I’ve used your products primarily since March 1, 1984 when I bought my first original Macintosh and ImageWriter printer. I was proud to be a Mac owner because it was so superior to the alternatives.
In the subsequent years leading up to the present time I became a Mac bigot. Everything else was not only not good, it was trash and I wondered how anyone could use that crapola.
Then Macs started going downhill with quality problems in the hardware and software. Macs just sucked less. I stopped doing unpaid sales and evangelizing for you and kept pretty quiet. When people asked me what kind of computer to get, I would no longer say, “Get a Mac”, I’d say, “What do you want to use a computer for?” I often told them to buy a PC.
Your iPod was a winner, to be sure. Generally good build quality and adequate software. Until the 2G Shuffle, that is. I’m still angry at you for that debacle that you still haven’t fixed.
Then OS X came out with a pretty rough start. I stayed silent. Once OS X improved to the point that it was useful and downright stable, I was proud to be a Mac owner again and was willing to say so.
You came out with the iPhone and I was appalled. How could you bring out a modern device with so many basic cell phone features missing? It wasn’t available in Canada then, so I had no worries.
When the 2G iPhone became available on Rogers, I was still appalled at the missing features. Still no Cut/Copy/Paste. Add that silliness to the high contract prices with Rogers and it was an easy decision to make to not buy an iPhone or send others towards one.
The Apple TV is decent, but is less than a hobby for you. It’s just a platform to sell iTunes content unless we hack it. I won’t buy another one unless it gets far more open and becomes a true media center. In other words, I won’t be buying another one.
So the sheep flocked to your products as they were getting some cachet. It became cool to be an Apple customer and people proudly wore the white iPod earbuds (in spite of the target that made them) and people were proud to open a laptop in public with the Apple logo on it. Especially since you made it the right way up after how many years of it being upside down?
Oh, you’re still enamored with upside down logos. Go figure.
You were climbing out of the hole, gaining mind share and market share in desktops, laptops, media players, and cell phones. I no longer felt I needed to hide my affinity for your products.
But the downward trend has started again. OS X Leopard is so flaky and inconsistent that I couldn’t hold my tongue anymore and created this blog back in March. The Apple TV has shown how idiosyncratic it can be. The iPods behave badly with iTunes for syncing. The iPhones, even with OS 3.0, are getting a lot of negative press for poor quality audio, dropped calls, delayed SMS and voice mail. No doubt a lot of this is due to AT&T in the U.S., but hey, you guys chose them to be your partner so you need to stand side-by-side while the eggs fly.
Of course, the iPhone and iPod Touch app store is the final straw. The developer hostility you exhibit, the race to the price basement due to the inability to find quality apps — oh, they’re there, it’s just damn hard to find ‘em — the inconsistency with approving apps. Hell, the mere fact that you tell us what we can and can’t put on the iPhone or Touch is itself appalling. Will Snow Leopard come with an app store so that we need to get everything we run on the Macs approved? If not, why not? Where’s your consistency?
Unless an app is proven to damage carriers’ networks, you should keep your grubby paws out of the approval process.
But, by all accounts, the app store is wildly successful, so keep sticking it to your customers and developers.
On the other hand, you have been getting a lot of negative press lately for — well — damn near everything you do. And you deserve it.
This is no longer a downward trend, it’s a spiral. I’m not going to call it a death spiral because you’ve survived every prediction of your demise for years. But the Phoenix is getting a bit old now and not so healthy.
As for me, well, I think I’m going to stop recommending Apple products again or advertise the fact that I own many of your products. It’s gettin’ kinda embarrassin’ again to be associated with Apple products. Oh, I’ll keep nagging at you, hoping against hope that you’ll turn it around, but maybe you need to hit bottom one more time.
I think we should both hang our heads in shame. You, for taking all the worst things about Apple and thinking they were your strong points; and me, for not speaking out earlier. I’m going back into the closet.
