The Facination with Apple

"It puzzles me why the entire technology industry is fascinated with Apple. Granted, it is one of the few companies in Silicon Valley that aren’t really feeling the effects of the bad economy in the states right now, but just over a decade ago, most of the tech industry where ready to write Apple off, sell it off back to the shareholders. Then enter the Redux of Steve Jobs. He turns the company around, brings the iMac to Market and then the iPod. Suddenly Apple is the darling of the tech media, with it’s mysterious events, and hyped products. Granted, Apple does have some amazing products. The new Macbooks look amazing, and the iPod and iPhone have changed the music and mobile phone industries. However, in Apple’s huge amount of About Mindshare and expanding marketshare is twofold. First, Steve Jobs, is by the most Private CEO of any Fortune 500 company. He’s not in the public eye, unless of course, it’s for medical reasons, or he’s giving a keynote. Compared to Microsoft or someone like Redhat, Jobs is very secretive. And I think that’s been his strategy for a long time at Apple. If the competitors don’t see what your doing, they can’t compete with you. That’s why Apple is always 5 steps ahead of the curve when it comes to product development. However, being 5 steps ahead isn’t always a good thing for consumers, and because of the secrecy, Apple rarely, if ever justifies it’s product design decisions. And that is a big deal, because unlike HP, Dell and others, where you might have some expectation of product revision. With Apple’s secrecy, you have no clue. And that, is Apple’s underlying weakness. "

(Via .)