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Google vs. iPhone: Is Steve Jobs Reliving His Past Mistakes?

2 points by makimaki 18y ago

mechanical_fish 18y ago
The key to the PC's success and Apple's downfall was that the open-standards-based IBM-compatible PC created a platform for third-party hardware and software makers to ply their stuff. This is just false. The Apple II didn't fail in the business market because it was a closed platform. It was one of the most open platforms in the history of personal computing -- it shipped with a ROM listing and a schematic. It was possible to clone the Apple II hardware -- check out this huge list of Apple cloners: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apple_II_clones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apple_II_clones The Apple II's rise in the business market was halted because IBM had unbelievable corporate marketing clout and, at the time, better operational management. During the Apple II boom Apple was not the best managed company in the world. It famously ran without a budget for a long period. Apple's problem was that the Mac didn't arrive until well after IBM had established their hold on the market, and in the meantime all the company had was the Apple III and the Lisa. The IBM PC "smashed" the Apple II first. [1] Then the cloners appeared. We remember the PC cloners and not the Apple cloners because the PC cloners were just more successful. Indeed, they were successful enough to essentially drive IBM out of its own business -- partly because IBM quickly caught up to Apple in the "corporate sluggishness" metric, but mostly because IBM didn't realize until too late that their core asset was the operating system, which they didn't own. [1] I find it hard to say with a straight face that the IBM PC "smashed" the Apple II, a platform which lived on for another decade and which was ultimately "smashed" by another Apple product, the Mac. All the PC did was drive Apple out of the sweet spot of the business market, which was admittedly a big loss but obviously didn't destroy the company. Indeed, while IBM's PC platform has been a big success, Apple is the company that's still in the PC industry.

2 points by makimaki 18y ago

The key to the PC's success and Apple's downfall was that the open-standards-based IBM-compatible PC created a platform for third-party hardware and software makers to ply their stuff. This is just false. The Apple II didn't fail in the business market because it was a closed platform. It was one of the most open platforms in the history of personal computing -- it shipped with a ROM listing and a schematic. It was possible to clone the Apple II hardware -- check out this huge list of Apple cloners: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apple_II_clones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apple_II_clones The Apple II's rise in the business market was halted because IBM had unbelievable corporate marketing clout and, at the time, better operational management. During the Apple II boom Apple was not the best managed company in the world. It famously ran without a budget for a long period. Apple's problem was that the Mac didn't arrive until well after IBM had established their hold on the market, and in the meantime all the company had was the Apple III and the Lisa. The IBM PC "smashed" the Apple II first. [1] Then the cloners appeared. We remember the PC cloners and not the Apple cloners because the PC cloners were just more successful. Indeed, they were successful enough to essentially drive IBM out of its own business -- partly because IBM quickly caught up to Apple in the "corporate sluggishness" metric, but mostly because IBM didn't realize until too late that their core asset was the operating system, which they didn't own. [1] I find it hard to say with a straight face that the IBM PC "smashed" the Apple II, a platform which lived on for another decade and which was ultimately "smashed" by another Apple product, the Mac. All the PC did was drive Apple out of the sweet spot of the business market, which was admittedly a big loss but obviously didn't destroy the company. Indeed, while IBM's PC platform has been a big success, Apple is the company that's still in the PC industry.