I think my head may explode, I actually agree with Cringely for once

Re: I think my head may explode, I actually agree with Cringely for once

Yeah, I've gotten to accept that Cringely is best read for entertainment purposes only. That said, he IS entertaining.

The problem with most Apple predictions, is while any number of products may make tons of sense be they 1080P HDMI equipped LCDs ~40" LCDs, a true HTPC Mac or a Kindling (sic) killing iTablet, El Jobso's Apple is just as minimalist in its product line as it is in its industrial design and UI. El Jobso does not wish to clutter his pristine Apple stores with too many different products, nor does he wish to sow customer confusion or in any way disrupt his company's laser like focus on the few products they do make. (Look at all the beloved by their owners products Apple has killed off during El Jobso's reign -- everything from the LaserWriter to the Apple Stereo to yes, even the Newton).

Keep in mind that Apple has a higher market cap than IBM, Dell, Sony, etc., etc. -- tons of companies that each make hundreds if not thousands of different products. I think that El Jobso has determined that the way to do it is make very few products brilliantly, as opposed to tons of sort of good products and hope that some of them will be hits.

Add to this the press circling like vultures, waiting for anything that is less than a gargantuan hit to write "Apple is doomed" stories (if you don't believe me just look up all the junk written about what a flop the AppleTV is, or the latest iPod/iPhone "killer" device, or how NBC pulling out of iTunes will kill the iTunes store). Face it, any journalist that wasn't bright enough to buy Apple stock at $20 a share (or heck, $14, when Jobs came back) or is forced to write on an ugly Windows PC) HATES Apple, with a passion.

Take a Kindle killer: to be successful it would need an associated eBook store, which is a gargantuan undertaking. Apple could, in theory, partner with Google and their millions of scanned in books, but, the publishers, just like the movie studios, are horrified of making a deal with the likes of Apple or Google, because they are all too convinced that they WILL succeed and kill their familiar business model. Plus, in their present shape, Google's public domain books are NOT ready for prime time -- major human cleanup is needed.

Ted

Re: I think my head may explode, I actually agree with Cringely for once

who is cringley?