“Don’t look now but this may be the year when Apple’s market cap does the unthinkable and surpasses Microsoft’s. Congratulations will be in order but so will condolences. For a company preoccupied with products is in danger of becoming a company preoccupied with strategy,” Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. writes for The Wall Street Journal. “And by ‘strategy,’ we mean zero-sum maneuvering versus hated rivals.”
MacDailyNews Take: “We?” Is Holman hearing those voices again?
Jenkins continues, “Oh well, it’s a fallen world we live in.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, it certainly is.
Jenkins continues, “Take the iPad, which instantly shed the moniker ‘Jesus tablet’ once it saw the light of day. It’s a blown-up iPod Touch [sic], rolled out not to be insanely great but to give Apple an entry in the netbook derby. The iPad may not be the best Web-browsing machine simply because Apple refuses to support Flash, which delivers 75% of the video on the Web. But the iPad (an anagram for paid) looks like a good device for consuming the e-books, music and video sold through Apple’s online service. In fact, let’s not mince words: The iPad looks like a device optimized to patronize the iTunes store.”
MacDailyNews Take: That’s why Apple developed iWork for iPad, of course. And why it does email, contacts, calendars, etc. That’s why apps will stream video and audio to iPad from sources that have nothing at all to do with Apple. And anyone who thinks iPad is a “blown-up iPod touch” is foolish, as are people who are presented a very clear picture, yet pick and choose what to see while turning a blind eye to everything else that doesn’t at all mesh with their conceits. By the way, iPad is also an anagram for iPDA.
Jenkins then goes on and on and on about Adobe’s shitastic Flash and how, because Apple’s iPad doesn’t support it, Apple is “succumbing to the seductive temptations of ‘network effects,’ in which the all-consuming goal becomes getting its mobile devices into more and more hands simply for the purpose of locking more and more users into iTunes Store.”
MacDailyNews Take: Except Apple’s not locking anyone into iTunes Store with the iPad. Here’s just one example: You’ll be able to download various e-book apps that allow you to buy books from various sources, like iPhone and iPod touch users can today from (for only one example among many) Amazon via the Kindle for iPhone app. Simply download the free Kindle app and use that if you don’t want to use Apple’s iBooks app that’s connected to Apple’s iBookstore. Music, videos, and much, much more are available from non-Apple sources for iPhone, iPod touch and, very soon, iPad. So, where’s the lock-in? Obviously, there is none.
Jenkins continues, “Network effects can be a path to power and riches, but (as Microsoft has shown) much of the proceeds can also end up being squandered on defensive and paranoid attempts to secure the privileged position. Pundits have wondered what might become of Apple once its chief aesthete and perfectionist is no longer calling the shots. An Apple that rolls out increasingly junky devices merely to lock more and more customers into the iTunes-App Store mall is one gloomy possibility.”
Full illogical tripe – “The Microsofting of Apple?” – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s becoming Microsoft because they unveiled the iPad and Holman doesn’t understand it at all and because some unnamed “pundits” wonder if, after Steve Jobs retires someday, Apple might begin to roll out increasingly junky devices that supposedly “lock customers into” Apple’s iTunes / App Store even though today’s products do no such thing. Holman’s theories are illogical. If he wants to worry about any company becoming the next “Microsoft,” he should take a look at Google and their bespectacled mole of a CEO Eric Schmidt.
What a piece of shit. I was surprised to learn this garbage came from the Wall Street Journal. I expect better from them.
Google is the new Microsoft, wanting to invade and control all aspects of the computer and Internet. Google…
– search
– OS
– browser
– on-line apps (productivity, graphics)
– navigation/map app(s)
– email
– phone (with subsequent app store)
– high-speed Internet service (testing phase)
have I forgotten any???
Gee, this guy really doesn’t get it.
Microsoft built a huge aftermarket for IT specialists because their OS sucks, runs on hardware they have nothing to do with and needs techies to fix it. Apple built a huge aftermarket because their OS is so good and they own the whole experience from the hardware side too.
Comparing Apple to Microsoft is like comparing GlaxoSmithKline to Exxon – f*cking irrelevant.
I’m surprised WSJ even prints this crap.
I am so tired of these idiots spewing the same old sh-t from their mouths.
