If one was to respond to every stupid thing you read on the internet you’d be a busy person. Normally I try to let things go, especially when it comes to commentary regarding Apple and its products. If you publicly defend Apple on certain subjects, no matter how ridiculous the original argument is you’re often decried as a mac fanboy or some such derogative and instantly dismissed on that basis rather than any merit your argument may hold. The irony is that the widespread myth of the apple fanatic hides a much more annoying truth, that a great many Mac users can be a bunch of winey bastards when it comes to Apple’s new releases.
Like I said, I normally try to rise above it, or when I do respond to do it in a calm and collected, reasoned manner, but I read something yesterday that led me to have a Michael Douglas in Falling Down moment. There has been lots of, how shall I put this delicately, crap written about the macbook air since Steve Jobs’ keynote last tuesday. But this column in the mac observer takes the biscuit. Saying that Apple missed the mark with the macbook air he claims it will be a failure because it doesn’t compare well to the Asus Eee PC. Are you kidding me? A stripped down ultra cheap miniature laptop with a basic processor designed for children and the developing world whose computer needs are extremely basic isn’t the same as a highly polished powerful computer designed for business executives and others who need to travel often? No shit.
Insane a comparison as that is, that wasn’t what made me snap though. Nope, it was the line:
I have a feeling that the MacBook Air is this year’s “Cube.”
“This Years?” Have I missed something? Has there been a string of high profile product failures since Apple’s Cube that I somehow blinked and didn’t see? What was last years cube? What about the year before that? Are people that hard up for comparisons that every time that Apple seems to release a product not designed specifically for them personally they throw a temper tantrum and compare it to the cube. Apple’s one big product to be a major failure since Jobs returns and years later the begrudgers out there are still comparing everything to it like it’s a giant curse that shall forever darken the doors of Cupertino. I highly doubt that anyone working at Apple even gives the cube a second thought yet outside it’s a giant millstone used by wannabe technology columnists every time they feel like wagging the proverbial finger at Apple because they disagree with them. Show me any other company who’s product lineup has done as well as Apple. Show me any other technology firm that has made only one major product that hasn’t grabbed a reasonable amount of the market in 5 years.
I think it must be a hold over from the dark days when Apple wasn’t doing so well that a large portion of mac users seem to think that every product Apple releases needs to target them personally in order for the company not to go under. You know what? Apple has grown a bit since then, and they can afford to target the segments of the market that they see fit, and you know something else? They don’t just come up with something, put it in the market and hope for the best. Their product successes haven’t just been a string of exceptional good luck. They kind of know what they’re doing, and maybe, just maybe, after years of it at this stage, it might be time to give them the benefit of the doubt before you decide that you know better than the people who design, sell and build computers (successfully) for a living.
The MacBook Air is targeting a very specific segment of the computer market, the ultra-portable. And guess what, it’s not for everyone. Unfortunately that seems hard for a lot of people to grasp. Apple did not just make up this market either. Other manufacturers have been producing ultra-portable machines for years. Apple, if anything came late to the game with, given the competition, a very stylish and respectable entry into the market. It’s not a market for consumers either. Most people who need ultra-portable’s are business executives and people who travel a lot. It is not a market that Apple traditionally targets, but Cupertino obviously feels it has something to offer here. If anything the MacBook air will probably appeal to a wider audience than the traditional ultra-portable which is often underpowered and very expensive. In fact, the people bitching about the macbook Air’s price should look at the cost of a Sony Viao TZ series and you’ll suddenly realize that they are priced quite aggressively.
I have nothing wrong with people disagreeing with Apple’s decisions. I do it myself all the time, but at least think through what you’re going to say before you write it and publish it for the world to see, and can we please, for God sake stop comparing every single new product Apple comes out with to “The Cube”. Ironically enough, the one lesser product that Apple released recently, that does appear to have been a complete failure, was the iPod hifi, and I don’t recall anyone ever comparing that to the cube.
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