of me realizes that in the “real world” most of this stuff barely registers. Here is an example: We are a production company and we see the writing on the wall in terms of ALL content moving online. We have been evangelizing for the last 12-18 months to old clients and new about establishing a beach head online. Every blog I subscribe to, every friend I have, indeed all the evidence suggests that we are doing the right thing at the right time. Yet with so many seemingly savvy business people, I may as well be speaking German.
These kind of conversations (I mean the one you began with your blog post, Steve) I find invigorating and fun (Superman). But they leave Clark Kent feeling a little frustrated that our concerns, opinions and predictions are like whistling in the wind.
Ain’t gonna stop me, though…
Thanks to all.
Hey, Clark, don’t feel blue (kryptonite).
These little conversations validate the thoughts of many more people that you might think. And hey, you picked an interesting company to concern yourself with. A few years ago talking about Apple was like talking with yourself. Now they are more recognized that Nike. Hey, soon we may be drinking Apple Coke.
Keep the faith, Kal El. Save one person at a time.
I agree with PXLated’s comments. As a long time mac-user (20+ yrs), i agree that there is definitely a difference between “original” mac fans and todays newbies. The newbies come because Apple is cool and the products work. They’re not so much converts as they are adaopters. By this I mean that they switched because to them, Apple makes cool products. Those of us from the the old days were really trying to convert Windows users based on our experience and knowledge that Macs were better because we said so.
While Steve may be heading in the right direction as Apple changes it’s tone and approach, I’m not sure that many people care anymore. I’ll never change and as long as they make good products at a fair price, I don’t think others will care.
I am writing this on my brand new MBP – my 12th Mac!! – and have 3 others in the house!!
Apple took years to build their brands, no “Suddenly they are the leader.” They branded ‘image’, ‘coolness’, ‘loyality’, all at the right time along with their products. A simple formula, that others have not grasped.
As a 1984 Mac user and long time developer (DayStar Digital), Apple has always been an _obsessively_ closed architecture. Nothing has changed with the iPhone. The iPhone is not a computing platform like the Mac. it is a user appliance like the Newton or iPod, which had no useful app based SDK either.
Just a quick nit to pick, here. In the mid-nineties, Apple was not in danger of going under. They were severely misguided and were floundering, but they were flush with a huge bankroll and little debt. They weren’t going anywhere. Even during their “worst,” Apple was a sound investment.
Catellan,
Not sure where you are getting that info, but I have information, corroborated independently by the then CFO Fred Anderson and Mr. Jobs himself that Apple was less than 3 weeks away from not making payroll. Remember that Apple was pulling in nearly $9B annual revenue that went to around $4B in one year. Huge layoffs and the (marketing) rebirth around the iMac helped right the ship.