“When I switch on my Apple Mac, the first thing I see on the screen is a smiling face – the icon of Apple’s operating system. It seems apt. Once the technology world’s underdog, Apple has become the consumer power-brand of the 21st century, a company that knows what real people want from their cutting-edge gadgets,” Julia Pierce writes for The Independent.
Pierce writes, “Apple has had reason to be cheerful. But the happy face on the screen of my MacBook laptop is starting to look more like a pained grimace. In recent months, court cases, faulty products and bad PR have taken the shine off these objects of consumer desire. Could the unthinkable be coming to pass? As David has become Goliath, has Apple lost its cool?”
Full load here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Leo” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: This piece should be used in university media classes to illustrate how to generate a hit piece. The Independent: Yellow journalism at its most obvious.
SAFEWAY HAS DECIDED THEY WILL GO ALL ORGANIC WITH THEIR PRODUCE STARTING JANUARY 2007
I agree with the article’s author to a certain extent. Apple is not what it used to be. It’s lost that “adventurous” edge it used to have. Specially as of late. It’s becoming what Microsoft used to be (and still is). A corporate monolith much like the one it portrayed itself bashing in the famours 1984 SuperBowl ad.
Since the iPod hit the big time, Apple’s been steadily getting both a bit too cocky and a tad too greedy for many folks out there. It’s clearly beginning to care more for the value of its stock rather than the value of its loyal customers. It’s closing more doors than opening new ones. Charging for things that used to be free. Eliminating software upgrade paths. Rising the costs of support, training and certification. Dunno… you can see it in the details. Go take a look at the reviews for Apple Remote Desktop in the Apple Store online. You’ll get the idea.
Anyway, I’ve been around Apple and Apple folks long enough to tell the difference. And I don’t particularly like it. On the other hand, I still like their products and will continue to support the brand as long as there continues to be merit in doing it. But, lately, I’ve found myself doing so with a frown and quite a bit of reservation.
Maybe someday, when Apple has learnt to beat Microsoft at its own game, perhaps there’ll be another company to come along and pick up where Apple left off. And become more Apple than Apple itself.
That’ll be the day I’ll peel off the Apple sticker off my window.
when you are all done giving your praise to the altar of Apple, try, oh please try to bring yourselves back down to earth to realize that there is some shred of truth in this article.
Hmmmm. Having just had my replacement iPod fail after only 2 months and been told tough, we’re not going to do anything, I can’t say I’m surprised at articles like this. Stand in my local dealer’s for an hour and listen to the litany of compalints about iPod failures andyou might begin to think there is something wrong with Apples quality control.
I’ve said it before, if Apple regards the iPod as a trojan to drive Mac sales they need to get the quality sorted pronto!! Otherwise the reputation of the one will rub off on the other.
David became Goliath? Not yet, dear Julia, not yet. Give it about three years.
no mac is cooler than a wicked fast pentium 4 with REAL megahertz<B>
As opposed to FAKE megahertz, presumably.
<B>and win xp media center edition and a REAL man’s remote that you can actually use instead of lose like that tiny apple toy.<B>
Ah, Win XP MCE: the particularly unflattering shade of lipstick on the pig that is Microsoft’s software engineering.
<B>too many mac laptops cacthing fire or getting hot or whatever it was
Unlike the Dell Grill-O-Matic 7000: do a hard days work scanning for viruses and then cook your meal all with the same appliance. By the way, cook your burgers after the flames have gone down and when the Dell has gone grey (or more grey, whatever)
real cool means products that dont scratch up easily, you dont see microsoft music players getting scratches
Actually, my problem is that I just don’t see Microsoft music players.
only a few mac heads ever thought apple was cool, the rest of us know white is soooo boring and sad, look at dell if you want to see an all in one thats better/faster than imac, it looks like POWER!
So you choose your computer according to the colour, are you sure you’re not a girl.
lame core duos run cool because they r SLOW, look at the mhz, so what are you buying except “the cool factor” or should I say the “cool aid factor.
Still believe the Megahertz myth, do you? I’d look at the actual performance on real-world applications myself, but that presumably requires literacy and I think I’ve spotted your problem…well, one of them anyway.
apple don’t even put their logo on the front of the imacs like dell does, ashamed you think, why put the name across the back like that?
Because when you’re sitting in front of the machine, you probably know what it is – and you probably need to be reminded when you go to buy a new one as they’re all so faceless.
When you put the logo on the back, it shows the people who are walking towards you that you have style and taste.
I don’t normally do the MW thing, but curiously this one is child.
if we all stop thinking of this article of “yellow journalism” and start demanding quality products, the sort of ipod batteries fiasco, Apple will never improve the customer satisfaction. and the point of the article is that as Apple gains marketshare, it will drive to get products out the door faster, sacrificing quality and customer service over revenues. is this really what we want Apple to become? another Dell.
It is up to US (as in you and me, and Ron and MDN) to make Apple accountable.
julia needs to get laid.
A couple of things.
Unless Julia Pierce is a pseudonym or has a sadistic mom/dad, the author of the piece is a she!
