

"What would Apple Do?" - Don't Ask - webwright
http://blog.redfin.com/blog/2009/07/what_would_apple_do_dont_ask.html

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shizcakes
It's called not cutting corners and doing things right. It's long term
thinking where profits don't immediately follow - but in Apple's case,
thankfully they did.

The history of both Apple and Pixar has the companies dangling very close to
the precipice of failure, only to be turned around because of love. Love for
their products, users, whatever. And it shows, now.

Note that I am not an apple fanboy. The only apple product I own is an iPod -
but I like the way they operate.

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kierank
_It's called not cutting corners and doing things right._

You haven't seen Quicktime's H.264 encoder...

Personally I think they have just managed to convince people that if something
looks and feels good nothing else matters. That and playing with the media and
building up hype machines.

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pistoriusp
I don't agreed with you.

Apples products work well. They've have genuine quality to them, not only in
build, but also in functionality.

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blasdel
But that's not remotely true across the board.

As the grandparent alluded to, Apple's H.264 encoder is _the very worst one
around_. There are MPEG2 encoders that are competitive bitrate-wise!

Not everything Apple releases is gold. The AppStore is a perfect example -- a
pile of total shit in every way, that only Apple could get away with because
they are so ridiculously competent at everything else that touches it.

~~~
pistoriusp
I do not conclude that everything is perfect. My point is that Apple has more
than just "good looks" which has convinced people to buy their products.

But, alas, I fear we argue the same point. ;)

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roc
The first thing Apple would do is not put any stock in "what would Apple do".

Sure, an 'Apple-like' startup would study Apple's approach along with everyone
else's. But they'd draw their own conclusions and make their decisions based
solely on what's right for _their_ customers at that time.

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Autre
Would you claim, from a programmer's point of view and also from a user's,
that Apple is usually doing the Right Thing?

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gommm
I did about one year ago... Now with the debacle around the iphone app
registration process and the tightening of warranty rules (with water
detectors that set off in tropical countries and void the warranty), I'm not
so sure...

I think that now that apple is successful again, they have turned back to
being arrogant...

Now I love mac OS X and I really like most of apple products but I've got a
feeling that for apple the customer or developer service is not all that high
in the priorities if they can get away with it

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CamperBob
Keep in mind that Apple has made a _lot_ of mistakes and missteps with the
iPhone since its debut. How many of those mistakes haven't been corrected?

At first there was no 3G support. There was no GPS. There was no SDK or store
("Just write web apps!") Built-in apps like Maps lacked fundamental features
like placemarks. Other core features like landscape keyboards were arbitrarily
unavailable in many apps. You couldn't listen to the iPod on Bluetooth
headsets. You couldn't record video. The SDK, when it did arrive, came with an
obnoxious NDA that kept developers from being able to talk to each other.
There's probably a few dozen other points I could make.

Basically, while I think Apple's SDK licensing requirements and the App
Store's approval process are both giant, poorly-thought-out clusterfucks, I
have no reason to think their worst shortcomings won't be fixed. My iPhone has
received better post-sale support -- for _free_ \-- than any other device or
software package I've owned. So I'm slow to add my own voice to those of the
complaining masses.

Give it a year. If there are still arbitrary goofy rules about no "frameworks"
being allowed, and if apps from everybody from Trent Reznor to Google to Joe
Nobody are still subject to the approval whims of some random anonymous
minimum-wage outsourced troglodyte, then I'll agree that Apple has taken their
eye off the ball. But as things stand, they get a lot of slack from me, based
on previous willingness to fix their mistakes.

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blasdel
The App Store is not only not getting better, it's actively getting worse (see
M17 ratings for anything with UGC).

I thought they were temps at first too, but apparently the AppStore reviewers
are full Apple employees in Cupertino. My current theory is that they were the
same cretins that review submitted music + video, and the management in the
chain above them is a poisonous combo of MBA + hideously-stupid + overly-
powerful. Maybe they were recruited from a MAFIAA member...

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Rob15283
I gave my Windows PC away four years ago after buying my first iPod. I now
have three Macs, other members of my family account five more, and we all love
them. They're not perfect, mind you, but they're much more reliable and easier
to use than our PCs ever were. Whatever Apple's doing, I hope they keep doing
it.

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sanj
_did you know that you can only photograph Steve Jobs from one side_

Image search shows both sides:

<http://bit.ly/13hFil>

Perhaps that's hyperbole.

~~~
jamesbritt
"Perhaps that's hyperbole."

Perhaps, but you'll never see his reflection in anything.

Just sayin' ...

:)

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symesc
Apple would probably create something they're proud of and would use
themselves.

And they'd sell it for real money.

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frankus
OT: is it "No Wine Till It's Time" or "No Wine Till Its Time"? I'm pretty sure
it's the latter.

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jodrellblank

      it's -> it is / it has
      its -> belonging to it
    

No Wine Until it is Time -> it's

(But if you are contracting "until", you should have an apostrophe - 'til).

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ck113
Ok, I know it's violently tangential and pretty silly, but I noticed this in
the article too. I thought it was interesting because (I'm guessing) it's not
a case of the author not knowing the grammatical rules you've just described,
but of his not knowing the saying he's quoting.

The phrase is "no wine before its time." Not as in "before it is time", but as
in "before that wine's appointed time." It was the slogan of the Paul Masson
winery, though I can't find a great source for that. (Maybe this one:
<http://wineeconomist.com/2009/02/10/no-wine-before-its-time/>)

So we do want the possessive here, not the contraction.

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jodrellblank
That makes the phrase make a lot more sense.

