As many of you are aware, Apple released the iPad last Wednesday, and since we are apparently doing a thing on the iPad here and I like to think I am the resident Apple cultist…erm, user….I too thought I could drop a few lines on BHU to put in my two cents about the iPad. So I guess this is more of a response to Eli’s post from last week more than anything else.
If there is one thing I will never apologize for, its being an absolute Apple NUT. It drives my wife absolutely insane. My response to all her technical problems with her PC is always the same, “I don’t know, get a Mac.” Don’t get me wrong, I CAN help her, it’s just doesn’t come as naturally to me as it does when I work on a Mac.
Its a lot like this at my house...
The jury is still out on the iPad, for everyone else. Myself? I think it’s great. If there is one thing that Steve is good at doing is coming up with solutions to fit a specific problem, situation, or niche. Let’s pop into the way back machine and take a trip to October 23, 2001, the introduction of the very first iPod. At that point, there were quite a few different kind of MP3 players on the market, they all stuck to the MP3 standard (thank God), but they all worked differently; you got music onto them in different ways, organizing playlists was next to impossible, and quite frankly, they looked like total ass.
In comes the iPod.
It's glorious...
Holy shit that fucker was EXPENSIVE, not only that, it was Mac-only. This alone made many…MANY many many people, reviewers and naysayers relegate it to a niche product for a niche market, that will likely die out when the company eventually goes under (for the umpteenth time). The fact that it was Mac-only was not lost on me at all, it meant that we, and WE ALONE, got to use it, play with it, nurse it, refine it, and just continue to keep everyone out the door while we played with a toy that finally made listening to all those CDs we imported EASY. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before it would move to Windows (remember MusicMatch?), and while it took a bit of work, we finally DID make it possible (anyone remember the Hell froze over ads when iTunes went to Windows?) You have to give the folks working on the iPod and iTunes for Windows a helluva lot of credit, that was no easy feat. iPod was popular on the Mac, but I have to admit that it truly did not come into its own until it hit the Windows world. Now EVERYONE could have one, no matter what platform you chose to run, the price dropped, the software evolved and got better and everyone wanted an iPod.
Niche market filled. Problem solved.
That of course, is Apple’s best example. The first iMac (and all others since), helped bring Apple back from the brink, but nothing helped the company as much as the IDEA for the iPod and then its eventual cross-platform mate that allowed it straddle the digital divide between Mac and PC. Our sales numbers for iPods are insane. If I told you what it actually cost to MAKE one of the original models back in the day, you’d show up at corporate headquarters with pitch forks (it wasn’t a lot and Apple made a LOT of money). Apple barely makes any money off the iTunes store. Everyone is always up in arms about DRM, and songs, and their cost, and movies, yada yada yada. Apple could care less, they make money on IPODS. That music has got to be played on SOMETHING, and while you can of course play it on iTunes on your computer, the iPod is the thing man!
Here is the way Apple sees the technology sector:
- OMG there’s a hole there, and no one has figured out how to plug it!
- Insert lengthy amount of time to think up, test, make, test some more, and perfect the product; allow ample time for rumor mills to build to a fever pitch.
- Hold a press conference to announce said product without giving any clues whatsoever about what you are going to see. Build in a lead time to the ACTUAL product so people can debate it and in general give you TONS of free advertising.
- Sell product to public and everyone else willing to wait in line for one on the first day.
- Rake in the monies.
What's a bank?
That last step seems to work rather well for Steve, and I have no doubt he has ANY trouble sleeping at night.
Apple is not out to take over the world. Anyone working there is not deluded into thinking that one day they will turn the tables on Microsoft and then OS X will be on top of the pile, that is never going to happen. Apple is an alternative. It’s an alternative way of thinking, an alternative way of using your computer (since you CAN run Windows on them now), and an alternative digital technology company. Apple doesn’t make the ONLY music players on the market, but they make some of the BEST dammit! At it’s very core, that is what Apple is all about, making the BEST product possible for a particular group of people. We don’t always succeed (iPod HiFi, AppleTV). But the successes far outweigh the failures.
If you don’t want an iPad, thats fine, no one is trying to make you buy one. It is totally your choice to not want one. Just like it’s totally my choice to want one as badly as I do. Do I NEED it? Of course not, but that’s not going to stop me from saving up for one.
Steve Jobs is my master...quite literally, actually.