Did everyone have their Crazy Flakes this week?
There's been a lot of noisy garment-rending in the Apple world recently as the combination of the iPhone price drop (since corrected), the change in iPod video output (still a mistake in the Macalope's eyes), the ringtones feature (really a problem with the industry) and the bricking of unlocked iPhones (boo-hoo-hoo) has apparently driven people insane.
The pointy one understands there have been some misaligned expectations about the iPhone, but what's so surprising is that they're coming from some usually responsible sources, and now he's a little concerned that it might be spreading.
After writing a piece the Macalope sure hopes wasn't about his real family, Macworld's Chris Breen (aka "The Bouffant of Knowledge") was a guest on MacBreak Weekly where he had this to say about Tiger:
Yeah, but I do think that people have expectations about Leopard and not because Apple is doing it but a lot of it is partly due to the delay. You know, it was supposed to ship in the summer and now they said "No, no, no, we're gonna wait until October because we need these resources." However, people would then say "OK, well you've had these extra months to really do something spectacular here."
What?! Chris, no. No, no, no, no, no, no. They've had those extra months to catch up, not make new features.
Mac users are the biggest collection of spoiled brats the horny one has ever seen. Who else can hear "delay" and think "more features!"?
Do people really think that Apple is going to reveal something vastly different from what we've already seen (twice!)? Leo Laporte seemed to think that there was pressure for Apple to release something as different from Tiger as Vista is from XP.
The Macalope loves him some Leo (and some Chris Breen, for that matter), but that's crazy talk. XP came out in 2001. Microsoft had six years. Tiger came out in 2005. That's, hmm, let's see, divide by X... multiply the derivative... carry the one... two years!
If people really think that, well, it's time for an intervention. Yes, Leopard should work and it should work well, but if you're expecting the unexpected, don't.
Like Chris, Leo is also hot about the iPhone. That's the second time someone has said those who aren't outraged about the situation suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. Frankly, that's insulting. It's also wrong. The Macalope would suggest that it's not he who's suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, Leo, but you who's suffering from Munchausen Syndrome.
(Ha! Take that, Mr. I Graduated From Yale!)
Look, there's a reason the Macalope tends to buy Apple equipment and it's not because the company ties him up and puts a red rubber ball in his mouth (let's leave that to Mrs. Macalope, shall we?). It's because their stuff works and looks better than other stuff. If someone wants to make stuff that works and looks better than Apple's stuff, well, the Macalope might have to have some plastic surgery, but he'll be happy to use it.
Leo, if the Macalope's not mistaken, didn't you crash your N95 all by yourself by installing third-party applications? Why is this mythical beast supposed to feel like some kind of psychological victim because he doesn't need that particular brand of aggravation? The Macalope didn't buy his iPhone thinking about all the great apps he was going to install on it, only to find out later that it was locked down and then have to justify his continued support for the platform. No, you bought the iPhone knowing it was locked down and are now upset to find out, no, there will be no peanut butter on your chocolate, chocolate in your peanut butter.
The Macalope's just a little baffled by why Chris and Leo -- after being told repeatedly that they would be given Hershey bars -- keep expecting Reeses Peanut Butter cups to fall out of the wrapper.
Chris also had this to say on Macworld's podcast (which was largely a collective rant about how horrible it was to brick the phones and remove applications) about the possibility that Apple would make a certification program for iPhone and iPod touch applications:
If Apple comes out in January and says, OK, we've got this handful of applications that we've approved and I look back to today when I thought I had that when they worked much better than what you're offering and you're charging me $11.99 per app when I got that stuff for free and it was updated every day and a half and you're never gonna update this, I'm gonna be bitter about it.
Leaving out the whole argument that Chris obviously bought the wrong phone and the fact that the hosts of the Macworld podcast are clearly not average consumers (a subject which Daring Fireball has already hit) and that Apple should probably pay more attention to the 90 percent of its iPhone customers rather than the 10 percent, two points:
- Someone else on the podcast (possibly Chris himself) noted that some applications crashed their phones. Certainly, that wouldn't happen with a certification program. The quality of the applications would tend to rise, not fall, as Apple would be inclined to pick the better applications for certification.
- How absurd is it to expect to continue to get iPhone applications for free? The reason iPhone applications are free is not because developers make up for it on volume, Chris. It's because Apple has published no APIs. Charging for an iPhone application now -- and some have tried this and had to end up giving customers their money back -- is developer suicide.