The best thing that Apple has ever had is that it has always competed by the merits of there own products. Except probably during the Mac clone era. But aside from that, Apple’s products have always brought a more elegant, simpler solution to the table. The iPad is simply, more of this philosophy. Sure, you can buy your media from other sources to use in you iPod, but the iTunes store is much better integrated solution with competitive prices.
Blown-up iPod Touch? Yes, pretty much (with the exception of iWork).
Email? Calendar? Contacts? Photos? Streaming audio/video? eBooks? These sound like things an iPod Touch/iPhone can do very well. Not to mention we can actually take photos and videos with an iPhone, and email them immediately to our contacts! Sounds like a great feature that the iPad should have.
Seriously, the iPad may or may not be a success, but there is no denying the striking similarity in both appearance and function to a “blown-up iPod Touch.”
Go ahead, call me an idiot. Or better yet, show me why the iPad is so special. What if Dell made the exact same product? Would you be impressed, or just call it a rip-off blown-up iPod Touch?
I agree with R2.
Let’s make this really, really simple: Microsoft produces crap and sells it as gold and its user base loves and accepts it, suffering all the time.
Apple doesn’t.
Pretty clear cut, yes?
And Wall St Journal is an anagram for: Slur on, Tall jaw.
You’re surprised the WSJ’s opinion articles are pretty much worthless? Guess you don’t read that paper much.
I subscribed to the WSJ for years, and found their news articles among the best written in a daily paper, and their marketing pieces were essential reading.
But the opinion page? Not so much, no. Except, perhaps, for the small fraction of the country who isn’t sure the President is, you know, a citizen.
By the way, I canceled my subscription shortly after Murdoch took over control and the editorial page madness started spewing over to the front page (not much, but a bit).
Interesting. WSJ does have an occasional clueless writer working for them. How embarrassing for the WSJ.
Unthinkable?? Maybe to all the PC fanboyz everywhere but there were plenty of us Macheads who knew the day would eventually come when Apple would surpass Micro$loth. Why? Because Apple is in warp drive and M$ is standing still.
This is NOT the 90s. We are now 10 years into the new millenium. Welcome to the future, beyotches!
Peace.
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Olmecmystic
Opinions are opinions. They can be easily dismissed, depending on the person.
What if Dell made the exact same product? Would you be impressed,
———————–
@Bongo
No, because Dell doesn’t make software, and Dell doesn’t have a media ecosystem. The iPad hardware and design is nice, but it’s the software/hardware and the Apple integration and ecosystem that really make it so compelling.. Dell could NEVER do that.
Remember, just as iPad is an anagram for “paid,” Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. is an anagram for “Man Jerk Howls Jinn.”
@WriterGuy,
Based on your comment, I don’t believe you have ever even picked up a Wall Street Journal, much less subscribed to it. That, or you’re a paid shill for the Soros/MoveOn network. One CAN disagree intelligently with WSJ’s opinion pieces and editorials, but they are clearly better-argued and more fact-driven than those in any other nationally recognized newspaper.
BTW, the WSJ has never trafficked in the “birther” nonsense. Even your silly example doesn’t hold water.
@Bongo,
From all Iʻve read from those who have actually gotten their hands on an iPad, it is a great deal more than a blown up iPod Touch. People with no imagination look at the hardware or photos of the hardware and make all kinds of analysis.
If you read the reports of those who have tried one it apparently has way beyond the functionality of the iPhone and iPod Touch in very new and different ways. I expect you will have to try one to find out “why it is so special.”
I thought it was actually a pretty decent article. As usual, MDN and the fanboys completely miss the point of it. The author was pointing out that Apple could fall into the trap a lot of other companies fell into – not that it has happened or will happen, just that it could happen.
And if you don’t think a big part of Apple’s plan is to extend their control of content and the distribution it, you have your head in the sand.
IPad is just a big ipod touch, get over it. It does nothing more and nothing less….
Just because vomit has an apple logo attached to it doesn’t make Vomit the best of anything…. Everyone ignore MDN and gather your Apple news from a creditable source.
@Bongo
You are an idiot. Happy?
@ Bongo
” … Blown-up iPod Touch? Yes, pretty much (with the exception of iWork).”
