“The global chairman and CEO of home networking giant Netgear has launched into a scathing attack on Apple and its founder Steve Jobs, criticising Jobs’s ‘ego’ and Apple’s closed up products,” Asher Moses reports for The Sydney Morning Herald. “At a lunch in Sydney today, Patrick Lo said Apple’s success was centred on closed and proprietary products that would soon be overtaken by open platforms like Google’s Android.”
MacDailyNews Take: Patrick Lo is dead wrong. Here’s why from someone who predicted the iPhone over 4 years before Steve Jobs unveiled it. What was the Patrick Lo doing in 2002? Making some of the world’s crappiest routers. As usual.
Moses continues, “Lo said Apple’s closed model only worked because, in many product categories like MP3 players, ‘they own the market.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Why do they own the market, dummy? Hello?
Moses continues, “However, he said this was only a temporary state of affairs and pointed to the fact that Google’s open-source Android platform for smartphones – which any manufacturer can use for free – recently overtook iPhone in market share in the US.”
MacDailyNews Take: “A temporary state of affairs” that’s going on a decade now, genius.
Moses continues, “‘Once Steve Jobs goes away, which is probably not far away, then Apple will have to make a strategic decision on whether to open up the platform,’ said Lo.”
MacDailyNews Take: Anyone who remotely understands what Steve Jobs means to the world, which, oh-by-the-way, includes delivering WiFi to the masses, without which there would likely be no Netgear, should have at least a bit of respect. Especially a dime-a-dozen CEO of a dime-a-dozen company that specializes in buggy routers. What’s our standard response whenever we run into WiFi connection issues? “Netgear. Pure crap.” It ought to be their company slogan.
Moses continues, “[Lo said] ‘Ultimately a closed system just can’t go that far … If they continue to close it and let Android continue to creep up then it’s pretty difficult as I see it.'”
MacDailyNews Take: That’s the problem, you don’t see it. Oh, for a natural inhibition that would give the visionless pause before critiquing the visionary.
Moses continues, “Lo also criticised Jobs’s public thrashing of the Adobe Flash format, attributing it to his ‘ego.’ ‘What’s the reason for him to trash Flash? There’s no reason other than ego,’ he said. Asked if he had relayed any of his concerns about Apple’s closed platform to Jobs, Lo said: ‘Steve Jobs doesn’t give me a minute!'”
MacDailyNews Take: Steve Jobs doesn’t suffer fools and he’s already explained quite clearly why he’s sparing iOS users from Adobe’s Flash.
Moses continues, “Never afraid to speak his mind, Lo also said Netgear had seen a boom in sales of its Wi-Fi network booster product due to the trend of people taking their iPads with them into the bathroom. The extenders are used to boost the wireless signal so it can reach other rooms.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We wouldn’t buy a Netgear product if you paid us ten times the asking price. They’re just pieces of junk from a company headed by an ungrateful, tactless dimwit.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Netgear? Now there’s a company that shines…why is it all the shit CEOs of the shittiest companies tashbtalk Apple and Jobs and expose themselves to reality bites that come home to roost?….
What a ghoul. Hoping for Jobs demise so he stands a chance in the marketplace? Not much of a strategy, IMHO.
Wow MDN.
Then we’ll just have to find a way to make sure Steve Jobs never dies.
” Lo also said Netgear had seen a boom in sales of its Wi-Fi network booster product due to the trend of people taking their iPads with them into the bathroom”
All that ranting from a man who is seeing booming sales due to iPad bathroom usage?!?!!??
Beta vs VHS??? Where is the relevance in that analogy? This guy is a CEO?
As far as Flash goes, I signed up for the h.264 experiment on YouTube. Whenever I find an embedded YT video, I link to YT and view it in h.264. The downloads are faster and more reliable and I don’t see any of the (alleged by some) loss in video quality. Flash just needs to go to its richly deserved oblivion.
Who wants to hear the maker of commodity networking gear pontificate about topics he knows little about?
Pattie, what have been smokin’?
As lame and mean spirited as this small mans attitude is, it’s just wishful thinking on his part. These cheap companies feel like threatened animals and lash out.
Yeah you’d think he’ be more grateful that Apple has created more demand for his “shitty” products…
Yeah, open Android is such a wonderful experience … crappy battery life, one Droid doesn’t do what the next Droid does, Droid marketplace is a mess. A simply brilliant business model.
Apple can “close” my iToys all they want. At least they work, and all work the same way.
If I was given a Netgear router or a Droid phone I would throw it away. But I’ll wait in line for, and gladly hand over hundreds of my hard earned dollars for the next Apple product.
How could anyone write or even make such scathing comments about Steve Jobs at this time is beyond my comprehension. On another note, I never realized how bad in MDN’s opinion Netgear routers are. We happen to have one and after reading the article I feel like throwing it into the trash and it’s CEO included.
Lo’ blow from a lowly ceo!
Whatever! Another prediction not backup by real numbers on revenues and profits.
Boycott that Lo’ Co
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Apple is a Go!
Yesterday i couldn’t get access to MY OWN MODEM!! (netgear by the way) wtf?! what gives Patrick Lo?? are you so “open” that you even “close” the access to your own products??!
F you P. Lou
In other news, folks were convinced that there would be peace on earth as soon as BLANK went away..
Simple. Vote with your dollars. Never buy another Netgear product
I read the comments on the actual article site. They think he’s stupid too.
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I won’t be considering purchasing anything from Netgear for a long time and would recommend anyone who asks to stay away from them, too.
@ Lynnw – try an Apple Airport Extreme – even a refurbished model – you will be impressed!
Lo “never afraid to speak his mind”,
Well, this quote is perfect then.
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
– Bertrand Russell
Everyone should own at least one Netgear router. It will keep you from bitching about the price of Apple’s Airport Extreme. After years of crap routers, I finally bought an Airport Extreme. It was five times more expensive than Patrick BLo’s typical router, but, since it’s ten times better, it’s still a bargain!
While I think the MDN take is very angry, I would agree with the last point. My experiance with NetGear to date (and i’ve purchased a few) is poor. The network gear I bought from them has been sub-par to say the least. As for the subject of this article, why is “Open” so much better? It really worked out from Linux didnt it? SO by this guys reasoning Linux should now be the defacto OS on workstations. Oh wait, its not? Then I’m confused.
Also, Android is free and open. How long do you think Google will pump resources into Android while its being ripped apart by Carriers and loaded with carrier specific hacks? Once Google finance guys figure out the return is negative, Android development will suffer.
On top of all this hoopla, whats the difference between open and jail broken? Seems the same to me. Most Android based phones need to be ‘rooted’ before you can take advantage of the ‘openess’.
If you own Netgear stock, now you have the best possible reason to sell: the CEO is a complete incompetent!! It’s the iPod, not the Mac, which is the model for the iPhone and iPad. The closed system has proved to work VERY well (especially when the competition is close in price).
This guys is seriously embarrassing to Netgear and if I were on their board of directors, I would seriously start looking for a new CEO.
Rarely have I heard such absolute stupidity from a CEO (of course, Microsoft comes to mind
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@ andintroducing
If you have ever watched Futurama, then you know Steve’s head will end up in a head jar! This way he will forever Reign as CEO.