Is Apple the only company that can do no wrong?

Japan is investigating the possibility of overheating iPod Nanos, according to a report. The country's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry is looking into three reports of overheating iPod Nanos starting fires and confirmed that Apple had two other cases of something similar occurring.

The iPod Nano overheating allegedly happened during 2005 and 2006 and so far, there haven't been any reports that the same issues persist.

It should also be noted that back in 2006, Apple was included in a long list of companies that had computer battery issues that were also sparking fires.

But Apple's problems have stretched far beyond battery problems. The company is facing trouble over its utterly crappy MobileMe, has dealt with concerns over faulty "first-generation" devices, and has consistently delivered less than what we're looking for in iPhones. All the while, Apple still thinks it's necessary to remove applications from its App Store with nary a mention as to why.

Amid all those problems (and many more that I didn't recount), Apple's satisfaction rating is the highest in the business, sales are stronger than ever, and there are no signs of either slowing down at any time.

So what's the deal? Why is Apple given a slap on the wrist, while other tech companies would pay dearly for similar offenses? If you ask me, it has nothing to do with the products and everything to do with Apple's marketing machine.

Apple has proven that effective marketing, secrecy, and a hype machine is a key point in ensuring a company is successful, regardless of the issues it faces. Let's face it -- without Steve Jobs making a big splash each time he gets on stage and without the success of painting Apple as a premium brand with exclusive offerings, Apple would be just another company that makes mistakes and pays dearly for it.

But luckily for Apple and its shareholders, it's not just another tech company. Instead, it's the cream of the crop; a company that the mainstream looks to as the benchmark by which all other companies are compared. An iRiver Clix? Nope, we'll take the iPod. A BlackBerry? Nah, we want the iPhone. Those HP computers look nice, but those Macs are much nicer.

But are all Apple products really that much better? They suffer from the same instability problems, don't work nearly as well as Apple fanatics want us to believe, and generally don't offer the best of the best in any space.

And yet, none of that matters.

Should we simply forget that Apple has no policy in place in its App Store and will single-handedly remove applications without warning consumers or the developers? Should we forget that Apple's batteries explode and burn up just like every other company's batteries? Should we forget that a Mac is far more expensive than comparably-equipped Windows-based machines even though it offers little in the way of tangible benefits?

So far, the answer to all those questions is a resounding "yes."

Unlike any other company in the technology industry, Apple is put on a pedestal as an exclusive brand that easily eclipses anything else on the market. Part of it is due to the success of the iPod and the iPhone's style, but a major part of why Apple has been so successful is due to its ability to build hype for nominally improved products. More importantly, Apple has been able to use its exclusive reputation to make people desire its products more than any other, regardless of the benefits it provides.

Apple is in no way the most reliable tech company in the business. But by far, it's the only company that can captivate the public and make people listen to what it has to say. And in the process, it doesn't matter if it screws up or commits rookie mistakes because it's Apple. And that name -- Apple -- is all that matters when people go to the store.

Check out Don's Digital Home podcast, Twitter feed, and FriendFeed.

[The_Decider]

"Should we forget that a Mac is far more expensive than comparably-equipped Windows-based machines even though it offers little in the way of tangible benefits?"

Are you serious? Far more expensive? Lets see if you can find a Dell/HP/whatever with 2 quad core xeon processors for $2800 that has comparable software instead of the nagware and other assorted junk that comes with Windows. Don't forget to take into account that 8 cores will run much slower with Vista than OSX.

Do a fair comparison of hardware and software and maybe you won't embarrass yourself.

For the record, I don't own anything with an Apple logo on it and never have.

[WhoWhatWha]

Heh...
24" iMac... dual-core 2.8GHz cpu with about 4GB ram... 750GB HDD... Nvidia 8800 Vid card.. $2300k-ish
Mac Pro (comparable setup) quad 2.8 xeon... same HDD/Vidcard/Memory setup, 23" monitor... $4000

Just got a Dell XPS420 quad-core 2.6, 4GB ram... 22" monitor... $1450ish.
Hmm.. /shrug... comparable? I'll let you decide.

Oh.. now on to the use...

If you're a production artist working on a dual processor, quad-core xeon settup... then I hope you've done the research as to your efficiency and render times. Industry standard Adobe products only use 2GB ram on Win32 or OSX... in Vista64bit, CS4 can use well above and beyond. ;) oh.. and it's been flat out claimed by Adobe that a rewrite of its foundation code would be required to take advantage of additional memory in OSX.

Meh... ok.. so that's just memory... well.. I doubt VERY seriously you have the tasks to take advantage of all this hardware (without automation anyhow, where then you might as well get a server) or the mental power to multitask that many projects at the same time. Not trying to be insulting, I put myself in that group as well.. my point is, we usually will render one project at a time, no matter the hardware we?re using. Long renders are our time to take our breaks or surf our forums.

