Brace yourself, take a deep breath, and then plung into these snippets of Robert Thompson’s article entitled, “Apple can’t recall Jobs to fix company this time – Mac users not on radar,” for Canada’s National Post:
“Few will miss the irony that I am actually writing this column on one of Apple’ Computer Inc.’s iBook laptops. But it was the upgrade to a new Apple iBook which finally convinced me that the company is finished. Apple, once a dominant force in the personal computer arena, appears to have no influence on the market and the only people still using its computers are masochists who apparently don’t want access to much of the latest software… When I upgraded to the brand-spanking new iBook, I was full of big expectations. I expected computer nirvana, especially given all the hype around newer Apple computers like the iMac. But it didn’t take long for those expectations to be dashed.”
“First of all, my iBook didn’t like the software I needed to run my Palm M515. Crashes and screen seizures were regular occurrences. And the iBook doesn’t play well with a lot of things that are part of the Microsoft world. Now some would say the problem with my Palm software is an issue for Palm Inc., not Apple. In fact the buggy Palm software demonstrates an important issue that is currently facing Apple — third party manufacturers have stopped caring about Mac users. Software developed for the Macintosh platform is often a last-minute consideration, or worse, not even considered at all…”
“In its latest numbers released in January for its fiscal first quarter of 2003, revenue fell from a year earlier and all of the company’s major computer lines saw diminished numbers. PowerMac sales were down 20%, while iBook sales fell 8%.”
“At the same time Apple’s sales were falling, PC sales rose, though just slightly, according to figures from IDC released last month.”
“The last time Apple was in this state, it brought back co-founder Steve Jobs to fix its issues. He fostered the development of the iMac and secured a US$150-million investment from Microsoft. But there aren’t any new iMacs in Apple’s future and Microsoft, bolstered by its victory over the U.S. Department of Justice, is clearly not going to help the beleaguered computer maker this time.”
“So what have you got left? Apple is a company that controls around 3% of the computer market, has recently undergone a restructuring and is slowly fading into nothingness. Software makers don’t even have Mac users on their radar and it’s not like Apple can bring Mr. Jobs back to right the ship this time — he’s already there. Stick a fork in ’em — this Apple is cooked,” writes Robert Thompson for National Post. Full article here.
MacDailyNews take: Obviously desperate for hits, trolling mightily, Mr. Thompson writes as if recently sprung from a mental ward in some bizarre alternate universe where Apple isn’t leading the way, as usual. Leading the way for Wintel box assemblers with virtually no R&D budgets like Dell, HP and truly beleaguered Gateway, while also showing Microsoft how a modern OS should work for people instead of forcing people to constantly work on the OS just to use their junky, cheap, Wal-Martesque computers. Drop Mr. Thompson a line or two, we did, before they collect him in the little white truck and ship him back to the home. His direct email address is: rthompson@nationalpost.com
