One of the (few) benefits of working in an office that runs the Mac OS is that I’ve started paying attention to the Apple world beyond that of my iPod. So this morning, I ran across the site Apple Matters via a link from CNet. I read an interesting article about why Microsoft won’t be able to successfully take down the iPod (an argument I tend to agree with). It’s worth reading, both for the article itself and the thoughtful commentary.
For what it’s worth, it seems to me that Apple has decided they are not going to be able to unseat Microsoft in the office, so have decided to focus on ‘lifestyle’ computing instead. The iPod, building real photo and video manipulation tools into the OS, and a host of other details, all say to me that personal users are the target. And all things considered, that’s a smart move.
Whether it’s working remains to be seen. My mother told me about two weeks ago that she was thinking about buying an Apple laptop to replace her recently-deceased Windows laptop. When I asked her why, she mentioned the digital camera that she’d recently acquired and said, “Apple is suppsed to be better at that sort of thing.”
She ended up buying a Sony Vaio, though.