Double Yawn
A friend of my wife was very happy to tell me of all the better and cheaper music players that would hand Apple its arse on a plate around the time the iPod really got going a year after launch. Still waiting.
She was so, so happy when the iPhone was released as she could call and tell me how Apple had made a huge mistake and it would die a horrible death because the other manufacturers would easily make better phones. Still waiting.
She saw an iPad I had ready for a client and said "what idiot brought that?"
She's my wife's friend so I've just smiled each time, but what is it about Apple that makes small-thinking people fly in the face of history and deride everything Apple does, especially when they do it so well and are so hugely successful at it. None of them seem capable of looking at the stunning sales numbers and the millions of very happy customers who don't have to worry about software drivers, viruses and incompatibilities, and who are more than happy to use a properly designed interface.
And for proof, just look at how the iPhone amd now the iPad dominate web data use compared to the number of other web 'capable' devices out there. Could it be that by taking the trouble to do the job (pun intended) PROPERLY, with SKILL, guided by the proper use of the term 'Innovation', Apple really does lead the world.
Oh, and for the geeks who cry 'Walled Garden", Steve Jobs recently made the point that you should look at the situation BEFORE the iPhone came out and compare the real 'Walled Gardens" then to what is available now. Nothing is stopping the other manufacturers creating Apps Stores for their products, but it's not Apple's fault if they fail miserably despite having an excellent example to hand.