Is Apple going to make the same mistake twice?
When Apple first began making computers they were expensive and a closed platform to developers.
As a result cheaper PC's running windows and open to developers took off in the mainstream and even today Windows holds the heavy market share and Apple is a niche player.
The iPhone, unlike the iPod (which is just a media player) is more of a platform in itself. Like a little mac in your pocket. Over the next year or two the iPhone is going to show a lot of people that have desktops that we don't need laptops as well, just an iPhone. To some people the iPhone could become more useful in their daily lives then a desktop computer. We're entering a new era where what defines a "computer" is going to get kind of hazy.
But is Apple making the same mistake twice by making the iPhone a closed platform to developers? Where only they and a select few can actually build real software for it and not just web apps. Also the price, by not allowing cell companies to subsidize the cost to the customer. I know a lot of people who say it looks great but is too expensive for a cell phone. That was Apple's problem with their computers for so long.
We all know Microsoft is going to take some ques from the iPhone when it comes to their next windows mobile OS. And hardware makers are going to see the success of the iphone and soon we will have a lot of touch screen iphone-like phones running that windows OS. But it will be open to developers and the handsets will cost less with contracts from service providers.
So is Apple going to make the same mistake twice? It's apparent now that in the twenty plus years as much as Steve Jobs has changed he hasn't really. He's still just as much a control freak now as he was then, for better or for worse. The iPhone is Apples second chance at taking the market. But something tells me that in ten years we'll see the same thing we saw in the 90's.
When Apple first began making computers they were expensive and a closed platform to developers.
As a result cheaper PC's running windows and open to developers took off in the mainstream and even today Windows holds the heavy market share and Apple is a niche player.
The iPhone, unlike the iPod (which is just a media player) is more of a platform in itself. Like a little mac in your pocket. Over the next year or two the iPhone is going to show a lot of people that have desktops that we don't need laptops as well, just an iPhone. To some people the iPhone could become more useful in their daily lives then a desktop computer. We're entering a new era where what defines a "computer" is going to get kind of hazy.
But is Apple making the same mistake twice by making the iPhone a closed platform to developers? Where only they and a select few can actually build real software for it and not just web apps. Also the price, by not allowing cell companies to subsidize the cost to the customer. I know a lot of people who say it looks great but is too expensive for a cell phone. That was Apple's problem with their computers for so long.
We all know Microsoft is going to take some ques from the iPhone when it comes to their next windows mobile OS. And hardware makers are going to see the success of the iphone and soon we will have a lot of touch screen iphone-like phones running that windows OS. But it will be open to developers and the handsets will cost less with contracts from service providers.
So is Apple going to make the same mistake twice? It's apparent now that in the twenty plus years as much as Steve Jobs has changed he hasn't really. He's still just as much a control freak now as he was then, for better or for worse. The iPhone is Apples second chance at taking the market. But something tells me that in ten years we'll see the same thing we saw in the 90's.
