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Apple's troubles in the mid '90s were not the fault of third-party developers. Windows NT was a better OS than classic Mac OS (and I was a Mac guy at the time).

by Zak 17y ago

Apple's troubles in the mid '90s were not the fault of third-party developers. Windows NT was a better OS than classic Mac OS (and I was a Mac guy at the time). Macs of the day were uninspired and expensive. The recent switch to PowerPC had caused issues with a number of applications; most still worked, but it wasn't exactly fast. The phased introduction of PowerPC meant a lot of people considering new Macs waited, and some jumped ship. Apple's recovery didn't have anything to do with playing hardball with developers. Apple recovered because it started making better products. Apple can retain its position in the smartphone market by continuing to make the best product. All they'll get from acting like a bully is ill will.

acg 17y ago
Apple can retain its position in the smartphone market by continuing to make the best product. All they'll get from acting like a bully is ill will. I disagree, I think blocking flash is a good strategy for Apple. They stand to gain a lot and Ill will passes. If they are able to block the platform and kill it then people will quickly forget if they continue to grow their market share. Apple is not interested in allowing development multiple mobile operating systems easily. Apple sells a platform and they want as many exclusive applications as possible. Exclusive applications retains the value in the handset rather than elsewhere (for example the network). Apple does not the handset to be commodity hardware driving down profits. The applications and their delivery is the unique selling point: hence the advert "there's an app for everything". The hardware can be emulated.