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Choose to "Think Different" By Adam Knee |
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Choose to "Think Different" By Adam Knee |
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| At the very beginning of the personal computer revolution
there was Apple ? a new company that was started by two young men out of
their parent?s garage in California. It did not take long before
Apple blossomed into a full-blown company and was selling more computers
than it could produce. But after the initial push into the market,
Apple began to fall out of favor. The idea that it is still just
a small rag tag company with inferior products stuck in the minds of the
consumers and affected the company in a lot of negative ways. People?s
prejudices and preconceptions of the company have caused many people to
stray from the superior choice onto the dark side of Big Brother.
As with any industry, monopolies ruin the business. Corporations
with the big bucks are able to take over an industry even though their
product may be inferior. Such is the case with IBM and Microsoft.
International Business Machines (IBM) did not start off as a personal computer company. IBM was and still is a major supplier of information technology that is used by millions of businesses worldwide. When IBM realized that personal computers were the next big thing, they jumped right on the bandwagon and began selling personal computers. When IBM started to sell personal computers their name was already in the minds of the consumer, albeit the release of IBM?s first personal computer was five years after Apple?s release of the Apple I. IBM sold more than just personal computers and that gave them a greater start up capital than companies like Apple who had nothing. They had not established themselves in the market place yet and they had very little money to produce their computers let alone advertise them. IBM?s computers took over the industry not because they were such a good product, but because IBM was already a widely know name and because they could market their computers for less because they had other revenue that they could rely on to support the company. Small companies like Apple could not complete on the same level, not because their products were not up to par, but because the simply did not have the same previous customer base. Microsoft is the other side of the computer market monopoly. During the early years at Apple, the revolutionary new computer call the Macintosh was being developed. It had Graphic User Interface (GUI) that allowed the user to interact with the screen using a mouse. Struggling to get software developed for their new product, Apple decided to turn to the help of Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft. In exchange for developing software for the Mac, Gates was allowed access to the inner workings of the new Mac GUI. Shortly after Gates? employment period at Apple, he began to work on a new OS of his own and then released this ?new? operating system under the name of Windows. Microsoft?s ?revolutionary? operating system had a lot of similarities to the Apple operating system that he was able to get a look at while working he was working at Apple. Although Windows looked very similar to Apples OS, it was still not up to par. Windows relied on the old DOS commands of its predecessor, which made it very unstable and prone to glitches. Windows was a cheap rip off of the much superior Apple OS, but that was not what people saw. Windows succeeded not because it was a better product that Apple?s OS, but because it was compatible with the vast majority of computers on the market which were IBM computers. The reason that Apple does not hold the top spot in the computer industry is not because it has an inferior operating system or cheap hardware, it is simply because Apple started off as a small company and decided not to conform to the rest of the industry. Apple is consistently leading the personal computer industry with revolutionary new technology and cutting edge operating systems, but because they are the underdog people choose to overlook them. Apple is constantly berated for making drastic changes such as the use of USB ports or dropping floppy drives from its hardware line, but in the end the entire market follows Apple?s trends. Apple keeps putting itself in the guinea pig position so that the entire industry can advance. Apple could easily roll over and conform to the rest of the market, but then who would be the groundbreaker, the risk taker, and the leader in new technologies? Take a step back and look at the products that are being used. Slowly Apple is gaining more and more of the market share as professionals and consumer alike begin to realize the real power behind Apple. Apple can never be number one in the industry unless the consumers can look past their prejudices and realize that Apple products are not inferior. For Apple to truly succeed, it will take consumers opening their eyes to the world around them and exploring the other options and possibilities that are available. ?Think Different? is Apple?s motto and that is exactly what the consumer needs to do. |