Apple - Underdog or Evil Empire?

I watched Steve Jobs MacWorld 2006 keynote yesterday with keen anticipation over the announcement of an Intel based notebook computer.  Of course, I had to watch the entire keynote to get to that point.  The rest of the keynote confirmed for me an ongoing suspicion.  Apple is as much a monopolizing self-seeking monster as it's self-proclaimed nemesis Microsoft.

Case 1 - the iPod.  The sales numbers of this device are staggering.  The market share is phenomenal.  Apple dominates the MP3 player market so much that 40% of all manufactured automobiles have an available iPod option.  This extends to new stereo systems which also are available with iPod connectors.  We're talking about a device manufactured by a single company which is quickly replacing the CD Rom as the audio media of choice.  This is clearly a monopoly and Apple is doing everything it can to make sure that iPod and iTunes are the only choice for playing digital content.

Case 2 - iLife '06.  This is a suite of products they 'bundle' with their new machines, but when a new update comes out you have to buy it.  In addition, to get the full featureset, you have to purchase a subscription to .Mac.  Jobs showed off their new addition to the iLife suite - iWeb - enabling easy creation and publishing of web content... if you have a .Mac account. 

Case 3 - It's all about Control.  For a computer company with as small a marketshare as Apple, their audacity is phenomenal.  When MacOS 10 came out it was a complete departure from their earlier operating system.  MacOS 9 apps could not run natively on MacOS 10.  They asked their software partners to recode their apps for the new OS.  Last year, Apple announces a similar move to a new hardware architecture.  Again - software will not run natively on the new OS without recoding.  The amazing thing is that their software partners are just rolling with it. 

Now, before you label me an Apple bigot, I will let you know that I have a Macintosh Powerbook that I use regularly and that I love dearly.  I also have a .Mac account.  I think Apple is a great company, and frankly, the above cases are examples of the solid business acumen of this company.  What I balk against is Apple's spindoctored image as David to Microsoft's Goliath.  I know Macintosh users who are blindly trusting of anything Apple makes and despise Microsoft as the "Evil Empire." 

I have no doubt that if Apple had won the war as the majority platform of choice for the personal computer, they would be as domineering and controlling as Microsoft has been.  In fact they would be worse because they wouldn't just control the operating system - they would control the hardware platform as well.  There would be no Dell, HP, or IBM - only the great Apple. 

I still want one of their new MacBooks, though.


~Todd