| Why First Generation Apple Products Suck: Part II |
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Page 1 of 2 (Column) - Originally, I had never intended to write a follow-up to Why First Generation Apple Products Suck. But after receiving exceptional feedback on my thoughts, I think I need to make few things clear. If you haven’t read the original column, I would recommend you do so before reading further. Many of you thought I was unfairly singling out Apple even though defective first generation products are a common occurrence across the technology sector – software or hardware. Just to be clear, let’s not mesh software and hardware together. Neither I nor anyone else should ever expect software to be perfect. Evaluating software is subjective, and regardless of what developers do, there’s no way to error-proof applications. On the opposite end, with hardware, it is possible to perfect the craft of developing tangible products, such as the iPod music player. Many of you also thought that I was generalizing and ranting while graciously overlooking the number of pleased first generation product users. Honestly, I wasn’t doing either of the two. In fact, in the original column, I outlined the miniscule number that was prone to the iPod Nano scratch anomaly. Apple couldn’t be irresponsible enough to release an entire batch of faulty products. The number of defective products is limited in the grand scheme of things, and I’m well aware of that. However, users that are unfortunate to purchase damaged products are amazingly vocal, which leads me to my main point. Apple is a media darling. I believe we can all agree with that statement. As a result, it has a tendency to grab headlines even when nothing it does is newsworthy (for example, an upgrade in storage for the iPod family). When was the last time iRiver, Creative or Sony made headlines with their new product lineups, let alone an upgrade to one of their successful audio players? Apple has a way of evangelizing its products, which ultimately spins into a sleek (and cost effective) marketing strategy. In addition, Apple also has a very vocal group of customers who don’t accept anything but perfection. Therefore, when Apple makes mistake and continues to make them, stories spread rapidly.
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