The author, despite being so very wrong about so very much, has a valid point. Or, some valid points. The nano incident was real. The MacBook yellowing is real. The incendiary laptops are real. There are other sides to each of the stories – the fact that the nanos were replaced, which she mentioned, being one – that show that, while Apple isn’t perfect, it is more responsive as well as less flawed than the three ahead of it in the sales race.
Apple needs to consider its future. Will Apple, without Jobs, be as directionless as Miami hopes Cuba will be without Fidel? Last time Apple was without Jobs, it devolved into a mere “computer company”, rather than holding its focus and drive to excel. Is it possible that Apple is drifting that way already? We Mac-lovers got that way because Apple products have tended to be better than they needed to be. More inventive, more intuitive, more attention to detail, more designed to inspire rather than to simply get the job done. Is Apple losing that edge?
Steve Jobs doesn’t act like a god. The media portrays him as one. The media is the one that has given him that image. Don’t be an idiot and learn to create your own opinions and thoughts. Don’t be a media lemming.
Why do you guys even waste our time with worthless articles like this one?
Those of you that demand yet greater perfection from a company that produces more ideas, products, software, ancillary devices and life changing ways of doing things deserve to be rubbed in the excreta of all those companies that can’t produce one third of what Apple can and does.
Give me a break. Apple is at the heights of achievement by anyones standards. And it isn’t resting on its laurels, it going way way further.
Idiots.
7up, it’s time once again for your pimple cream treatment.
Put it on “wicked fast,” (‘Kay) ’cause you’re starting to look (not to mention SOUND) a little zitty!
Yellow journalism? No, red journalism. The Independent is a loathsome British commie rag that despises all things American. But If Steve Jobs had been an incompetent loser, they would have loved him. Ignore this driveling idiocy article.
The Independent is such an Apple-hating POS.
Screw them!
fsck that fscking rag
fsck bill c–t gates too
and that bald fat c–t
fsck em all
“The nano incident was real. The MacBook yellowing is real. The incendiary laptops are real. There are other sides to each of the stories – the fact that the nanos were replaced, which she mentioned, being one – that show that, while Apple isn’t perfect, it is more responsive as well as less flawed than the three ahead of it in the sales race.”
True DLMeyer, however, the author of this article fails to mention (or more likely, realize) that none of this is new. Apple has NEVER been a “perfect” company, and there have been issues similar to the ones cited throughout their entire history. It comes with the territory when mass producing complicated products. Very few companies actually execute every phase of mass production, therefore, they have to rely on others to do it for them. Often the companies they rely on don’t have the same corporate values, and attitudes about quality, and many times various elements of the product can then be defective. It happens to everyone, but what separates the good companies from the bad is how they deal with those problems. Apple is very quick to fix them, and make things right for the customer. Other manufacturers take a “tough luck” approach. She tries to make it sound like this is a new occurrence though. It’s always been that way, and probably always will be.
Regardless, Apple has a rich history of making mistakes, which is part of what makes it such an interesting company. Have they lost their cool factor? Cool is in the eye of the beholder. Apple never said they were “cool”. They’re just doing things their own way instead of following in the footsteps of others. In my mind, that will always be cool.
Flappo!
That’s the sort of language I expect to hear Ballmer using as he launces another chair…
Wash your mouth out with soap RIGHT NOW young man!
Mark Garcia: “Correct me if I’m wrong but 10.0 to 10.1 still had the smily face in question and it was replace with the Apple symbol in 10.2.”
I believe you might be right. However, she said, “the happy face on the screen of my MacBook” which would mean it was preloaded with 10.4, Tiger.
Still a cucumber with no onions or radishes.
Let’s try and create some kind of bad ora or doubt about Apple by writing a rediculous article. All companies have lawsuits and product issues that need to be resolved. Dell’s battery woes are simular to Apple’s if not worse as the batteries that Apple gets don’t blow up in a ball of flames as of yet.
For me, the most telling part of the story is in the last paragraph:
“There are those who have been with Apple all along, and there are those who love their iPods, but who, like me, have never really liked Apple.”
I’m glad, since you never liked Apple, that you are objectively reporting on the company’s “coolness,” like you know….
Is “Julia Pierce” pseudoname for Ann Coulter?
Once one gets a defective Mac – one definitely has a different view on Apple.
I went from Apple fanatic to Apple “who cares” after my Mac laptop was a total lemon. 3 keyboards, two logic boards, new processor and some other parts.
I used to be first to buy the newest Mac….heck, now I look for reasons to postpone a new purchase.
Apple definitely lost its coolness with me.
tango: As far as I’m aware, Ann Coulter doesn’t moonlight as a writer for a Brit-commie rag.
(tango = pseudoNYM for “loser.”)
Hello all. Interesting stories, one and all.
But then, let us remember that Apple is a company, that needs to make a profit, etc. The have good and bad days. Unlike Microsoft who has bad days, bad days, and of course, WORSE days.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
And on those bad days, just remember my friend with their NEW HP laptop. It only takes 8 specific steps to empty the trash. seriously. Neat.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
PS about the writer of the above article. Well, I am guessing that she is a teen going thru puberty and is having one of those emotional days when everyone should curl up and die cause her life sucks.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> Been there, knew the people. Nothing is ever OK, it all is going bad. Nothing left to do but wait to die.
OR, buy a Mac, cause life is too short.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
N.