Okay – to make people like you happy we will hereby change the name to –
“Huge Fuckin iPod Touch”
I’ll be getting my Huge Fuckin iPod Touch on day one. Along with thousands of others, millions to follow. You’ll be getting one too but you just wanna whine agreed?
@R2: “What a piece of shit. I was surprised to learn this garbage came from the Wall Street Journal. I expect better from them.”
Surprised? I see you’re not a regular reader of WSJ opinion pieces, let alone its editorial page. Jenkins, hack that he is, is one of their more reasonable writers.
The news sections, by contrast, used to be top notch, but even they’re beginning to deteriorate under Murdoch’s ownership.
I remember when Apple announced they would NOT be putting a disk reader built into their desk top computers… it was the end of Apple! Who in their right mind would buy a machine that couldn’t use disks??
Apple simply stated that CD/DVD drives and USB hubs would be the future… sure enough they were correct.
Flash is on the way out, to be outed by a more aggressive, more talented way of viewing video and gaming. Granted, it will take the IT guys for Windows a few years to figure out they are years behind again, but that isn’t anything new.
RP3 – you will be proved soooo wrong…
Google just has no style!
Boy, school must be out. The children are in good form here today. No matter how many time you say it is just a big iPod Touch doesn’t make any difference. So just call it Touchdown because that is what it is. If it sells like the Touch I think APPL would be very happy.
@MikeK,
It’s a hypothetical question, I understand Dell cannot make an identical iPad with all the software integration. My point is that (hypothetically) if the EXACT same product was released by another company, MDN and most of you would be ripping it to shreds calling it a rip-off of the iPod Touch.
@DigitalMercenary,
I’m not looking at the hardware alone. The problem is the iPod Touch has almost all of the same features as the iPad software-wise as well. The only real advantages I see to the iPad are bigger screen for multimedia, iWork, and faster processing, and this comes at the cost of reduced portability (can’t fit in my pocket). I can also forsee some issues with having the screen and the keyboard on the same plane, which would be noticed with just an initial basic test. Try using for a few hours and I can imagine the pain.
@Bongo
You are still an idiot. You know nothing of the hardware. You know nothing about upcoming iPad software. No one said you can put it in your pocket, but I see that Steven Colbert did. And are you suggesting one should have the screen and keyboard on different planes? Can you imagine the pain you are inflicting here. Go do your homework, son.
@Numbnuts
“Huge Fuckin iPod Touch”
LOL!! Thanks for making my day
@Bongo,
Well It is a big “what if,” because like I said, this is a product that at this point in time, ONLY Apple could deliver, because of the hardware/software/ecosystem combo.
Physically, yes the iPad is a supersized iTouch, however, with the 9x additional screen real estate and the more powerful A4 chip.. Developers are going to be able to deliver much more sophisticated apps with much more sophisticated user interfaces than they ever could on the iPhone/iTouch..
The iWork apps that Apple demoed are evidence of this..
@Numbnuts
No, I won’t be getting one. I have a laptop and an iPhone. I have no need to add an iPad, because it is not capable of replacing either, and there is nothing I can do on the iPad that cannot do on one of those devices. I got an iPhone because it replaced both my cellphone and iPod, and changed the way I use technology, making it both more efficient and more feature-rich.
@HughB
I know of the hardware. I understand that it runs what it is meant to run very well.
Yes, I am suggesting that having the screen on two different planes, like a normal laptop/desktop is better, and this is true for anything that is not ultraportable like an iPod. Enjoy sitting at a desk looking down at your iPad while half the screen is covered by your hand. You’ll have about 4-5 inches of vertical screen space if you use the landscape keyboard. Enjoy always having to prop up your knees if you’re lying down so that you can rest your iPad on them to see the screen. Quite frankly, if you can’t see the obvious inconveniences of typing on the same surface as your screen, you are the idiot.
Anyone who needs evidence that print media is sliding into the toilet in order to compete with ad-slathered non-news sites need look no further than this article. For a former print media titan, this is embarrassing.
The iPad is no more a lock-in device than the Apple TV or iPhone/iPod touch. I have ripped movies and music on both devices, seamlessly loaded and streamed across my devices and my house. The only thing limiting content on any of these devices is the DRM imposed on movies and TV shows by the studios and networks.