Let's say Apple does what everybody says they want and releases an SDK without a certification program and developers run joyfully through fields of posies as birds fly overhead and virgins dance around the Maypole. You're still going to start getting charged for applications, and rightly so.
Finally, a word of warning to John Gruber and John C. Welch...
We're apparently the only sane ones left. Don't fall asleep!
[Title paraphrased from Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Season 7, Eposde 5, "Selfless".]
Mythical beast and rumormonger extraordinaire, the Macalope writes about all things Apple for the CNET Blog Network. Read more at The Macalope: An Apple blog. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
doesn't get enough credit for is the Intel version of 10.4. There's no doubt
Leopard would have arrived many, many months ago if Apple hadn't made
Mac OS X Tiger run on both PowerPC and Intel platforms; that was a huge
effort and it didn't even get a major version number bump or new "cat" name.
Rather than Apple coming out with a line-in-the-sand release and insisting
"PowerPC developers get on this sinking ocean liner and Intel developers on
this lifeboat." Apple seamlessly answered fundamental endian and size issues
in the hardware itself, as well as making users confident about buying third-
party Mac software without anxiety over whether it will would on their
computer (Universal binaries & Rosetta emulation). All that work went
practically flawlessly and invisibly to end-users.
I know the obsession the computer industry has over version numbers and
bullet-point feature lists, but I'd easily count this "Shadow Tiger" as the fifth
major OS X release. True, Leopard is coming out much later than expected,
but the "diversion" that was OS X 10.4 for Intel did much more to revive the
Mac platform despite only having a few feature bullet points.
It just seems silly for CNet to pay for a commentator hiding behind a pseudonym, only to give the tame and lame opinion of Apple's PR department.
Not being a liar or an idiot myself, I decided not to violate the terms of the iPhone EULA. And since I bought it knowing it was locked to ATT, that is my part of the bargain. The only iPhone problem I'm having is the constant screeching sound of angry stupid people.
Also, Apple hasn't promised anything extra with Leopard.
Everybody wants to hold Apple's feet to the fire for promises they didn't make, and then blame them for problems when you don't live up to promises you did make.
Accurate analysis isn't lame just because you don't like it.
P.S. Mr. Macalope. I still have the better part of my sanity, too. Thank you.
their phone so if Apple tries that over here - which they probably will since I
suspect they won't be issuing custom EU updates - they'll wind up facing the
same kind of fines Microsoft did (10% of their worldwide earnings).
As to the assertion that Apple's stuff works better than others, that used to
be true, but of late it looks like Apple's QA department's been asleep. The
iPod classic has several bugs that basic QA would have found (ordering
playlists by creation date rather than alphabetically, for example).
The quality guarantees the brand, not the other way around.
the world (OS X) be a little more crash resistant than the crap that is normally Nokia (I
might be bit harsh)
Stil, I reckon Apple will release an SDK when the moment is ripe.
But the most funny thing about the last MacBreak Weekly was what Alex Lindsay said
(and I'm paraphrasing) "and Apple released the iPhone and did nothing for months. Of
course other had to make programs...". The phone was released three months ago, in
the summertime. And Apple has this little other thing called Leopard that they are
working on.
Someone said the following (and I don't remember who)
"The geeks are ********, which proves real consumers will love it."
For the record, while the Macalope has laughed at several other industry attempts to best the iTunes Store, his first stop shopping is now officially Amazon.com's MP3 store. How could it not be? The interface still stinks compared to iTunes, but it's cheaper at the same bit rate and no DRM. He still expects many people won't switch because lots of people just don't care about DRM as long as it works on their iPods, but Amazon's clearly offering a better deal.
Other than that, the Macalope still thinks Steve knew about he options stuff and still thinks Apple needs to take security more seriously. There just hasn't been much to cover in those areas of late.
And didn't the Macalope effectively say the maybe people who want to install third-party apps should look at other phones? How is telling people they should buy another product defending Apple?
csnazell, the DMCA also makes it illegal to *stop* someone from hacking their phone. It doesn't, however, mean that the company that sold you the hardware has to continue to support your phone. No one forced iPhone owners to install 1.1.1. You can't hack your phone and keep expecting bug fixes and new features.
