Daniel Lyons, former Forbes writer and the man behind Fake Steve Jobs, has decided that the real Steve Jobs is turning Apple into what Microsoft was 10 years ago.
From a recent Newsweek column:
Not long ago Apple was just a niche PC maker selling to diehard fans who were quick to forgive (or even celebrate) Apple’s quirks and foibles. But Apple is no longer an underdog. In fact, Apple has started looking like what Microsoft was 10 years ago—a company that so controls certain market segments that smaller competitors can survive only by living on its scraps or staying out of its way. (Apple declined to comment for this story.)
While admitting that Apple’s share of the computer world — think hardware and OS — trails those on the PC side, Lyons makes significant points about the advantages offered to Apple from the iPod, iPhone and even AppleTV.
Some love AppleTv. Others hate it. But Apple seems convinced that it can one day turn the AppleTV into the iPod (or iPhone) of home entertainment. Jobs and company are nothing if not visionary. They can see into the future where trends will lead, and they make sure they are waiting there when the rest of the society arrives.
Thus, the AppleTV could be an intricate piece in their overall approach to home entertainment. Lyons, at least somewhat, agrees:
A year ago a small company called Vudu was winning rave reviews for its dynamite little box that attaches to the TV and downloads movies from the Internet. Vudu had advantages over Apple TV: it had a larger catalog of movies, you could rent movies instead of buying them and you didn’t need to download the films to a PC first before watching them.
In January Apple struck back, introducing a vastly expanded catalog of movie titles, which it started renting, as well as selling. And it came out with a new, cheaper version of the Apple TV box that matched most of Vudu’s features. Now Apple is selling or renting more than 50,000 movies a day, and Vudu is laying off staff. A spokeswoman for Vudu says the company is doing fine. I will point out only that this is what Microsoft’s victims used to say, too.
This piece is not about the AppleTV, but it does look at how Apple sees it’s role in the tech world. It’s an interesting read, even if you disagree with Lyons — as I do.
Apple may be secretive, proprietary and downright closed-off, but they still invite and encourage developers to build software that compliments and extends the user experience on a Mac. And for virtually every piece of Apple hardware I own, I own a hardware accessory not made by Apple.
Even for the AppleTV, with which I use frequently to watch recorded movies from EyeTV.
