Do Not Want
First up, let’s face some facts.
The Macalope’s inclined to agree with John C. Welch’s superb piece this week, which deflates the wild enterprise fantasies of some Apple followers. Welch lays out the reasoning pretty well, but more importantly do we really want Apple to be an enterprise giant?
Microsoft is more than an 800-pound software gorilla—it’s also a cautionary tale. The larger an organization gets and the broader its customer base is, the greater the force of inertia. And inertia leads to anger, which leads to hate, which leads to crappy prequels.
Look, the point is, an Apple beset with the demands of stodgy corporations just isn’t the Apple the horny one grew up with. Yes, not all of the ’90s was a fun time for Applephiles, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.
Because that’s guaranteed to get you a visit from Child Protective Services.
It’s All Greek To Me
The big rumor swirling around the Apple rumor bowl this week has the 2.2 update to the iPhone being released on November 21st.
What’s the sexy (and please don’t ask the Macalope to reconcile this metaphor with the previous one, let’s just move on)? The sexy is—supposedly—Google Street View.
This according to Greek Mac rumors site MacHellas (tip o’ the antlers to Tom Krazit).
Greek Mac rumors site? The hellas, you say? Indeed, the Macalope had never heard of them either, but just because they’re Greek doesn’t mean they don’t know how to dish out the rumors along with the Souvlaki.
Yep. Souvlaki joke. You pretty much saw that coming, didn’t you?
And A Player To Be Named Later
Phew. It’s getting so you need a flow chart to follow the comings and goings of various Apple executives. First Tony Fadell was out and Mark Papermaster was in. But under rules almost as arcane as minor league optioning, Apple has to date been unable to finalize the Papermaster trade (in which IBM gets, well, nothing). Now VP of enterprise sales Al Shipp is out.
This could get a lot crazier if you believe the talk of the hot stove league, which has Tim Cook running Apple and Steve Jobs running GM.
Whatever happens, please remember to update your Fantasy Apple Executive Teams accordingly.
No way, keep apple a small niche product. I do not want them to grow into some behemoth that loses sight of the apple experience for shortsighted stock increases. This could easily happen once Jobs is gone and some money grubbing suit starts to mess with the existing concept.
On the other hand, if it's too small then developers start to disappear and the whole franchise contracts so it's a fine line to walk.
Excellent West Wing reference!
"Hellas," of course, being the Greek word for, well, Greece. Thus, MacGreece.