MacDailyNews Take: Not a good analogy, if only because “Death Star” was ascribed so often to Microsoft back when they mattered.
Allen and McIntyre write, “The success of the company is particularly spectacular because it is largely a four-product enterprise, consisting of the iPad, iPod, Mac, and iPhone. It also produces a suite of supporting software that includes its OSX, the Safari browser, iTunes, and the App Store. These non-hardware products knit together the ‘iProduct’ universe. The reason behind its growth is simple: Apple clobbers the competition Today, Apple is most often blamed for the demise of other large technology brands. As tech evolution has accelerated, Apple has remained ahead of its competitors with innovations that gamble on its ability to assess the consumer and enterprise markets.”
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Allen and McIntyre write, “24/7 Wall St. has analyzed the brands and companies Apple has impacted. They range across many sectors of consumer electronics and mobile devices, and include much of the software that operates on both computers and portable systems.”
Companies and products Apple has impacted:
• RIM and Blackberry
• Amazon’s Kindle
• Asus
• Microsoft and Windows
• Mozilla’s Firefox
• Sony
• Adobe and Flash
• Google: Apple is now converting people from traditional search to the use of Apple Apps as their way to navigate the Internet. Among the most-used applications for the iPhone are those created by social networks like Facebook and providers of targeted content like weather information, movie show times and news. These are the very same terms that are most often searched in Google. The App Store is the first “search” system to provide any strong competition for Google.
Allen and McIntyre write, “Apple is an anomaly. It has the disruptive force of a startup and the consistent message of a mature company. It is one of the largest tech companies, and yet it is a darling of Wall Street. It is a hardware company that is also software company, content company and now consumer-electronics company. It has manufactured not one but three revolutionary consumer products back-to-back, and all on a content distribution model that seems to evolve with the needs of the product. It’s a killer because it continues to be the first to market and often times the only game in town.”
Read more about the companies and products that Apple has impacted in the full article here.
Give me a break. AlI see in this article is a list of companies negatively affected by Apple. What about all the companies that are positively affected by Apple’s influence?
I agree with the first MDN take. If Apple is about overtaking and assimilating, the writer should have mentioned a Star Trek Borg Cube.
Microsoft is a better Death Star. A technological marvel with fatal design flaws (exhaust port). Also destroying things (Alderaan) without getting anything useful out of it (“she lied to us!”).
I agree with the first MDN take. If Apple is about overtaking and assimilating, the writer should have mentioned a Star Trek Borg Cube.
Microsoft is a better Death Star. A technological marvel with fatal design flaws (exhaust port). Also destroying things (Alderaan) without getting anything useful out of it (“she lied to us!”).
And by “impacted” he means “smashed”.
And by “impacted” he means “smashed”.
HP should definitely be on the impacted companies list. Apple is the reason they shelled out a billion dollars to purchase Palm and absorb webOS.
HP should definitely be on the impacted companies list. Apple is the reason they shelled out a billion dollars to purchase Palm and absorb webOS.
I think the design philosophy is just so different of the non-Apple companies. Most companies design products from a more cynical, uninspired, good enough POV. This lazy unimaginative approach has left them prey to a company like Apple who gets it. Probably doesn’t help too that other companies lose focus as the product goes through different departments, each with their debilitating agendas, instead of one unifying Jobsian type vision. Pity those fools. All they’ve done is given the keys to the I-verse kingdom to Apple. Not that I’m complaining! (Owned Apple stock since 2000, iPods galore, iPad, 2009 iMac, 2005 G5, 2007 Mac Pro, 2004 Powerbook G4, 1997 9500, 1994 8100, , etc.. And gosh, I need a new Mac Book!)
I think the design philosophy is just so different of the non-Apple companies. Most companies design products from a more cynical, uninspired, good enough POV. This lazy unimaginative approach has left them prey to a company like Apple who gets it. Probably doesn’t help too that other companies lose focus as the product goes through different departments, each with their debilitating agendas, instead of one unifying Jobsian type vision. Pity those fools. All they’ve done is given the keys to the I-verse kingdom to Apple. Not that I’m complaining! (Owned Apple stock since 2000, iPods galore, iPad, 2009 iMac, 2005 G5, 2007 Mac Pro, 2004 Powerbook G4, 1997 9500, 1994 8100, , etc.. And gosh, I need a new Mac Book!)
@ lowdensity
Good point. Apple is making iApp developers big bucks and third party after market stuff for iPods, iPads, iPhones, Mac Books, etc. is a billion dollar industry. So SOME people are getting rich off Apple!
