It was one heck of a week for the consumer section of the computer industry. Apple’s revamp coming just two days before the launch of Windows 7. Both the releases were good in their own space. They injected some excitement into an industry that lost its sheen a couple of years ago and has remained that way for the most part, with few specks of hope but too far in between. Even Apple’s keynotes had begun to feel unexciting after the ‘07 release of the iPhone. I was looking for some salvation in the launch of Snow Leopard, but that was quite a quiet affair as well since it wasn’t a major release.⌘

It was the iPhone again that kick started things with OS 3.0 though, and then came the new iMacs. The excitement is not back to what it used to be, but that’s only because of the expectations that Apple has infused in us over the years.⌘

Microsoft’s effort

On the other hand, I find nothing really exciting about Windows 7. Sure, the OS is faster, but we saw all this in Vista and most of it back in XP. It was a little exciting back then, but it definitely isn’t exciting now. The first concepts of Longhorn — now those were exciting (which is quite an understatement really, and I would love to see a Linux distro try to be like it)! Aero is a gimmick; eye-candy that doesn’t translate to increased usability and productivity is worse than useless. The speed boosts don’t count for much because all they do is allow you to do the same things that you were doing in Windows XP, just a little bit faster. Okay, I have touch-stuff now, but that’s useless because my screen isn’t touch sensitive (as I’m sure a lot of people’s screens aren’t). I can’t do anything in 7 that I couldn’t in XP. It’s the same old shit. Microsoft has failed to give people a reason to upgrade¹.⌘

Ironically, the same things can be said about Snow Leopard. But here’s the reason people don’t: because they don’t feel it. Apple innovated like crazy in Tiger, enough to just have to improve upon them in Leopard. And they’re so good, intuitive and actually usable that they still feel new. With Snow Leopard, it took the already-feel-new things, and made them faster while adding a little more sheen along the way. I have yet to upgrade to 10.6, so I’ll save the deeper analysis till I do. But starting up Windows 7 today still feels the same as it did back with XP². If this is the OS that is going to take the PC into the next decade, I truly feel sorry for them.⌘

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Apple’s fight

All that personal commentary aside, I acknowledge that everyone who matters has heralded 7 as something that both Microsoft and Apple need right now. Microsoft, to save itself from becoming truly irrelevant; Apple, because competition is good for everyone (or so is the official party line). But I don’t think Apple and Microsoft are competing even in the same sphere anymore. If they are, then Apple has already won this round. iPods have beaten the Zune to pulp, you don’t need a link to a market share graph for that (and the last time I heard about the ZuneHD was a month back when it launched). Windows Mobile is the most irrelevant smartphone OS ever, and the Mac has 91% of market for $1,000+ PCs where it competes seriously. Apple’s stock has received enough attention for its historical upswing that pushed it higher than the $200 mark it hit 2 years ago, and it tops the charts for customer satisfaction. Yes, Apple has won this battle.⌘

Their real rivals are the hardware manufacturers. People buy a Dell, not a Microsoft computer. But they’ve all conceded revenue for market share, and only now have they begun to realise the hole they’ve dug themselves into. Apple is a low-volume high-profit/revenue player which doesn’t care for market share for the Mac. I won’t say it don’t care about market share at all, because clearly it’s going for volume with the iPhone as it did with the iPod. But here too, it’s the only one who seems to be able to do so without cutting into its profits. But for Macs, Apple is playing to its strengths and it’s working out just fine. While analysts can keep saying that it’s losing out on an opportunity by not entering the netbook market, Apple continues to show them the finger in its own classy way.⌘

Further reading: Value of Apples.⌘

But Apple is the only one running its race. No other company works the way Apple does — making hardware and software, and operating its own brick and mortar stores. Every other company either just makes the hardware, or writes the software. Nobody sells their own stuff themselves. Microsoft is trying to make an entry in that area³. We’ll see how that goes. But the major point here is that Apple does things differently, and that’s why they win. They get points for just being unique in an industry that follows a follower.⌘

Apple will probably never become as big as Microsoft did, but they will definitely be more relevant and important. That’s because they’re not driven by money or power. Sure, it’s a big part of what they do. But there are truly passionate people at Apple who do things to change the world they live in. Apple has become big by being small, but they will become bigger by remaining Apple.⌘