Internet Wanderings

How Apples growth could kill it for all of us

I should start out that I’ve been called a fan boy.  Full disclosure that was a linux fanboy calling me an apple fan boy, so take that for what it’s worth.  But to play fair I’ve converted 3 people since my “conversion” in 2005. I do love Apple, and I can’t think of another company who does such an amazing job at not just selling a piece of hardware, but selling a dream and a lifestyle that goes with that hardware.  In the begining of my “conversion” I was excited, I thought the world was catching fire with a love of Apple and they were really coming into their own.  Now 5 years later, I’m concern and worried it’s all about to fall apart… and oddly enough I was excited and now fearful for the same reasons.

The Ipod burst onto the scene and changed the music industry for ever. Philosophically it was the first time Apple really made a stab into the consumer electronics market and it was going really well. But the big shift was the development of Itunes and the Itunes market place.  Now Apple was selling something to go with their consumer hardware.  This changed the marketing and dealings of Apple.  Now they are working out big contracts with BMI, Atlantic, etc.  But so far all is good….

Next came the Iphone.  Apple blew the doors off the cell phone industry.  They had completely reinvented the market, and along came Apps.  To Apple’s credit, I don’t think they wanted to go down the road of apps, but I don’t think they would argue that it’s gone extremely well for them. All the buzz was about Apps for the Iphone, contracts with AT&T, rumors of contracts with Verizon. etc.

Looking forward, we are about to enter into a third round with the Ipad. More apps, more contracts, rumors of contracts for mobile television, $1 episodes to push video to your Ipad.  Apple is hungry to take the video market as they took the music world, and the cell phone app market.  And don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying that these things are bad… however….

Combine all that noise with this.  Apple has left MacWorld. The RSS feeds are filled with the buzz of “apps” not hardware to accomplish your goals. Apple is furthering their restrictions and control of the Applications in the market.  Wether it be Google Voice, or an app that mentions “android”. If feels as if the there has been a shift in the Philosophy of Apple.  The Philosophy used to be “Think different”.  There are implications to that marketing slogan.  It gives you the idea that you are to be a free thinker, to think out side of the box, to explore, develop, grown, invent.  But that’s not what we are seeing from Apple’s actions.  Apple’s actions are beginning to sound more like… invent in this space, grow till I till you to stop, develop under these guidelines.  And the end result leads Apple into being the Big Brother of 1984.

I know the “haters” are going to start laughing now, and saying “Yeah, that’s what we’ve been trying to tell you, they have been doing that all along.” But that’s not really true either.  OSX has always given you the freedom to develop and invent, and I do understand the need for some control over the app process in a mobile world, look to the fake USAA banking app that ended up in the Android Marketplace (and stealing account info) if you have questions about that.  However, how much longer till there is an App Store for OSX?  When will software for the Mac be under the same restrictions that we find on our iphones and ipads?

I’m really not trying t paint a doom and gloom situation, but I do want us to stop and think about where Apple is heading, cause it’s as much our future as it is Apple’s that is in question.