Is Apple the best?
Amongst people who pay attention to technology, there is a size-able debate about who is the best. A person could spend all day debating if a Blackberry is better than an iPhone, or if a Dell is better than a MacBook. This debate is futile because this is not where Apple has proven to be superior.
One platform that just works.
What sets Apple apart as truly unique is that they offer an entire product line that was designed to work on one platform. No other company has a tower computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a phone, an operating system, a music player, a music service, and software. Let's take an example...
-Dell makes one dang nice computer. But it's OS is not their own, they had to use a product from Microsoft called Windows to make it work.
-Microsoft makes one impressive OS. But that OS wasn't designed to run on a Microsoft computer, it goes into third-party computers.
-Android makes one very nice phone. But it doesn't sync with your Android computer (because one doesn't exist!)
Not much someone could argue about this.
Now, there are some companies that have picked up on their business model and are attempting to copy it. Google is a great example of this, Facebook another. If they can pull it off is yet to be determined.The final thing that is truly amazing about Apple is that when you compare one particular product of theirs to one of their competitors, Apple is often times the victor. The iPod is the world's favorite portable music player by far. Mac OSx is arguably more robust than Windows. When a graphic designer wants a good work computer, a Mac is the go-to.
All this said, it doesn't mean some healthy competition isn't a good thing. Choice is a beautiful thing. It is undeniable, though, that Apple has had it right from step-one.
