They are these days. They make a touchscreen phone that does Internet, then everyone else does. They make the App Store, then everyone and their dog comes out with a version. They come up with OS features, then BOOM Microsoft breaks out the Vista photocopier (which must be broken, because all the reliability disappeared from the features as they were copied).
Anyway, you get the idea.
No one claimed that Apple invented the GUI.
We can only really go by what's on the shelf and what gets into users' hands, and when.
Look at what Apple has rolled out since 2001. Now look at what everyone else has rolled out. One wonders where the R&D money of the also-rans is going. Coffee? New chairs? Photocopiers?
Apple introduces the iPhone, and now we have all these look-alikes, knockoffs, also-rans attempting to ape the same design and business model. Had Apple not released the iPhone in 2007, one wonders how long it would have taken the rest of the industry to offer a capacitive touch smartphone that is even remotely as easy to use.
Same for MP3 players/PMPs. You like the Zune HD? You like its nice capacitive touch screen and usable interface? Had Apple not redefined the market in 2007 with the iPod Touch, you know when you'd have seen a device like that? Microsoft and the rest of the industry
needs Apple. The entire tech sector
needs Apple.
Same for the App Store. They were there before, but who really knew or even cared? Apple releases the App Store, then everyone jumps on board. iTunes as well.
Ditto for all-in-ones. Thin notebooks. They've been done before, but as you've noticed, when Apple releases something, it becomes popular or idolized as the Gold Standard, which prompts everyone else to attempt to cash in.
So really, for the past decade, it's been monkey-see-monkey-do with the also-rans. Where Apple leads, everyone else loves to follow. Why? Because Apple takes a
proactive approach to technology. The rest are
reactive.
Of course, I could be wrong. But if I was, Apple wouldn't be ruling or setting the standard for nearly every segment of the market in which they've chosen to participate: notebooks, operating systems, media players, mobile phones, media software, etc. Apple specializes in the consumer market and knows exactly what the next big phenomenon wil be. This is borne out by their numbers, quarterly results, performance in the Premium end of the market, and stock performance. Apple is recession-proof, and that includes their Mac line.
Outperform. That's what Apple is all about these days. Small wonder why consumers lust after their products.
It isn't difficult to see what's been going on. When Steve Ballmer stands up in a room full of Macs and says "we have more work to do . . . we have more work to do", he isn't kidding. He isn't just speaking for MS. He's speaking for the entire industry.
http://www.macdailynews.com/index.p...ts_25000_raise_as_company_profit_plummets_17/
