Why can’t Apple Inc. stop ticking off the people who love it?
Some of the loyalists who have made Apple so successful lately have turned on the tech star. Even as Apple posts record financial results, they complain that the company they supported has changed, showing signs of being wrong-headed, shortsighted, even greedy.
One week there’s hue and cry over Apple’s decision to slash the iPhone’s price only two months after it went on sale. The next, it’s sputtering anger over a software security update that wiped out programs iPhone owners installed so they could do such things as send instant messages or play games.
When they get really mad, they lob an M-bomb — they say Apple is starting to remind them of Microsoft Corp., which in their world is the prototypical soulless, monopolistic machine.
“There is a rise in complaints about Apple’s policies and strategic decisions this year, and it seems to be accelerating,” said John Gruber, writer of the popular technology blog Daring Fireball.
Longtime Apple observers attribute the increased grousing to growing pains as Apple broadens its horizons. The company is now a major player in consumer electronics, digital music and cell phones.
It dominates in digital entertainment players with nearly 70 percent of the U.S. market. Its iTunes store has become the No. 3 U.S. music retailer. Macintosh computer sales are booming. And Apple has sold 1 million iPhones in less than three months.
But Apple’s continued push into the mainstream market has come at the cost of goodwill from some of its biggest fans.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.