Computing going forward: beautiful objects
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008Apple’s announcement of “The world’s thinnest notebook. MacBook Air.” got me thinking. Where are we headed in the world of computing? What is Apple really doing here?
For the moment, it looks like the future of computing, as defined by Apple, has two basic elements: beautiful objects and the Internet.
Apple creates the most irresistible computing objects – you want to have them, hold them, play with them, and show them to your friends. The desire that Apple’s objects create in the minds of customers is undeniable.
Apart from their industrial design, Apple’s computing objects have gorgeous GUIs. And the compute engines under the hood serve the common goal of creating delicious access to the Internet. The days of differentiation through applications are long gone. The Internet is the application.
As long as you build a robust operating system – one that does not leave itself open to attack from the enemies of the manufacturer of the beautiful objects – customers are happy.
What about Microsoft? Vista has a polished and attractive new face, but it rides on an operating system that is full of security holes and plagued with viruses. As a result, Mom’s and Dad’s tech support is forced to work full time to keep home software defense systems at peak alert status. How can that be good for business?
On the Linux front, desktop Linux is still for geeks and hobbiests (I count myself among them). You can build yourself a wonderfully powerful desktop for $300, or buy a very cheap Linux laptop from Zonbu, but the community is waiting for stable releases of the latest GUIs from KDE and GNOME. Still no competition for Apple.
Google’s mobile phone effort, Android, a Linux based platform and rapid application development platform could change the game, but only if it fosters beautiful objects on par with Apple’s iPhone.
In the end, Apple has an extraordinary edge. Though the strategy may not be explicitly stated, the results are easily interpreted…and stellar.
Full disclosure: No position in Intel, Apple, or Google at time of writing.
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