You know something is mainstream when this kind of accessory support is ubiquitous and available at Target, Walmart, truck stops, etc.. The battle has been won. Think you’ll see much in the way of easily available accessories for the Dell Underwear Streak or Samsung iDung tablets?
@ lowdensity
Good point. Apple is making iApp developers big bucks and third party after market stuff for iPods, iPads, iPhones, Mac Books, etc. is a billion dollar industry. So SOME people are getting rich off Apple!
You know something is mainstream when this kind of accessory support is ubiquitous and available at Target, Walmart, truck stops, etc.. The battle has been won. Think you’ll see much in the way of easily available accessories for the Dell Underwear Streak or Samsung iDung tablets?
Microsoft had a negative reputation, and was hence labeled the Death Star because because it regularly searched out and destroyed start up (rebel) companies and their technologies to protect its own hegemony. Microsofts main business was Empire Building, and they used ruthless means to achieve their success.
Apple, conversely, has as a core mission the goal of building great products that we enjoy making a part of our life. The companies that are being negatively impacted by Apple are old deadwood that needs cleary.
Microsoft had a negative reputation, and was hence labeled the Death Star because because it regularly searched out and destroyed start up (rebel) companies and their technologies to protect its own hegemony. Microsofts main business was Empire Building, and they used ruthless means to achieve their success.
Apple, conversely, has as a core mission the goal of building great products that we enjoy making a part of our life. The companies that are being negatively impacted by Apple are old deadwood that needs cleary.
Some other industries that are/will be impacted:
Point & Shoot Digital Still Cameras
Point & Shoot Digital Video Cameras
Skype/VOIP
Polycom/Video Conferencing
I actually think that digital still camera companies like Nikon, Canon, and even Sony can benefit by expanding their DSLR offerings. I know of a few people, myself included who have dropped their point & shoot cameras, relying more on their phone’s camera for casual shooting, but who have also upgraded to a DSLR. Granted, they’re just using their DSLRs as expensive P&S’s replacements.
Some other industries that are/will be impacted:
Point & Shoot Digital Still Cameras
Point & Shoot Digital Video Cameras
Skype/VOIP
Polycom/Video Conferencing
I actually think that digital still camera companies like Nikon, Canon, and even Sony can benefit by expanding their DSLR offerings. I know of a few people, myself included who have dropped their point & shoot cameras, relying more on their phone’s camera for casual shooting, but who have also upgraded to a DSLR. Granted, they’re just using their DSLRs as expensive P&S’s replacements.
Re: Death Star:
Terrible analogy. They sound like they are trying to describe a blackhole. However, if something is in a stable “orbit,” that means it is NOT getting pulled in, but rather continuing to go around. Also, they then say it “overtakes” the competition. It is weird to imagine a blackhole zooming past something.
Basically, that was an unintelligible mush of non-thinking. This falls solidly into the “throw a bunch of cool-sounding words together” school of journalism.
Re: Death Star:
Terrible analogy. They sound like they are trying to describe a blackhole. However, if something is in a stable “orbit,” that means it is NOT getting pulled in, but rather continuing to go around. Also, they then say it “overtakes” the competition. It is weird to imagine a blackhole zooming past something.
Basically, that was an unintelligible mush of non-thinking. This falls solidly into the “throw a bunch of cool-sounding words together” school of journalism.
They neglected to mention:
Nintendo (console game makers)
Warner, Universal & EMI (content music providers)
Garmin (GPS)
Pocket video makers
Pocket camera makers
Palm (PDA makers)
All the other handset makers
I’m glad they mentioned it, because I’ve been stunned at the ever-increasing number of industries and companies that are getting clipped by Apple, or flat out rendered as roadkill.
They neglected to mention:
Nintendo (console game makers)
Warner, Universal & EMI (content music providers)
Garmin (GPS)
Pocket video makers
Pocket camera makers
Palm (PDA makers)
All the other handset makers
I’m glad they mentioned it, because I’ve been stunned at the ever-increasing number of industries and companies that are getting clipped by Apple, or flat out rendered as roadkill.
• Mozilla’s Firefox?
What a sloppy list. Why not ad Ford, NASA and GM to the list aswell… if something, Firefox has affected Apple and Microsoft.
• Mozilla’s Firefox?
What a sloppy list. Why not ad Ford, NASA and GM to the list aswell… if something, Firefox has affected Apple and Microsoft.