O2 are obliged to provide me, upon request, with the means to use any
device it sells with another network's SIM card. Typically this is an alpha-
numerical string which when entered removed the lock. If the iPhone cannot
be unlocked in this fashion then it's probably unique in the UK market.
If Apple then bricks my iPhone with an update & the device is within
warranty they'd have to unbrick it.
No one voluntarily uses O2 so there's going to be a lot of angry UK iPhone
owners in 18 months if the iPhone can't be unlocked in the usual fashion.
heard the Macworld Podcast, it was so ridiculous. And Leo is so off the chart,
they just get crazy all around us.
They seem to compare the real existing iPhone to some mystical can-do-it-
all-iPhone like utopian communists compare their ideal to the real existing
socialism - they can't understand their dreams don't get true.
- Still waiting for the iPhone over here in Old Europe...
Rhymes with "morny". It's actually in this blog post.
Weird.
It may not be an official medical term, but ass-hat works well to describe the
attitude and behavior of some of these Apple "fans". The last time I saw such
collective crybabyism (not a real word), Jobs got sacked and replaced. How
did that work out? This time he isn't going anywhere, except by choice or
illness. Americans love the underdog and then hate them when they manage
to succeed. MacSurfer's headlines are so rampant with inflammatory or
misleading and negative headlines about Apple and their products that it is
just not fun to read. Are all these millions of people who are buying these
products really that dissatisfied with their choices? Let's just all go back to
the Performa days and Spindler hiding under his desk. That should bring
back the joy...
I think the language Taliban are working overtime.. you will probably see
***** substituted in the above Macalope quote. I think ass-hat will make it,
gotta love those hyphens!
expectations of unmedicated schizophrenics. This was the issue which spurred
me to start my own blog, if only to vent about the inanity of the subject. But you
and Mr. Gruber are far more well-versed in the details than I.
Sensationalistic talk may increase ratings for a while, but people who listen to Leo
generally aren't the General Public and eventually will see through his depth-less
diatribes and lose respect. And I'm not talking about losing respect simply because he
criticized our favorite fruit company - more because he seems to be Dvoraking
(forming opinions without thinking).
It drives me crazy to hear a guest bring up a subject he's not familiar with and hear
him quick-Google it (the telling pause before he speaks - and we all know Leo *never*
pauses before he speaks) so he can appear knowledgeable and form an 'opinion'.
Macalope quotes Breen:
<Yeah, but I do think that people have expectations about Leopard and not because Apple is doing it but a lot of it is partly due to the delay. You know, it was supposed to ship in the summer and now they said "No, no, no, we're gonna wait until October because we need these resources." However, people would then say "OK, well you've had these extra months to really do something spectacular here.">
And then Macalope says:
<What?! Chris, no. No, no, no, no, no, no. They've had those extra months to catch up, not make new features. Mac users are the biggest collection of spoiled brats the ***** one has ever seen. Who else can hear "delay" and think "more features!"?>
New features? Where in that quoted tract did Breen mention anything about new features? He said Apple is under pressure to do "something spectacular". That could just as well mean that the new cat MUST ship without the customary bugs and crazy updates that had accompanied the previous two.
Because, see, this time Apple has no excuse -- they asked for extra time to iron out things, and they got it. Plus, they'd had so much fun thumbing their nose at Microsoft and making a lot of noise about how Microsoft took 6 years just to come out with a dud (oh, sorry, that was you, wasn't it).
That thing about people living in greenhouses not throwing stones around comes to mind. Apple has acted like it's all superior; it better not stumble with the Leopard 10.5.0 release. Otherwise everyone will see that the self-proclaimed emperor's got no clothes on either.
Sure, when they decided to delay it, they made it pretty hard for themselves to either a) delay it again or b) deliver something bug-ridden. Want to see the Macalope ***** about Apple? You will if either of those happen.
Microsoft was doing demos of Vista five years ago and telling people it was just around the corner. The pointy one certainly thinks it's bad form on Apple's part to miss the spring date, but the Leopard delay is not even (yet) in the same universe as the Vista delay.
with Tiger, just as Vista really is competing with XP. Superficial eye-candy
aside, there are substantial and fundamental differences in philosophy and
execution between Microsoft and Apple. I really don't believe Mr. Jobs cares
about who owns the desktop (he has conceded that Microsoft does); he wants
the operating system to connect users to what he sees as the the future of
Apple, a consumer entertainment company. Otherwise he never would have
switched to Intel, nor ported apps to Windows. So most of what Leopard will
really be about is integration, seamless as possible and reliable, with this
vision. Microsoft is still relying on its ubiquity (monopoly) and has yet to see
that is a dead end eventually. Don't expect Jobs to respond to what Chris and
Leo think Apple should be. He will, and does, respond to what the majority of
users who buy his products expect. That the device does what it claims to do,
and that service is there if it fails to what what was advertised. If that is
arrogance on Job's part, what would you call the minority of users who are
yelling and ******** about Apple not doing what they want? That is for the
competition to do, and then see how big that market is.
