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Update -- Why Do Some People Dislike Apple So Much?

iSchadenfreude is everywhere! It is another bad day for AAPL stock due to a slowdown in the Apple pipeline of orders. AAPL bears are rejoicing -- they want to see the stock fall down through $500 because of the psychological significance. Even though I am an Apple hater, I will try to take a philosophical look at the anti-Apple syndrome.

First of all, why should any of us hate Apple? Is it just envy? How can we not be grateful for the innovations that Apple has brought forth, with some even benefiting the consumers of rival products? And what about all the jobs? (Some are even in the USA.)

One of the more emphatic critics of Apple is Karl Denninger, who recently said:
There are plenty of people who hate the linkage with iTunes that comes with Apple products...
Everyone on Wall Street wants to talk about ecosystem, but what they're really talking about is a walled garden -- and the wall has razor wire and broken bottles embedded in the top.  It's a prison, which appeals greatly to Wall Street types but it only works for consumers so long as the illusion of free choice and beauty persists. 
The underlying problem for Apple is that the company has stopped innovating.  Love him or hate him (I'm in the latter camp for those who don't know better) Steve Jobs was one of those guys who could make teens scream and then buy all the crap he produced, irrespective of how good it really was...  [emphasis his]
For my part, I became furious at Apple after it tried to "take over" the music library on my computer. I naively downloaded something from another blog. Then a box came up and said that I needed to download Apple's QuickTime player, which I soon did. Fortunately I was able to uninstall that piece of crap, so that my music wasn't wiped out. (I won't mention names, but you're able to guess, perhaps? Grin.)

Can we at least all agree that Apple is less of a technology company than a consumer cult? The average fanboi thinks that he deserves to get all the hot babes at Starbucks just because he has shown up with an iPhone a half a millimeter thinner than a commodity Android phone, or because his iPad has more rounded or more square corners, depending on whichever is de mode this year. 

Contrast that to a no-nonsense consumer who wants the most benefit for his hard-earned dollars. The fanboi cult doesn't seem to care about that -- such concerns are only for the uncool. It angers us consumer-nerd types to see marketing and media have so much control over human behavior.

Much of the credit for weakening Apple's aura of invincibility redounds to Samsung and its Galaxy phones and tablets. Windows Phone 8 hasn't really reached critical mass yet, and of course we don't know whether it ever will. But let's be optimistic, since it is in the interest of the cellphone carriers to promote and subsidize Windows Phone 8 in order to take the iPhone (subsidy) down a notch.

There is hope that the next generation of Atom chips from Intel will do a good job running real Windows 8 (not RT) on a tablet. At a good price, and with a keyboard docking station, you'd think a device like this would quickly dominate the field. So much for the iPad's days of glory.
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Update: I've really been enjoying articles by Ashraf Eassa on Seeking Alpha.com, a financial website. Today's article about the Pro (non RT) version of the Microsoft Surface Tablet was quite informative. The moral of the story is: don't be an early adopter and get sucked into those sub-Windows RT tablets based on ARM chips. Wait for lower-power Intel chips and lower prices to appear on the Pro (Windows) tablets. This might take a year or two. Don't think for a moment that a chronic early-adopter will listen to this advice. 

Comments

Unknown said…
There are several Apple products in my gadget collection. My heavy usage of graphics was my original reason for going with the Mac. Things change over the years. Today, processing speeds are equivalent or greater and for less money from the alternate hardware vendors.

This discussion about Apple reminds me of the IBM mystic several decades ago as IBM had the strangle hold on mainframe computing. "The decision was never wrong with IBM". The seeds for destruction exist in every company. Early 1990s, there was some concern that IBM was troubled. They survived it, but they are not the same company they were. They had to become a service and software company to survive. Computing hardware and storage devices had turned into a commodity.

Whatever the source, the computer or tablet is only a tool.

Remember the Craftsman products from Sears. Their hammer cost a whole lot more, but it was still a hammer. Consumers bought less expensive hammers to get the job done.
Tesaje said…
Not an apple fanboi here either. Thru the years, I've looked at the apple offerings and consistently have found them to be significantly higher price for less capability. Add to that, the boards are filled with the fanbois bemoaning the problems of compatibility and why doesn't apple offer this and that and when is the compatible thing going to come out? Another nail in their coffin is the closed system they have. I'm convinced that the main thing Jobs had going for him was an amazing ability to get people to join his cult. Now that he is gone, the charisma is also gone and the bots are fading.

I don't know if MS will come back or not. Ballmer seems to be a poor leader. The Surface looked to be a good piece of hardware but the software isn't there yet. No matter how snazzy the hardware, it's the software that makes it work, or not. Android is the up and comer now in the small systems. IT is the opposite of apple - open systems.
Indeed, in the old days Apple was way ahead of the DOS world with graphics.

Seeds of destruction? Let's see, for Apple, it would be trying to be eternally fashionable to fickle consumers. Tennis shoe manufacturers can't do it. TV show producers can't do it for long.
Jobs was a gifted salesman, wasn't he? He understood the desperate emotional need for a certain fraction of the computer marketplace to feel cool, instead of feeling like a boring nerd.

As for Microsoft Surface tablets, you might have it backwards: the hardware ISN'T there yet. The RT version of the tablet is the RT version because its chip is of the ARM type, which can't run REAL windows. Once the next generation of Intel's Atom (x86) hits, full-Windows tablets should really take off.
Anonymous said…
As a recent ex-Apple iStuff owner, I have to admit that it was increasingly uncomfortable being associated by brand with people who would stand in line for days every iPhone refresh. Samsung's commercials mocking them are funny precisely because they're so true: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf5-Prx19ZM

By all means wait if you can for the new Intel chips later this year before buying a Windows 8 PC, tablet or hybrid. I like my Lenovo Yoga 13, but fully understand it's going to be completely outdated within nine months. I'm an early adopter and I pay the price for that vice.
Great video. I laughed out loud at the adapter joke!
Anonymous said…
hey boonie, could you do me a favor, what smart phone would you buy an what provider would you use.i would like to use it while boondocking.i don't have a clue to which's one to buy.thank's fellow traveler gary
Gary, There seems to be little doubt that Verizon is the carrier for rural/unpopulated areas. I am quite pleased with it.

Smartphone? I am chronically uncool and use a $20 dumbphone from Walmart and a prepay Verizon plan.

For internet data I use the 3G MiFi device with Verizon. I supplement it with Wilson Sleek booster cradle, which is also impressive.

I am satisfied and have no plans to change. A few days per year I have to carry my netbook into the library or coffee shop to use wi-fi.
Why do people compare Apple to Windows? I mean really, it's like comparing apples to oranges. (No pun was at all intended) I have used both platforms. Windows is great for people who want windows. If Internet Explorer is your soul mate, go with windows. Apple is great for people who want Apple, if safari is your common ground, go with Apple. What I dislike to the extreme is apple 'Fanboys' saying that they are 'elite' and other phones are stupid. Then people retaliate, saying Apple is for 'stupid people' who are not 'tech savvy' I use Apple because I have a Mac for my home computer, having devices that sync on the same software just made sense. BUT I do own and use an android tablet. So I have been and live on both sides. What I would like for once is for people to stop being little children and bicker over who has the better computer. Both sides have extreme pro's and nasty con's. Please stop acting like children and lets share our views like the Adult roll models we should be.