Coyote Tracks: The Emperor's New Antenna
Every recent consumer electronics product from Apple—definitely the iPad, but all iterations of the iPhone including the initial one—has been greeted with rounds of articles crowing about what an arrogant, foolhardy mistake it is and how this will finally, finally, be the moment the emperor is revealed to have no clothes. And ultimately this is what’s so infuriating about Apple: that’s not what happens. Ever.
A very interesting read, full of good points. Apple has, in recent history, set the bar so high for itself that it’s become impossible to continue to meet the bar. Apple has become to computing what the Patriots have been to football, what the Lakers and Celtics have been to basketball, and as much as it pains me to say it as a Flyers fan, what the (gulp) Devils and Penguins have been to hockey. No matter how good a team is, anything short of a championship becomes a disappointment. No matter how good a product is, it’ll be expected to be perfect. Unrealistic expectations, for sure, but it comes with the territory.
That being said, I still maintain that the iPhone/iPad is now where the Mac was in the early 90s. It’s still a superior product for most people, but the competition has caught up quickly, and has even surpassed Apple in a few areas. Apple got complacent, and more or less stagnated, compared to the competition. The competition may have never bettered Apple in all or even most areas back then, but it didn’t matter. As it might not now…
