Always remember and never forget:
“The only limit we need is that which limits anyone from setting limits.”
If you are like me, you buy any tech gadget that comes out. I always manage to find a way to support the economy, the company that comes up with an inferior first version etc. But I do enjoy getting exposed to the technology before most people, so that’s worth something isn’t it (I know what you’re saying, this is like someone that lost everything in Vegas, and comes out saying, “Well, I still got my health!!”
Be that as it may, I resisted buying an iPad. I actually got the email early to pre-order, and I even went through the process, then later cancelled it, I just thought to myself, “What the heck am I going to do with it?” it was going to be $800 thrown away (I have to get the 3G with the large capacity 🙂
Anyway, I am more of a believer of open technologies, so I am an Android kind of guy. Ever since I bought the G1 for my son (BTW, he loooooves it still), and then when I finally gave up on my TREO 755P (Still think it was a great phone), I have been in love with the Android platform. I think it is the future, or some semblance of the future. Apple, Microsoft, HP and others are spinning their wheels, while the new generation is going for everything that’s open.
I don’t think these companies learn from past mistakes. Apple lost a great big market share when the PC Market went open, because IBM messed up (Thanks IBM for letting Compaq creep into the market with superior clones and create a great demand for PCs). They lost again, when they let Dell slide into the corporate market with its “Order the way you want it, and we will make it like you want” strategy. Netscape fell into the “They love our product so much that they will pay what we want” strategy. Microsoft has too many things to talk about and everyone knows it. This taught me that when you put a lot of hurdles (Hurdles can also be a high price for example $329 for Microsoft Office, ouch! Openoffice.org anyone?), and make things proprietary, you end up losing in the end. Who remembers the Betamax, the Lisa, 8-track tapes etc.
Sure Apple has a lot of following, and they are doing a great job with their interfaces, but most of the people buying are the Apple fans to start with. An article from PCWorld said that nearly 3/4 that’s 75% of the buyers of the iPad during the pre-order and the weeks following were MAC users, and almost 67% had iPhones (The iTouch is getting cannibalized by the iPad, unless they release a 5″ version soon).
It’s so hard to get an iPhone app into the store that the sheer determination was the only thing that made it grow so quickly. But the priced apps are fading, mostly only the free apps are being downloaded. Considering that currently to get an application on the itunes App Store you need to get it approved by Apple, and there are several criteria, including competitors products, makes it less attractive to newer developers. While this is good for the quality of the available apps, it does limit creativity and push people away. Eventually people like “NO LIMITS!!”
I have a MAC along with the umpteen PCs that I have (I think it’s something like 7:1 now, not counting the 12-15 older desktops sitting in my garage). I have setup an Ubuntu on one of my older desktops, and I have to say, “I am impressed, Linux, you’ve come a long way baby!” I have just finished setting up a Chromium OS machine, I will start testing tomorrow, can’t wait.
So back to the iPad, there are some Chinese companies that have already released 7″ Android tablets, that are going for $100-$140 shipped, yes shipped!!! It has WiFi built in, it is not as robust as the iPad, but it is only $100, and it is still new, imagine what it will be in a few months. Of course, I ordered one, will be testing that as well.
Please don’t take me wrong, I am not one that can say Apple will fail, but I can say that it will not be operating at the full potential that it would if it were more open. Take a look at what Facebook did for the open cause, or rather what the open platform did for Facebook. How about Linux and Apache for the server industry? I wouldn’t ignore it, if I were in the position these companies are in.
I’ll say this again, “The only limit we need is that which limits anyone from setting limits.” Keep in mind, the U.S.A. grew this fast because it was based on this open souce model, of course with a dash of capitalism added as a catalyst for extra motivation.
Diran Afarian
Founder
NextEmployee.com