I also feel bad for the folks working on Macs in the corporate world trying to work with OSX?s horrid networking. But that?s a whole different topic.

Now that you?re upset at the Gates Fanboi, I?ll admit. I?m a cross platform guy. I very much enjoy the ease of OSX. It?s hardware is assembled quite well and with very impressive design. I have a Mac Pro sitting right beside me with the 30? cinema monitor. And I love it! They deserve due recognition. But For those that give into the propaganda (yea.. even their ?tech specs? read as a sales brochure) that Apple likes to shove down folks throats. Do some research. A) they get viruses B)they crash too C)they?re subject to the same temp issues as every other prefab?. And much, much more. It?s just an electronic device. Get over it.

[jeffc76]

Flame bait. No numbers to back you up? Your own site's Editor's Picks have an Apple in every category (constantly). Consumer Reports always has Apple products at the top of its reliability reports. Also, User Interaction is a big factor you ignore - I haven't heard a lot of people talk about how easy-to-use their iRiver is.

[jerquiaga]

On this one Don, you are right on. If Microsoft or Dell were to pull half the shenanigans that Apple does, the media would be screaming at the top of their lungs about it. Apple seems to always get a pass, no matter how bad their product/service is. One of these days Apple will get to the same user base as either of these other two (as people buy into the hype) and Apple won't be able to scale to meet those users needs. Once that happens, people will start realizing the problems (and that Apple has all the same problems every other manufacturer/tech company has), and we may see some equitable reporting.

[itguyaz]

Apple has only about 2.5% of the entire computer market, but if you see how many Apples there are on TV and the Movies you would think everyone has an Apple. Thats just silly.

I think the main reason Apple always gets a pass of because of all the Apple zealots. I always hear how Apple is more stable and doesn't have any viruses - thats because the tiny marketshare creates no desire on the part of hackers.

Also, traditionally if you wanted to play games on the Mac you had to wait a year or more before popular games were converted over to the Mac.

Steve Jobs has always reminded me of some Socialist Dictator in the IT world. Now more than ever with his 'Kill Switch" embedded into the iPhone 2.0, and all the trouble his cohorts have caused on iTunes. In the PC world there are communities of developers, i.e., open source products, gaming, applications, that Steve Jobs seems to hate. He doesn't want other people using his code. He wants to keep it all for himself. He wants to tell you what applications you can or can't have, regardless if you have paid for them or own the product. He calls it being "responsible". Well, so did Stalin

... and yes, they are more expensive.

[gotburnedneveragain]

I bought an ipod last christmas. It was my first experience with Apple products. I bought third party components such as a ipod ready portable DVD player, cases, head phones and a portable stereo. We wanted to consolidate our media into one unit. Well, on Dec 25th my wife opened her gift, the ipod. She proceeded into the office and installed iTunes on our PC. Once she synced the unit to iTunes the software detected a new firmware available for our unit. Installed the firmware. Then we proceeded to purchase a movie and downloaded it to our iPod. We then attached the unit to the "ipod ready" portable DVD player. Good ol' Apple blocked the video TV out. I then searched the internet and only found a few threads regarding the issue and only one small paragraph on Apple's website. I was really upset. The suggestion from apple.com was to purchase yet ANOTHER item to allow the iPod to work with the portable DVD player. They change things without notifying the customers. I found other instances of this type of behavior from apple. It's mainly to steer customers to the apple store and cut out any competition. The same competition that makes the apple line of products marketable and allows for integration. They went from taking over the world and back to their own little island. I had hope and now it's gone. I'll never buy another Apple product again.

[mcp9500]

Y'know, i've never felt compelled to post a comment on a column before, but this article is so nonsensical that i just can't resist. As an exclusive Windows user from 1994 - 2007, I'm hardly what you'd call a "mac zealot." But your premise that Apple's products "suffer from the same instability problems" as other products just doesn't bear out in my experience. While not perfect, I simply don't find myself killing countless hours trying to figure out what went wrong in my OS since left XP for Leopard. And as far as the bogus notion of a cost premium, I couldn't find a comparably equipped Windows PC for less money than my iMac, unless I built it myself. Most people I know who tried other MP3 players that were more feature rich/lower cost ended up dumping them in favor of an iPod eventually anyway b/c the UI was so crappy.

If you don't consider time savings and ease-of-use as "tangible benefits" for a technology product, then I don't know what would qualify in your mind. The whole justification for any piece of technology since the Industrial Age has been in the benefits provided by the technology's ability to save people time and effort with relative ease of use and appropriate reliability to get the job done.

Even if, as you say, Apple "is in no way the most reliable tech company in the business," then explain the consistent customer satisfaction reports from ACTUAL APPLE USERS - they certainly produce the most reliable computer products i've ever owned or worked with. If, as you say, the iPhone "has consistently delivered less than what we're looking for," then please explain all those people who shattered AT&Ts sales records were missing when they bought more iPhones in 4 days than RAZRs in a month.