The iPad is a print media godsend and a supersized platform for iPhone/iPod touch apps, the best of which will be re-written in ways we can only fantasize about now. It’s also a more than adequate media device.
The irony is that the iPad may be the only hope for shitshow print media icons like the WSJ.
Holman’s thinking is typical of narcissistic adolescent rants…typical of people who are paranoid, obsessed with their entitlements, and fearful. There is no rational thinking here…pass on by.
@Bongo
And anyone who hasn’t held the device themselves can either STFU or sound like a moron talking out of turn. Guess we know which road you’re walking.
I have a laptop and an iPhone. I have no need to add an iPad, because it is not capable of replacing either, and there is nothing I can do on the iPad that cannot do on one of those devices.
————————-
@Bongo,
It’s not only “what” the iPad can do, it’s also “how” it does those things and the user experience of doing it..
Planes, trains, automobiles, bicycles, rollerskates and running shoes.. Well sure, they can all get you where you need to go, but the experience of getting there is going to be uniquely different with each of them.
The same holds true for a laptop, iPad, iPhone. You may be able to achieve a similar end result for some functions, but because of the size and form factor, the experience will be very different with each of them..
@Bongo:
Yes, the iPad looks like a blown-up iPod touch. But that’s precisely why it will be much more functional than an iPhone/iPod touch:
1. The larger screen allows for many more options to input/view data, meaning fields can be larger, not covered by the keyboard, etc.
2. The developer community has already come up with amazing apps for the iPhone/iPod touch, so we can’t even imagine what fantastic application the iPad will be able to fit
3. The opportunity for education uses is immense. Instead of schools buying $1,000 laptops, they buy $500 iPads. No need for 3G; Wifi will do. Students don’t have to carry around 30 lbs of books (since most don’t get lockers anymore) and books will cost schools less money. Plus students will be able to conduct research, design great presentations, and have access to images and other media which they can’t do right now.
Imagine a school district has $1 million to spend on computers. Instead of purchasing 1,000 laptops, it can buy 2,000 iPads. Or 1,000 iPads and put $500,000 to other uses. Students have a better experience, there are no physical keyboards to break, less storage space, etc.
Hospitals and doctors can dump paper charts for iPads which call up all manner of Xrays, cat scans, drug histories, etc. as needed. Easily switch from patient to patient. You can’t see that kind of info on an iPhone/iPod touch because it’s too small (especially for those over 40 y.o.).
Sales reps, realtors, etc. can have all of their data at their fingertips. I have Billings for my iPhone so I can enter timeslips, mileage, etc. on the go and even send invoices via email.
The iPad is going to usher in a new level of paperLESS society.
Not that easy to be successful!
Why you wanna have a camera in Your iPhone and a camera in your ipad? Simple take pics with iPhone and email them to ur ipad
Holman obviously doesn’t understand Apple’s culture. Apple is all about the customer’s experience and trying to remove all of that command line, driver installation, and other crap from the user’s experience.
Microsoft is not. Microsoft claims to be about “open” platforms, but that only means that whatever Microsoft doesn’t want to control, it leaves for everyone else to figure out how to make it work with Windows. Microsoft doesn’t care about the customer experience; Microsoft cares about getting people to upgrade to the newest version, getting paid by IT guys who have to become “Microsoft Certified”, and selling server seat licenses.
That will never be Apple. That was pretty evident from Tim Cook when he was running the show while Jobs was out. In fact, I believe Tim is still running Apple (and probably really was prior to Jobs’ health issues), but he was in the spotlight when Jobs was out. And Cook is as focused on the customer experience as Jobs is.
Holman is an anagram for IDIOT. Seriously, look it up!
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@TheMacAdvocate
This is not magic. I have not held the device, but I do know it is a big screen with a virtual keyboard on the screen. I don’t need to hold it to know how typing on that is going to be like in a variety of scenarios. Get a similarly sized book, pretend there’s a screen on the cover, and imagine typing on it at a desk, in a chair, on the bed, etc. You’ll see that it will only work in specific positions, and that will be a pain in the ass. Don’t be stupid and say I have to try the actual device to know how it will feel like.
