I realized today, for about the hundredth time, that there is just way too much hype, marketing, and slickness and not enough reality around Apple and its products (and storied product launches). I mean for crying out loud, this is a computer company that is at 5% world wide market share. 5%!  To put that into perspective, how much do you care about Via’s CPU’s (about 1% share), SiS’s GPU’s (about 3% share), or Polaroid’s HDTV’s (about 4% share). These are all examples of others who play third fiddle in their respective markets, just like Apple does in the PC market.
Since the launch of the iPod and now the iPhone, people suddenly have this unrealistic expectation that the 5% really doesn’t matter, and that whenever any new product arrives (Apple TV or Mac Mini, anyone?) it is the greatest thing ever created. Today is no exception, with a line refresh of the iPod products being heralded as practically the second coming of the technology universe. I just don’t get it, and perhaps I never will.
Some people will call me an Apple hater, and to an extent, that’s fair. But when your sole mass-market contribution to modern society is a portable music player and bloated music software client, can I help but be anything other than cynical? I can applaud Steve Jobs for his tight, consumer focused marketing and unbelievable press “reality distortion field”, but at the same time I feel sorry for those innovators who work around him, who are invariably cast aside, ideas crushed, as he marches ahead with his deity-like world view.