Speaking of Apple's "control", here's the latest from Daring Fireball. As usual, Gruber nails it:
★ Herd Mentality
Conformity is a powerful instinct. Theres safety in numbers. You have to be different to be better, but different is scary.
So of course theres some degree of herd mentality in every industry. But I think its more pronounced, to a pathological degree, in the PC hardware industry. It was at the root of long-standing punditry holding that Apple should license the Mac OS to other PC makers, or that Apple should dump Mac OS and make Windows PCs. On the surface, those two old canards seem contradictory one arguing that Apple should be a hardware company, the other arguing that it should be a software company. But at their root theyre the same argument: that Apple should stop being different, and either act just like other PC makers (and sell computers running Windows) or else act just like Microsoft (and sell licenses to its OS).
No one argues those two points any more. But its the same herd mentality that led to the rash of Apple needs to get in the netbook game punditry that I claim-checked earlier today. I could have linked to a dozen others. The argument, though, is the same: everyone else is making netbooks, so Apple should, too. Why? Because everyone else is.
I think theres a simple reason why the herd mentality is worse in the PC industry: Microsoft. In fact, I think it used to be worse. A decade ago the entire computing industry all facets of it was dominated by a herd mentality that boiled down to Get behind Microsoft and follow their lead, or else youll get stomped. Thats no longer true in application software. The web, and Google in particular, have put an end to that.
But the one area where Microsoft still reigns supreme is in PC operating systems. PC hardware makers are crippled. They cant stand apart from the herd even if they want to. Their OS choices are: (a) the same version of Windows that every other PC maker includes; or (b) the same open source Linux distributions that every other PC maker could include but which no customers want to buy.1
Apples ability to produce innovative hardware is inextricably intertwined with its ability to produce innovative software. The iPhone is an even better example than the Mac.
Its not just that Apple is different among computer makers. Its that Apple is the only one that even can be different, because its the only one that has its own OS. Part of the industry-wide herd mentality is an assumption that no one else can make a computer OS that anyone can make a computer but only Microsoft can make an OS. It should be embarrassing to companies like Dell and Sony, with deep pockets and strong brand names, that theyre stuck selling computers with the same copy of Windows installed as the no-name brands.
And then theres HP, a company with one of the best names and proudest histories in the industry. Apple made news this week for the design and tech specs of its all-new iMacs, which start at $1199. HP made news this week for unveiling a Windows 7 launch bundle at Best Buy that includes a desktop PC and two laptops, all for $1199. That might be great for Microsoft, but how is it good for HP that their brand now stands for bargain basement prices?
Operating systems arent mere components like RAM or CPUs; theyre the single most important part of the computing experience. Other than Apple, theres not a single PC maker that controls the most important aspect of its computers. Imagine how much better the industry would be if there were more than one computer maker trying to move the state of the art forward.
