With over three million iPhones sold, complete dominance in the mp3-player market (150 million), and a rapidly increasing share of the personal computer sector, Apple has solidified itself as a top-notch electronics manufacturer and software company. Apple has also continuously been the pioneer of new software and computer technology, making it the trendiest manufacturer around. Although the company has been around for decades, it wasn't until Steve Jobs returned in the late '90s (Jobs founded Apple in 1976) that Apple really propelled into what it is today. Jobs is a genius, and most importantly, a brilliant businessman. But that could also be Apple's biggest weakness: It is driven by business.
In 2001 Apple released the iPod, and seven years later it had sold over 150 million units. Along with the 150 million iPods sold, come millions of downloads on iTunes, Apple's now famous online music store and playback software. IPods will not work with any other software, so users are forced to download and use iTunes for all of their music needs.
Essentially, if someone buys an Apple product, the company continues to attempt to "corner" that person into only using its software and products. Sometimes these people are forced to shell out cash for this. The software developers and hardware engineers have various methods of doing so, with some being less obvious than others. One example is the lack of choices for messaging applications and Web browsers for Macs. IChat is really the only simple instant messaging application that works well with Macs. Yes, Yahoo Messenger does all right, but Microsoft Messenger is terrible and well, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is atrocious. The AIM version for Macs looks like it's from 1999, and it really might be.
There are basically two different Web browsers you can use for Macs: Firefox and Safari. There isn't an Internet Explorer browser that is available for download, and now, Google's new browser "Chrome" is also unavailable, although Google is actively working with Apple to release a version that is compatible for Mac users. The inability to download these browsers, or have up-to-date messaging applications, comes from Apple's inadequate releasing of SDKs (software development kits) to the proper people over there at Microsoft, Google, and other companies.
In fact, Apple is notorious for not releasing an SDK for its products, with one major product being the iPhone. The first iPhone that was released last year had only Apple-approved programs, and users were unable to add any third-party software to the device. After months of complaints, Apple began developing an SDK for the iPhone that would allow third-party programmers and companies to create programs that would be downloadable to it. Finally, the iPhone would be customizable, and users have the ability to personalize their phones. Hooray for Apple, one step in the right direction.
Let me end this by saying that I don't hate Apple, at all. In fact, I wrote this article on my Mac, called a few people on my iPhone while doing it, and charged up my iPod in the background. Last year, I went all out Apple, and the transition was tough. Finding out that AIM was nearly impossible to use, being forced to use iTunes kind of sucked, and having to use Safari (which is so basic of a browser that it isn't capable of opening certain complex Web sites) was a bummer. In reality, Apple needs to open up its software and hardware to outside companies. Sure, people might want to buy certain things from Apple, but that doesn't mean they want everything to be Apple. The company has been slowly opening up its products to outside parties. Now, what it needs to do is move faster.
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