Marketing hype only goes so far - you should know that. Most people don't like being sold to, and they really don't like feeling like they were oversold on something that under-delivered. Apple wouldn't be able to maintain its cachet if their products weren't, by and large, meeting and exceeding their customer's expectations. Kinda like a hypothetical tech columnist wouldn't be able to maintain his reputation for honest journalism if he consistently published biased, unsubstantiated flame bait...

[disposableidentity]

Maybe it's because they go so far out of their way to make fantastic products. Maybe we are so used to Apple pulling out all the stops to design and manufacture products that surprise and delight us, that improve our lives in sometimes subtle, often dramatic ways. Maybe, just maybe, Apple's customers feel like they can legitimately cut the company some slack when the odd thing goes wrong, because most of the time they make sure the experiences we have with their products and systems are flawless.

[some_objectivity]

Whatever you're on, I want two

[posershadow]

To mcp9500, you have got to be kidding me. Obviously you don't shop around very much. This Dell ( http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8878823&type=product&id=1210379087838 ) is $899. Thats a Intel 2.5Ghz quad core, 6gb ram, 750gb hard drive, and an ati hd2600xt. Here is a 24" HP LCD ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176090 ) for $469. Now that's $1370 total.

Now we go over to Apple ( http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac?mco=MTE3MDM ) and we have the 2.8ghz 24" iMac for $1799. Now lets compare here.
2.8 dual core vs. 2.5ghz quad core - PC wins
2gb ram vs. 6gb ram - PC wins
320gb hdd vs. 750gb hdd - PC wins
Hd2600pro vs. hd2600xt - tie
24" lcd vs. 24" lcd - tie
$1800 vs. $1370 - PC wins

Where did the $530 difference come from? The PC clearly smashes the Mac in specs and yet it's less money? Don't get into quality either buddy. Are you going to say that the Intel processor in the Dell is less "quality" than the Intel processor in the Mac. I think you Mac boys mistake appearances for quality. Sure the iMac is an all in one package and looks good, but for gods sake, the computer is there to use and sit on your desk. You buy a computer to type documents, play games, surf the internet, send emails, etc, not to drool over the beauty of it. If you want to buy something stylish, then go buy a nice car or nice clothes, not something that is going to sit on your desk in your office. Sure the Mac has Leopard, but is Leopard worth the $530? Granted Vista had issues when it was first released, but by this stage in the game, Vista is pretty damn solid. Leopard is at max a $200 advantage over Vista. So once again, where is the difference in price coming from? Obviously if style is an issue and Windows is absolutely dreadful to you, then go buy the Mac, but 90% of the 1 billion computers in the world run Windows, so I guess Windows isn't all that dreadful to people.
Maybe the iMac site should say "Beauty. No brains. And less brawn."

[Rawnchie14]

He states his opinion and the Apple fanboys come out in DROVES with comments as large as this article. So pathetic damn, its a corporation not a diety. Quit getting all of your pairs of underpants all twisted up become *gasp* someone doesn't drink the koolaid too!

[instanton]

You know what, posershadow is absolutely right. If you go to a scientific conference in math or biology or physics, you will find the stupid people using Linux or Macs at a much higher proportion than warranted on the basis of the market share in the general population. So clearly these people are the stupid and non-creative leeches on society. The artists are all flakes anyway so who cares if they use Macs. Let's see, who's left? Oh, that's right, Federal government bureaucrats do use Windows machines as do their secretaries, and probably every paper pusher in every big company. And if you're a programmer, if you haven't hacked MFC classes, what earthly good are you? Heaven forbid that you should use consistent and easy to use technologies that have been around for a couple of decades like Interface Builder. Remember, if it wasn't excruciating to do, it wasn't worth doing.

It's the same fricking elitist jackasses who insist that BMWs drive better than Mustangs. What do they know?

[some_objectivity]

'Lo,

I put together two quotes - 1 from apple and the other from dell.

Configurations were nearly identical.

PROCESSOR Intel® Core? 2 Duo Processor E8500 (6MB L2 Cache,3.16GHz,1333FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Service Pack 1 edit
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 750GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability edit
MONITORS 24 inch E248WFP Entry Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor edit
VIDEO CARD ATI Radeon HD3870 512MB GDDR4 edit
SOUND CARD Integrated Sound Blaster®Audigy? HD Software Edition edit
SPEAKERS No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system) edit
KEYBOARD Dell USB Keyboard edit
MOUSE Dell Optical USB Mouse edit

Apple
3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2 GB
750GB Serial ATA Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS w/512MB GDDR3
Apple Mighty Mouse
Apple Keyboard (English) + User's Guide
24 in monitor

Dell - $1599
Apple - $2499

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DXDWQJ6&s=dhs
http://store.apple.com/us/configure/Z0FH?mco=NzMyNjM1

Also, Dell lets me say no to all "nagware". Ok, I got a free copy of McAfee AntiV for 2 years, but I'm not complaining.

