Apple and Christmas 2012
I'm a big Apple fan. Had an Apple ][e all those years ago. Lusted after the Mac when it came out. More recently have bought MBP, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, iPad and wife has an iPhone 3GS. But something has shifted. When OS X Lion came out, I read the reviews, etc and decided to stick with Snow Leopard. Upgraded the iPad to iOS 5.0 and was underwhelmed. Have been contemplating getting an iPhone 4s for Xmas, but the battery problems, etc fill me with concern. As far as Siri goes, I see it is a gimmick I would never use once the novelty has worn off. Does anybody realise how much bandwidth that program chews up going out to the Apple's servers constantly?
Then what tipped me over the edge was a flashy email from Apple, encouraging me to buy a MacBook Air for Xmas. Now I do lust over that too, but not too keen on Lion. But WTF, the price is exactly as before ... the "special" is some custom wrapping ! That's it - maybe $5 worth of Made-in-China wrapping paper and ribbon and free shipping which I wouldn't want anyway since I can walk to the campus Apple shop in less than 3 minutes.
I have a premonition that Apple has jumped the shark. I know that Steve Jobs had investments in Pixar and Disney. To me it looks like Apple is turning into a multimedia + apps version of the Hollywood studios. The freelance directors / producers / technicians are seen as no more than a fungible resource to monetise in every which way possible.
Instead of buying a lovely MacBook Air, I think I'm going off to research Google ChromeBook, Android. Or maybe I'll just stick to running Linux once I work out how to get rid off Unity in Oneiric.
