Has anyone else noticed this? I have, for a very long time, been opposed to the popular game in town, and instead rooted for the little guy. In high school I never strove to be popular, I ran cross country instead of trying to get on the football team. A junior in high school, i started trying to move to linux, getting away from Microsoft. I’ve always done things based on my own research, what works for me, and not based on current trends. So read this article, knowing that I personally feel that Apple is becoming “Trendy”, and I am somewhat bias against “Trendy”.

Next time you’re at a high school, shopping mall, college campus, grocery store, or anywhere that a lot of people with cel phones. Look around. Look at people using their phones, and see if you can identify some of what you see kids fiddling with while theyre waiting in line to check out, what devices people are hugging to their cheek. You may notice an abundance of iPhones. Ok, so I see a lot of reasons for that. First, Apple is very good at marketing. Apple is also very good at writing decent software. And on top of all of that, well, the iPhone is indeed a slick device. So what the hell am i complaining about?

There are a ton of touch screen phones out there. A ton of popular smart phones in general. Ever hear of a little manufacturer called BlackBerry? Theyve been producing phones for much longer than Apple. It’s easy to see however why the iPhone is more popular, its more fun, its got a slicker interface, and apple’s marketing machine is no less than stellar.

So you’re still wondering what I’m getting at.

Ok, here we go. How many people out there have left Microsoft to go to Apple? I’m going to say… a lot. Now, how many have left Microsoft to go to Linux? Not nearly as many. How many people do you see going out and spending less on a PC, and then installing linux on it. Versus how many people you see spending a fortune on similar hardware, for the privilege of using an Apple? Linux could kill Microsoft. Linux, a project which is free for anyone to install/use. A system which is more secure than windows. A system which is infinitely customizable. A system… which is only used by geeks and open source activists.

This is my point. If apple weren’t so popular, if they weren’t convincing people that the privilege of using an apple was worth the extra price tag… Then other projects might get more attention. There are projects that have been terminated because of apple’s success. An example is HP’s slate. It was dropped shortly after the release of the iPad.

Look at MP3 players. The mp3 music sales industry caters to the iPod, and all other mp3 players need to live up to the standard that the iPod has set. Even if these other players may feature more options, other features, more storage space, if theyre not a clone of an iPod, theyre not accepted. Everyone wants the iPod.

Am i saying everyone should boycott apple, and start looking for other products? No, i’m just ranting. Take it for what its worth. 😀