Pineapple

I hate Apple. Have you ever seen a nice sports car like an S2K or Skyline driven by someone with the driving style of a grandma? You know what I mean, going 55 mph on an interstate late at night, dropping speed drastically before turns, etc. That’s how I feel about Apple. I recognize that they have made revolutionary strides when it comes to technological design and innovation and have made the realm of technology attractive and accessible for mainstream consumers. But they are capable of so much more. They could quite possibly assist in making the greatest strides in lifestyle improvement in recent memory with their products, but since they continue to think with their pocketbooks rather than the possibilities, Apple will never cease to amaze me in the ways they hold back from their consumers.

ITunes: one example is the walled garden approach Apple has taken with iTunes. Admittedly, iTunes is a very effect desktop media manager application. But Apple will not allow any other device to use iTunes as media sync other than its own devices. This wasn’t much of an issue initially, as Apple’s iPods were the de facto mp3 player; there were no other viable alternatives that could compete with the iPod. Recently, Palm came out with its Pre, which competed with the iPhone. The Pre was designed to sync with iTunes for media and backup purposes. But Apple blocked this feature in its most recent iTunes update – 8.2.1, essentially solely for the purposes of blocking this syncing capability. This is unfortunate because Apple was in a position to make iTunes the premier media application on all computers. Instead, consumers are left with an ever messier plethora of various applications like Windows Media Player, VLC, etc. Not to mention the fact that more will be coming, as Palm and RIM (Blackberry) will eventually have to release their own media managers since Apple won’t let them use iTunes – very user unfriendly, especially since many Pre or Blackberry owners are in the upper class and likely own iPods, like the iPod touch.

App Store: The app store is another idea with great potential, but one which is severely limited by Apple. Yes, there are over 50,000 apps, a marvel by itself. But once you take out the fart apps, quiz apps and beer apps, you’re left with only a handful of innovative ones. And the best ones are forbidden from even entering the app store. Google Voice put out a native app for its service, which was already approved by the Android Marketplace and the Blackberry app store. But Apple rejected it. It also rejected a Google Latitude app, for no reasonable explanation. I can understand policing apps due to malicious software or misleading descriptions, but not for actually attempting to benefit consumers. Apple is afraid of competition – and is willing to be a jerk to do so.

I could go on about overpricing its products and how brain washed their fan boys are, but the tune is overplayed. I know I may sound hypocritical as an iPhone owner and all, but if it’s any consolation, jailbreaking, unlocking and cracking app store apps to get them for free on the iPhone is a major middle finger to Apple; one that I proudly throw up to the best of my abilities to express my frustration with Apple.

The iPhone growing in popularity and quickly becoming the next Motorola Razr, but if it continues these antics, remember these words: it won’t be long before Google’s Android takes the lead as market leader – maybe in a couple years once its kinks are ironed out.

Technology, like any other facet of life such as relationships and politics, requires transparency and collaboration – principles Apple shuns to increase revenue and can only get away with because of their brilliant engineers and visionary leader. Apple may be the darling of society today, but if it continues its close-minded behavior, it won’t remain so for long.