Re: Apple, Jobs, and the irony of it

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

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.  Palm was stagnating.  Like Apple,
Palm made the hardware (PalmPilot PDAs)
and software (PalmOS).  The market was
shrinking against the onslaught of PocketPC
WindowsCE based machines.  Then Palm
licensed the PalmOS to Handspring and
Sony.  Handspring and Sony innovated.  Yes,
their superior hardware meant that Palm
lost a great many users to Sony and
Handspring.  But Palm saw beyond that,
something Apple was unable to.  Palm saw
how Handspring's Treo cellphones were
also expanding the market and how Sony's
Clie palmtops smashed the PocketPC's
grip on handheld multimedia.  Palm lost
some market to Handspring and Sony but
the PalmOS platform benefitted and held.

Today, Palm has revised its lineup to have
many of the multimedia features Sony has
and will buy Handspring and continue to
sell its successful Treo line.

THAT's what clones can do for you.  Instead,
Apple smashed its clone partners and in
at least one case, bought out a company
to shut down the line rather than expanding
the strength of that company like Palm will
do with Handspring.

Can you imagine what would have happened
to the Palm platform if Palm had looked at
the successes of the Sony Clie and said
"you are TOO successful, your product is
TOO good, we're going to shut you down
simply because your product is better than
ours."  As a PalmOS licensee, Palm could
very well have pulled off such an Apple
maneuver.