Thank you. As cool as OS X and the G5 are, I knew - on their own, unassisted, it wouldn't change much.
I hate to beat a dead horse (so I won't), but, to me, the one thing Apple doesn't do (toot their own horn to the masses) seems to factor in somehow.
You guys can argue with me and pooh-pooh my thinking on this all day long (won't change my mind, but knock yourselves out), but I can't help but think that there is a direct, tangible connection between Apple's "niche-y" status and the fact that they simply do not/will not market themselves, their OS and their products more aggressively. They don't combat the myths, they don't create a presence in anyone's mind, etc.
I realize that, to some of you, the lack of a "headless solution" and lack of Snappiness means everything (I don't necessary think so), but I can't help but imagine all the people out there - struggling with Windows, digital cameras and camcorders and things that that - who would LOVE the stability of OS X, the ease-of-use of the iLife apps and the sheer TRUE "plug it in and it works" nature of the hardware.
Apple doesn't - and hasn't - reached out to those people. At all, in any sort of meaningful, focused way.
People at .com or other places tell me "pscates, you don't understand...the pieces have to be in place first". Well hell's bells, people...how long are we expected to wait that out? Seems like there's been a 5-year-period of "waiting for the pieces to align", meanwhile nothing is changing. We sit and wait TOO much longer, and we'll probably hit that magical 1%. What are you going to tell me then? "Well, Paul...we need to wait until the eMac gets dual G5s...".
Hush already with your "we gotta wait" stuff. We wait all the time, and for years now.
Here's the deal, like it or not: they could release, tomorrow, dual G6 iBooks and iMacs for $899...but if no one outside the already-faithful knows - or cares - about it, then honestly...what's the point? Think there would be this huge change? I don't. Not if they just put it on their website and ran a full-page ad in Macworld and that was it.
They never talked up OS X to anyone but us. Same with iLife 04. They made one quite lame effort with that Switch stuff. It tanked. They so much as copped to that.
Since then, they've let the iPod and iTMS carry their water. And it hasn't changed a thing, really. Doesn't seem so. Sold some iPods, and that's great. But any significant number of Mac users and switchers, hooked on OS X and flooding our way? Because, in the end, that's more what it's about, right? Unless Apple just intends on becoming a digital music company, and dropping the other things they do.
It's squarely on them, and their fault. Jobs could sell a plate of shit to a gourmet restaurant, but they don't seem to want to go down any road that means they might have to get aggressive and confident with their marketing.
If I don't know anything about a company or their products, it's kinda up to that company to address that, if they want my attention or business, right? Does Apple think people are just going to wake up one day and, through osmosis or telepathy, get the urge to buy a Mac, out of the blue?
Seems so. You just have to lead people sometimes, especially if you're not in their direct line of sight or already placed in their mind. Apple simply doesn't do that, and no amount of dancing silhouettes is going to alter the current situation. Sorry, but that's just true.
Name me one commercial or campaign, since Jobs' return, that has actually resulted in anything big and different. You can't. They're cute. They make
us smile and coo.
We talk about them and spoof them and pick them apart. I don't think one of them has made a frustrated PC user pick up the phone or go to their nearest Apple retailer to investigate the situation further. But they all, ultimately, do nothing. And on a couple of occasions, months after the fact, we'll get the pleasure of hearing Apple itself saying "well, they didn't quite do as well as we'd hoped...".
Well, no shit Fred. It's called "preaching to the choir" (which they obviously excel at). It's not called "going after that other 95% like you mean it". HUGE difference, one that seems lost on them.
So much for "not beating a dead horse". Jeez...