By your logic, we’re all sounding like morons…
What people have to remember is that there are still lots of people that just don’t get Apple’s gadgets. They have been subjected to M$ dimwitted products for so long they expect second rate offerings.
The iPad will be huge once people really get it. Most of us do but the big ass table crowd don’t. RP3 have you got yours ordered?
Apple has learnt a lot with Newton and knows the boundaries where users will accept paradigm shifts.
My partner loves her iPhone and immediately said she wants an iPad. She gets it. Had she not owned and loved her iPhone things might have taken a nano second longer for her to get it.
The world doesn’t want a big ass table the world want iPad and son of iPad.
Magic Word: Alone. Ballmer is Alone is his strange little world of second best copydom.
Let’s hope the writer is right about one thing: that Apple passes MS in market cap in 2010.
The more I think about it, the more OS companies look like NBC Late Night comedians. Let me explain.
Leno – Microsoft – Popular in the 90’s, though most of its material was copied. Lost steam in the 00’s, but still uses back-room scheming to keep power. Unimaginative. Bloated. Ugly. (Not to mention, Leno campaigned for Windows 95)
Conan – Apple – Creative. New. Not afraid to push the envelope. Does it’s job with class. Been screwed over by Leno/Microsoft before. Popular with younger generations.
Fallon – Google – Riding in off the popularity of Conan/Apple. Not creative or useful at the moment, but still in its infancy. Wait a few more years to judge. (Talking about Google’s OS’s – Chrome, Android – Not the search engine)
Carson Daly – Linux – Reserved specifically for virgins who are up at 3 AM anyways.
@Bongo again
“By your logic, we’re all sounding like morons..
You finally said something I agree with. You should try to imagine how stupid you will look in a couple of years when you are the only one in your 6th grade class using a laptop.
Holman proves that there is no cure for stupid.
Must have been a slow day for this guy. Or else he’s off his meds.
If he really believes what he’s written, he doesn’t get Apple, or Steve in particular. Steve’s vision isn’t to become the new Microsoft. I think he want’s (as he put it John Scully those many years ago), to change the world.
Lock downs aren’t part of the equation. The only lock down with Apple is the OS and Apple hardware.I mean, if Steve really wanted to lock people in, he’d release OS X non-Apple hardware, and then discontinue iTunes for Windows. That would force all those PC using iPod, Iphone, iPad users to adopt.
@Bongo
” …calling it a rip-off of the iPod Touch.”
And that would be patent infringement, so, yes. We would.
Most of us here use products made by other companies besides Apple on a fairly regular basis. I’m typing on a Dell right now, as a matter of fact.
I think what we are tired of is this: you, and those with similar views, seem hell-bent on deflating the signifigance of this device for what must be personal reasons, as they show no sort of logic or reason. To wit:
Calling it “just a big iPod Touch” is like calling a supermodel “just a taller female of the human species.”
Or this one: “I can also forsee some issues with having the screen and the keyboard on the same plane…”
You mean like a pencil and paper?
If you really are that clueless…I don’t know what to say.
Hey maybe Uncle Walt can go over to this guy’ss office and beat the crap out of him.
@WriterGuy
You are so right about the WSJ – so many of the writers are just plain childish: “But the iPad (an anagram for paid) ” – this is worthy of a 15yr old schoolgirl…
I do wonder how so many american journalists keep their jobs. But as far as the WSJ is concerned, you get a clue if you look at the online comments from WSJ readers – most of which are written by people with little grasp of grammar or spelling…
You don’t get it.
You see the iPad and dismiss it as a “blown-up iPod Touch”, but you don’t realize a “blown-up iPod Touch” is a revolutionary thing. It’s enough to turn computing on its ear.
Do you not even notice Apple’s invented the first viable tablet personal computer, ever? Are you that amazingly blind?
You should consider a career as a technology pundit. You’re so completely far behind the curve you’d be perfect for it.
@Bongo
You seem to think that everyone will be typing for “hours” on the iPad. That IS just stupid!
I think he’s right to bring up the issue. True, it was easier for Microsoft to fall into the ditch than it will be for Apple, but the ditch is there nonetheless.
For Apple to remain Apple, they have to make an effort. They have to keep in mind what got them where they are, they have to make Steve Jobs’ methods reproducible, they have to maintain the corporate culture, and they have to learn how to adapt without compromising themselves. If Apple isn’t vigilant, they could very well become complacent and thus another stodgy company like Microsoft.
