…Apple Is To Blame For Everything
1. The emergence of the iPod as the personal music player of choice has turned us into illiterate zombies. Having created the ultimate instrument for portability of audio entertainment (and video?), the ubiquity of the iPod (and its copycats) has transformed public transportation and significantly contributed to the demise of the newspaper industry. And maybe reading in general! The days of commuters occupying their time with print are waning. We’re far too happy listening rather than reading and it’s killing newspaper editors. Except those free ones. Yeah, they’re popular. As long as they’re free.
2. iTunes. Oh, iTunes! You’ve caused way too much anguish for music executives. We all think it was Napster and Allofmp3.com that made them go bald. But really, it’s you, iTunes. You’ve altered the balance of power. Albums? You changed the rules and made it about songs. Power with the labels? With eight gajillion iPods out there, I don’t think so. You’ve created an ecosystem where the customer experience is King, not the labels. People will still buy Britney’s latest hit. Why, who knows? But know they’ll do it 99 cents at a time.
3. Apple TV…plus iTunes. You haven’t quite nailed it yet. But you’ve got people thinking. Could this have the same effect on broadcast video content that iTunes had on music? Crap. That could transform television. And movies. And DVD rentals. And because it hasn’t conquered the space yet, it’s inspiring others to do so. Double crap.
4. You’ve really pooched us with the iPhone. Telecommunication executives are scratching their head over this one. You’ve made them sell it cheap, so they can’t make that much from hardware sales. But they were subsidizing most phones already, so this is good for them, bad for consumers. You’ve also pretty much left data plan charges at the whim of providers. Again, good for providers, bad for consumers. But consumers end up with a sexy phone that can do lots of cool stuff. Not sure where the balance tips in this one, but I think consumers are the losers. But everyone is making lots of money, so that’s ok.
5. Apple makes good products. They work. They look nice. They make us want them. They make us spend our money. Phooey on them.
