Whining to Apple – an exercise in futility
First my usual disclaimer when it comes to writing about Apple: I do not own any Apple products or stocks. I do not always agree with the company’s business practices. I do however think that they create and market some of the finest gadgets the world has ever laid fingers on.
Now that is out of the way I just wanted to say a few words about all this gnashing of teeth and self-righteous moaning that is going on over the fact that Apple has tightened up the developer SDK licensing restrictions. Oh and also about how they seem to be giving any apps with the word Pad in them the boot from the App Store.
Let’s be clear on one thing though before we go any further because there is one very simple thing about Apple and their current consumer gadget platform that needs to be understood as it impacts everything the company does.
It is simply this – Apple doesn’t give one crap about geeks, especially the really hardcore blogging type geeks. Apple is all about getting their products in the hands of the millions (and millions) of people who don’t know and thing about technology and if the truth be known don’t want to know a thing about technology.
The problem is that we are self-assuming bunch and believe that everyone in the world needs to get technology. I hate to be the one to break it to you but the number of people who couldn’t give a rat’s ass about technology far outnumber those of us that do. That is Apple’s target. Not you. Not me and not your grandma who can run circles around you in Linux.
They are going after the kids who hate computers. They are going after the kids who live in a world of texting. They are going after regular people like pilots, doctors, teachers. Hell they might even be going after politicians because we all know they hate technology.
This is the Apple vision and it is one that they will adhere to come hell or high water. They will set the bar and woe to those that don’t want to meet it.
It is Apple’s game. They have set the rules and if you want to play in their ever expanding world then you put up with the narrow confines of the company’s vision. They don’t care if if developers like Dan Grigsby decide that it’s time to leave Apple behind because for every Grigsby that leaves there will be a hundred more developers willing to toe the Apple line.
Apple has set the developer guidelines in a way that benefits them and doesn’t care whether Novell is worried about the standing of MonoTouch or not. You either believe, or even just agree to the terms of the Apple vision or you don’t Apple and Jobs couldn’t careless even if that means that like Adobe and possibly Novell your company has to take a big hit.
The thing about the Apple Vision is that contrary to what people like Tyler Romeo might think in the Apple World there is a God and his name is Steve Jobs. The reason for this is very simple. It was, and still is Jobs’ vision that literally saved the company from oblivion and you can be sure that this point is put front and center anytime anyone questions how the company is being run.
In the end it all boils down to one incredibly simple fact. Steve Jobs’ vision is Apple Law. It has made the company incredibly wealthy, restored the company to a level of prominence it has never had before and no amount of whining or bitching is going to change the company.
Like it or lump it. It doesn’t get any simpler.
