Re: Apple, Jobs, and the irony of it

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

Greg Buchner <apple22@mn.rr.com> wrote:

>supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:
>
>> Greg Buchner <apple22@mn.rr.com> wrote:
>> 
>> >supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:
>> >
>> >> I would argue that Apple is the Microsoft of the Mac
>> >> world.  Look what they did to their "partners" during
>> >> the Mac clone fiasco.
>> >
>> >Yea, but also take a look at what the Mac cloners were doing to Apple.  
>> >The clone companies got Apple to agree on cloning based on the fact that 
>> >they would work towards expanding the Mac market.  They didn't do that, 
>> >they just went after the market Apple already had.  Splitting up an 
>> >already small percentage amongst more companies just didn't work.
>> 
>> It is called competition and it would have made
>> the Mac a more viable alternative to the PC by
>> infusing competition based innovation into a
>> stagnant platform.
>>
>> Want to see what good clones can do?  Look
>> at Palm.
>
>It's easier to do with a device that people are more likely to pick up 
>on a whim.  And the world is a many varied place...you can't take what 
>one companies done and say it should apply to another.  Reality doesn't 
>work that way.

What I am saying is that it has done much good
for Palm even though they have had to compete
with both Sony/Handspring and the Windows
driven PocketPCs.  The comparison is accurate
because Sony and Handspring were licensees
of Palm just like the Mac cloners were of Apple.

These devices are not something users would
pick up on a whim, by the way.  The good
models with higher resolution displays, MP3
and MPEG playback, and 400 to 500Mhz ARM
processors go $400 to $500, as much as a
low end PC.

Look at the Palm Tungstens.  It is safe to say
that Palm got a pretty good return for letting
Sony innovate on the Clie.  Gave them good
ideas.

If Palm were Apple, the response would not
have been to improve the Apple product but
to shut down the clone.