Did this guy graduate “summa cum…” from the Dvorak school of idiots??? The WSJ ought to give their writers intelligence tests before they are permitted to write about current technology trends. Sheesh.
Re the iPad: the iPod Touch/iPhone concept is more than revolutionary…it’s evolutionary. As time moves on it evolves into something more efficient and up-to-date with current needs, trends etc. rather than the same-old, same-old crap other mfg. offer. The iPad is the next piece in this evolving paradigm of computing. Other mfg. would be wise to take note where the river is leading. As Steve Jobs says, it about going where the puck is headed rather than where it’s been.
Yeah, exactly like a pencil and paper. Ever write a 3 hour exam (did you go to school)? How does your neck feel afterwards? I cannot use a pencil and paper with comfort longer than I can use a computer.
If you think that none of the issues I have brought up have any merit, you’re clearly a disillusioned fanboy. I have no agenda – I own several Apple products that I love and use daily. When the iPhone was released, there was no question that I needed one and that it was a gamechanger. I didn’t have to touch it to know this. I just don’t see the same for the iPad. There is nothing revolutionary about the iPad and maybe that’s unfair, but it’s what people have come to expect from a new Apple product. We all knew it would do eBooks and run apps, but so does my iPhone. The iPad, at least in its current iteration, will not sell like iPod Touch/iPhone did. You can iCal me.
Was a regular reader (more than 30 years) and often a subscriber to the WSJ until Murdoch bought it. Since then, I’ve only read the occasional Mossberg column and haven’t paid one thin dime for the paper. The WSJ always had a conservative slant, but Murdoch is well on his way to turning it into the propaganda wing of the whacked out, Sarah Palin wing of the Republic party.
@Harvey But M$ didn’t “fall into the ditch”, they were born there! M$ was, from day 1, an evil company
Isn’t it a great country that you have the CHOICE to boycott a news outlet because you disagree with it? It’s nice that our government isn’t forcing us to hear one side of the argument, just yet. Here’s to free market solutions.
When I compare iTunes 9 to iTunes 8, iLife 09 to iLive 06 (specifically iPhoto and iMovie) Apple is becoming like Microsoft. Simple elegant design is being replaced by bloatware. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. And give us a matte screen choice on everything. There comes a point of diminishing returns and it is a fine line that Apple walks. They should be careful which way they fall. They are not too big to fail. Hey Apple, do you remember “insanely great”?
Eventually CRAPPLE will fall under it’s own weight and cease to exist. Too much competition thanks to stevee and they can’t really innovate like Microsoft can.
http://www.bing.com When it comes to decisions that matter, Bing & Decide
Again, the most creative thing that I’m a PC can come up with is crapple. Lack of creativity, standard on all windows computers.
What if Dell made the exact same product? Would you be impressed,
———————–
@Bongo
Have read about the Archos 9 Window tablet? Well, if you haven’t, here’s what a Window tablet is capable of:
1) price point is $550
2) 1.2 GHz processor
3) uses the Window 7 operating system
4) 1.8-pound (0.8-kilogram) slab, with a touch-sensitive screen that is 8.9 inches (22 centimeters) on the diagonal
5) sluggish
6) the controls aren’t adapted to the size of the screen or the fact that there’s no real keyboard or mouse
7) on-screen keyboards kept popping up in the wrong places, blocking the fields where you wanted to enter text and the buttons you wanted to push
8) you struggled to hit the little ‘x’ in the corner of the window to close it
9) even slower than those used in netbooks
10) takes nearly two minutes to boot up
11) TV shows on Hulu.com stutter so badly they’re like slide shows with a soundtrack
12) it’s not good for playing games, taking notes or writing e-mail… [and] It plays online video so poorly
13) forget about flipping it around… You could go into the settings and change the screen to a vertical orientation, but all the hardware buttons will end up in the wrong places.
Yeah, the Dell tablet would be fantastically mirrored after the Archos 9.
Bongo must be a near unemployable freelance tech writer looking for hints on what to write in his next great article. He/she has enough information now for two articles.
@MacCanuck
Yes.
You forgot one. “Us.” The people.