What was that about price again?

[some_objectivity]

Also, those cranky about Vista - you do realize you can run Ubuntu on any PC?

[opinion8ted]

Nothing like a flaw to get the Apple-Hatahs red in the face and screaming. Hahahaha... I can't help but smile knowing that my Macs, iPods and iPhone may have cost more in the beginning, but I've saved thousands of dollars in tech support, repair, lost time and data by sticking with superior products all around.

I use a PC at work (not by choice), and Macs at home. I can't wait till the end of the day when I can come home and actually get something done without incessant hassle. Windows is a mess, always has been.

Flawless?? Don't know of anything that is. But Apple products - warts and all - beat PC's all to hell. I see the proof everyday.

[disposableidentity]

2 years of free antivirus protection? Hmm. What's unlimited virus protection worth? I'd say that more than makes up any price difference you might see between particular Mac and PC models.

[BingMW]

Honestly, I thought this was a biased article, written by a writer who obviously doesn't appreciate Apple Inc. or the products they produce, so why write the article? Shouldn't a journalist present the facts unbiased? The truth is all jumbled up in the 16 posts above this (well except for the guy making fun of the people posting, who felt it necessary to show his being above the whole debate by posting in this thread. Don't worry, I'm sure it works in his head.). Yes, you can find a Windows PC cheaper, Yes, you get many built in features in a Macintosh PC that you don't in a Windows PC, including useful bundled software. Yes, if you're a gamer, you probably don't like Macs. Yes, Apple builds a quality product, as everyday users attest to on a regular basis. Yes, Microsoft dominates the market (but being the biggest doesn't mean its the best. Look at countries, are China and the United States the best and without flaw?) And, yes, even though nobody has pointed this out, many people do buy Apple computers, because they look great and the hardware is top notch and run Windows to exist in their work place, or maybe just to have the choice to choose the system that is best for the task at hand. Maybe to compare things appropriately, compare the hardware that Microsoft and Apple make, what is the current failure rate on the Xbox 360, I know mine has made two trips to Texas thanks to the red ring of death.

The facts are, it is your money, buy the product that you like. If you want a fancy car, get the fancy car, if someone else wants the fancy computer, it is ok for them to buy that, you don't have to try to feel superior to them by insisting how you use your computer is the only way. Yes, a BMW is better than a Ford Mustang in every conceivable area except cost. But some people really do like the Mustang much better for whatever reason they want. It's the whole point of a free society.

To the author that started this whole thing, next time let the readers know you're spouting your biased opinion, and have a Window hating colleague write an article about how much it sucks that Microsoft is forcing new computer buyers to buy VIsta, even though many, many, many Windows user do not want to, because in spite of what an earlier poster stated, it is still quite a nightmare.

So the people who hate this posting have fuel to attack. I work with Windows PCs every work day of my life and make quite a good living fixing the constant viruses and crap code that makes up Windows. At home I choose to have Apple computers and products that I rarely have trouble with, in fact I'm typing this on a 1998 original iMac, that is running OS X great and is just about 10 years old. Not a bad accomplishment for a computer, especially since I shelve 5 year old Windows PCs on a daily basis, that couldn't hope to even run XP. But you know, tomorrow I'm off to help a company with their Windows computers, because that is what they want, and I would be an idiot to tell them they are wrong for wanting that. So to everyone, let people like what they like, you like what you like, and quit paying so much attention to a biased author who presents his work as just the facts for you to draw your own conclusion on an who writes for a company whose top story today was "Jennifer Aniston Dumped!"

[t26l]

I am not a fanboy of any sort; however, I'm sick of bloggers who give biased opinions against certain companies. Clearly, Don, you're a Windows fanatic...and you're argument has not even penetrated my unbiased mind. Btw, I still use XP & Vista - don't even have a Mac/iPod/iBed/iPhone/iThingz - so you can't label me as an Apple fanboi.

[coprior]

After purchasing my mobile me account on 8/11/08, the salesman upgraded my phone (purchased 8/07) & set up the account. I asked prior to purchasing the phone if there were any problems with the service & whether there was any chance of loosing data. I was reassured that there were no problems.
Unfortunately that was not the case, I lost a years worth of photos (irreplacable) calendar data (irreplacable of a legal matter), & most importantly personal notes that contained important, valuable information that I cannot retrieve. I discovered the problem when my car was towed (it was parked legally - no tickets or fees)& I could not retrieve my license plate #. It took hours for them to find where they moved my car.(it would up being around the block)
so, I am now at a loss (literally) & very upset. apple says they are very sorry