I am now completely Apple-less. This is not a state to which I necessarily aspired, but it is a state in which I am happy to be. Several years back, all I wanted was to be in the grips of Steve Jobs. Perhaps it is a loving embrace, perhaps it is a strangle hold (or was, given the demise of Mr. Jobs) but in any event, back in the day all of the Apple devices worked together and did so many of the things which I wanted them to do. Today, there are plenty of other devices that fit the bill, some even better that Apple’s array.
What I will miss is that feeling of being sleeker than everyone else around me. This feeling has faded, of course as everyone around me has gotten an iPhone, iPad, iPod, iwhatever. And that’s fine, but it makes it hard to feel like part of an exclusive club when everyone else is part of the club. The premium for entry doesn’t seem worth it anymore. Especially not when the alternative is as appealing as Android is becoming.
Sure, you can sue the butt off of Google and say they stole from Apple. Maybe they did a little bit. But Apple stole from Xerox and from Palm and from all sorts of other folks. It’s a creative process after all. When you copy and steal in the financial industry it’s called “innovation” so I’m not sure what the tech guys have their panties all in a war about. I do know, however, that Apple is rapidly approaching the crossroads in mobile technology which they met in PCs: other companies are catching up and Apple has to decide whether to play ball or go home. Last time it went home and almost died. Guy Kawasaki can only keep the hype going for so long, and there will be no third coming of Steve Jobs.