And it must be mighty warm for those stone throwers living in glass
greenhouses :-)
Apple jumped in bed with AT&T to get a share of wireless contract revenues.
To protect this position, Apple chose not to support native apps, to disable
native apps that had been installed, and to brick phones that had been
unlocked. Just like Sony. Just like Microsoft. Just like Verizon.
Apple chose to charge for ringtones, just like Verizon. Just like AT&T.
Apple's pricing was designed to gouge early adopters.
Consider:
- no native apps. Steve Jobs stood on stage at Apple's Developer
Conferencestage and announced a "killer solution" - Web Applications. The
iPhone is the most compelling computing platform since the OS X 2.0, but
developerscan't touch it. The reasons given are asinine, and developers
know it.
- $2 ringtones. Apple's iTunes update disabled a working FREE solution for
putting ringtones on the phone. Doesn't matter if the ringtone was derived
from a DRM-free source. True, the wireless industry charges $3-4 for
ringtones. But also true: wireless customers HATE their carriers.
- Apple's pricing strategy was designed to gouge early adopters. Only after
a users shut down Apple's iPhone support message board did Apple cave,
and offer a rebate. The price cut is the most telling example of Apple's
strategic shift.
In exchange for short-term revenue, Apple is alienating it's 10% core base:
developers, fanboi's, biggest supporters, and loudest proponents.
It's interesting how Apple completely underestimated the consequences of
the price-cut. Has Apple has underestimated the consequences of their
other actions?
Apple is supposed to be the "Think Different" company. They're not
supposed to abuse their customers. Their products are supposed to be
innovative and compete on their own merit, instead of using contrived lock-
ins.
The new Apple strategy is to behave like Verizon, AT&T, Sony, Microsoft. To
Apple's core group, Apple is beginning to look like The Enemy.
Does it matter in the long run? Time will tell.
Macalope wrote:
<The pointy one certainly thinks it's bad form on Apple's part to miss the spring date, but the Leopard delay is not even (yet) in the same universe as the Vista delay.>
The Vista delay was ridiculous and is actually Microsoft's SOP if you look at their history closely. Then again, Apple deserves to be submitted to a harsher standard (1) simply by virtue of them acting so high and mighty about the Vista delay and (2) since they kept saying how far ahead OS X was in comparison to Vista, it should take less effort on Apple's part to make a good thing even better (hence even a few months' delay is already too much).
I like Apple products, it's the company's (and some of its users') attitude I can't stand. Then again, I just don't like boastful people in general.
- I like my Kool-aide Decaf, please.
- by GreginChicagoland October 9, 2007 11:12 AM PDT
- The fact that you and John Gruber pretty much say the same thing leads me also to believe I'm not crazy or drinking too-much Kool-aid. To be fair, I'm dissapointed in some of Apple's decisions, but this venting is kind of going off the deep end by some of the tech pundits. The iphone has really taken some of us Mac users along for the ride, whether we really wanted to or not.
- Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (22 Comments)I guess we have to face facts that it's a whole new world and some of it ain't pretty. But when last I checked consumers can always vote with their dollars and if you don't like Apple's new toys, don't buy them.
Lastly, you don't have to be an economist to know that all companies tend to operate in cycles and Apple has had a pretty good run the last 10 years or so (remember 13 bucks a share anyone?). It's not unreasonable to think that Apple may have hit the high water mark and will enjoy a great fourth quarter, but after that will probably come down to earth. I full expect more gloom and doom press as their profits invariably come back down to earth and discontent, justified or not, will make for better headlines in 08.
But as my trusty G4 powermac shows me every day, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Apple has had it's ups and downs, but at least it's in for the long haul. Ipods, Iphones and Hi-fi's may come and go, but at least I know tomorrow brings another day without having to run Vista.
Out