Matt Asay, writing for C|Net notes that Steve Jobs doesn’t get near the whipping he deserves in the media. He called Joe Nocera a slime bucket and gets a pass. Matt opines that Steve Ballmer would have been drawn and quartered by the press for such a move.
He’s probably right.
The press wants review copies of cool new products. Where exactly are they going to get those cool new products? Let’s do a comparison, shall we?
Apple: Leopard
Microsoft: Vista
Apple: iPhone 2.0
Microsoft: WinMobile
Apple: iPod, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod Classic
Microsoft: Zune
Apple: iPhone
Microsoft: Nothing
Apple: Apple TV
Microsoft: Nothing
Apple: Mac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air
Microsoft: Nothing
Apple: AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express
Microsoft: Nothing
I think it boils down to the press knowing what to kiss and when to kiss it. Matt calls this a double standard. It isn’t. Go ask your taxi driver if you can have a raise. Suck up all you want to, your cabbie can’t comply. The standard is about getting what you want. You kiss the ass that can give it to you.
…
Steve Ballmer announced to his troops the other day that he considers Apple a competitor that Microsoft outsells 30-1. That sounds ominous for Apple. Outsold by the competition by 3000%?
I’m wondering exactly who’s ass that number was pulled from.
Apple doesn’t have to beat Microsoft to beat Microsoft. The growth of Mac sales is mushrooming. If Apple becomes the number one hardware seller, it really doesn’t matter who’s number two. Apple sells the OS. Apple sells a suite of apps for Mac that nobody else sells: iLife. Nobody else even sells iLife-like apps.
Billy might have to have Office, but little Billy WANTS Garageband and iTunes and iMovie.
As more and more Macs get sold, and Aunt Debbie and Uncle Pete get more and more attuned to “Vista sucks,” everybody else will lose ground faster.
Mr. Ballmer, you can’t even begin to affect the end-to-end experience. You don’t own it.
…
One other thing I read that made me laugh until I almost wept.
It seems Microsoft had a bunch of people try an operating system called “Mohair,” or possibly, “Mohawk.” Something like that, anyway. Anyway, the OS they tried was (hold your breath) really Vista in disguise. The story goes on to say they loved Vista incognito.
Whoa.
I’ll bet a hand-rolled Nicaraguan cigar and a glass of single malt scotch they didn’t try the Poor-People-at-Home version on a Wally World Acer. I’ll bet they tried Vista Under Glass with Truffle Potato Salad running on a massively fast processor with 16 Gigs of RAM and a whiz-bang video card and cherries jubilee for dessert.
…
Late update:
The contact thingy seems to work. At least it worked for me. I’m not going to tell you again. If you have something to say to me that’s so politically correct and gay (or that involves sending me stacks of bundled legal tender in a box) that you can’t say it in comments, there is now a way.
Thank you, Baxtrice.
13 responses so far ↓
1 baxtrice // Jul 28, 2008 at 7:02 pm
*looks up from desk with scattered empty coffee cups, starburst wrappers and dr. pepper cans..*
Wha..oh yeah, no problem. Thanks for all the wonderful kudos from everyone.
2 Nxxx // Jul 28, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I’ve tried Nohair, not good. Head gets really cold during winter, that’s why I’m all for Global Warming.
3 baxtrice // Jul 28, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Forgive me Rip, I couldn’t help myself —>
I made the Arrogant [expletive] graphic because ever since I read that story about El Jobso calling up Joe Nocera, I thought we needed a graphic to convey the patron saint of this blog. If you want I can take it down, or I can get a more recent picture of him..I just thought it conveyed the line so well. hahahahaha
what can I say..creativity struck and I had to do it.
4 zacksback // Jul 28, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Uncle Rip - Please don’t touch the [REDACTED] picture. It fits the decor perfectly!
Who put the frozen fish sticks on the grill again?
5 Sarah // Jul 28, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Rip, I thought this review of the top 5 “iPhone-killers” would amuse you. Apparently some of them might even come out this year!
6 Sarah // Jul 28, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Trying again:
http://www.digitgeek.com/top-5-iphone-3g-killers/
7 Nxxx // Jul 29, 2008 at 12:41 am
I was impressed by the sunglasses.
8 Rip // Jul 29, 2008 at 4:19 am
The name and design of the site is more amusing than anything on it. It veritably screams Microsoft.
DigitGeek.com? Digit in LCD characters? iPhone Killers?
It says to me, “We may lack imagination, but at least we don’t have any class.”
I’m willing to bet that Ankur Gupta, Pathik Shah, and Adam McKerlie are on an org chart in Redmond.
Any takers?
9 Paul // Jul 29, 2008 at 8:27 am
There are a lot of “iPhone Killers” out these days… I think it’s time for one iPhone Killer-Killer to rule them all.
10 Huh? // Jul 29, 2008 at 6:01 pm
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
wooohoohoohoo!!!!
hehehehehe…..
*sniff*
That was a funny, funny article. Let’s recap.
Samsung Omnia i900:
“It is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 and sports an iPhone esque Multi Touch interface… though it is not as refined as the iPhone Multi Touch UI”
BZZZZT!!!! Next please.
HTC Touch Pro :
“…most powerful and feature packed phone ever on Earth. …a very powerful 528 MHZ processor.”
iPhone: 640mHz ARM processor.
BZZZZT!!! Moving on.
Sony Ericsson XPeria X1 :
“…slimmer and lighter than the HTC Touch Pro and with a supposedly inferior UI.”
BZZZT!! Next contestant, please.
Nokia N96 :
“The Nokia N96, though not a touchscreen phone…”
BZZZT! Um… Did I miss something there? NEXT!
Sony Ericsson C905 :
“this one also doesn’t sport a touchscreen”
BZZZT!! Moving on.
HTC Touch Diamond :
“The only negatives with the Touch Diamond are the absence of a QWERTY keypad and the slightly laggy Touch FLO 3D user interface.”
BZZZT!!! Yeah. Um… Ok.
Yeah. I can see how Mr. J will lose sleep over these…
11 baxtrice // Jul 29, 2008 at 6:23 pm
BTW, the LG VU (which is basically a cheaper version of the LG Prada.. X / ..Don’t ask me, I have no clue)..yeah sucks. My friend bought it to basically “outdo” me and rub it in my face. Sorry, I did some testing, and while it may be faster with 3G while I still have the EDGE iPhone, the VU wanks. BIG TIME. It’s slow to respond on touch and AT&T powered TV isn’t going to make me want to give up my iPhone. Music controls suck, surfing is still the “mobile web” not the “real web”. It’s got a nice camera, but the interface is in alienese - seriously, I couldn’t figure out how to take a picture or FIND THE SETTINGS.
TEH FAIL.
12 zacksback // Jul 29, 2008 at 7:24 pm
@huh? Nice slice and dice work! Loved the ‘..absence of a QWERTY keyboard…”
They just don’t get it yet they blindly put as positive a spin as they can on this stuff.
13 Thank You Loyal Readers // Aug 8, 2008 at 6:12 pm
[…] update: I knew I recognized that name. Matt Asay was the subject of this post, a few days ago. His blog on CNet, The Open Road, has the motto: “The business and politics […]
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