We all know my blatant dislike for Apple and my general shocked indifference towards Microsoft, but did I just call Google dumb? Yeah. I'll explain in a bit.
So why is Apple stupid? Well, allow me to narrow it down so this post isn't absurdly long. What am I specifically talking about that makes Apple dumb? Much smaller. So here's a Fun Fact for you: Apple DOMINATES the $1000+ computer market. DOMINATE meaning it has 90%. I give Apple a lot of crap, but I will never discredit their success. They deserve props for that number. Not the "Great business model and products, Stevie! *high five*" credit. More like "Good Job (get it?) at making a business model that caters to the mass of people who's tech knowledge extends only to basic music playing and liking shiny things! And price gouging the suckers! *high five*". Anyway, they make and sell a lot of expensive computers. So why are they so dumb? They ONLY make and sell expensive computers!
The cheapest desktop Apple offers is the iMac, which starts at $1200. Their cheapest laptop, the Macbook, starts at $999. So basically every computer they sell is in that $1000+ market. And despite the ridiculous pricing, they sell like hotcakes. Now, the $1000+ market isn't growing very much. The fastest growing computer market is the netbook one. Despite the fact that I find netbooks to be a dead-end technology, they sell a lot. So my ultimate question to Steve is: Do you not like making money? Sure, you just passed Microsoft in market cap (basically, they got more money), but seriously, put out something the size of a netbook, and people will buy it too! Even the numb-skulls who bought iPads will camp out for an iNoteBook, or iPretentiousMoleskinCover. It would be what the world actually wanted the iPad to be, before you went and screwed that pooch.
Now, Bill Gates was always thought as a super smart dude when he ran Microsoft. But he left to unleash hordes of mosquitoes on famous, unsuspecting geniuses (true story). Now, The Soft (May I call you The Soft?) is run by Steve Ballmer. To put it nicely, next to Gates, Ballmer looks like a confused gorilla. And is about as big. And since Ballmer has taken command, he's made some crap decisions. The biggest being completely losing touch of what consumers want. Remember Vista? That sucked. Windows Mobile was a great idea: Windows, but portable! Problem was they stripped down as little as they could and put it on devices that were a tenth as powerful (at the time) as a computer, then wondered why people en masse didn't love the laggy POS. So what's their biggest recent mistake? Becoming Apple.
Windows Phone 7, despite the stupid name, looks nice. A lot of WinMo fans have been craving for a nicer look on the versatile phone OS, but only HTC tried to make it better, which ultimately made it even slower. So they do a revamp. "Good on them!", the collective tech world thought. That's when we learned the details. My main complaints about the iPhone (before iOS4) were: No Multitasking, No 3rd Party Apps, and No Customization. Guess what Windows Phone 7 doesn't allow. Microsoft is dropping the multitasking that Windows Mobile 6.5 already has, is improving the Marketplace of apps, but blocking non-Marketplace apps entirely, and is forbidding manufacturers, like HTC, from making new looks on the platform. Microsoft has become Apple. Correction, Microsoft has become Apple circa 2007. Not a compliment. I get that they have 97% of the computer marketshare, but seriously, people are getting pissed. And I know that once the Linux version of Steam comes, I'll probably be switching. Or maybe Android, which brings us to...
Google. Now, I love me some Google. I really do. I'm even willing to give them a pass on their bonehead move of collecting unencrypted WiFi data (Wait, people still don't encrypt their networks? Leechers rejoice!). What I'm not able to understand is this Chromium business. The idea is nice: Computers are slowed down by the data they store, the internet can store that same data, so why not speed things up and store the data online. The problem is, I like having my data offline too. And more importantly, they've already got a killer OS: Android! You know, that little thing that is quickly eating up marketshare?
Google is being stupid because they're even trying to make Chromium an OS. Chrome is an awesome browser that is capable of EVERYTHING Chromium does. So what should Google do? Drop Chromium entirely. Give most of those resources to improving Android more, including make the Android browser into a more Chrome-like experience, and devote the rest of those resources to further Chrome development. Manufacturers are already turning to Android as a netbook and even laptop environment alternative. It's open source, so they can make the necessary tweaks to make it a better computer experience. And while you're at it, make someone, ANYONE, make a laptop-tablet hybrid, like that recently deceased Lenovo U1 Hybrid that runs Android. That's really all I want.
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