The Apple Two

theodp writes "Over at Slate, Tim Wu argues that the iPad is Steve Jobs' final victory over Steve Wozniak. Apple's origins were pure Woz, but the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad are the products of the company's other Steve. Jobs' ideas have always been in tension with Woz's brand of idealism and openness. Crazy as it seems, Apple Inc. — the creator of the personal computer — is leading the effort to exterminate it. And somewhere, deep inside, Woz must realize what the release of the iPad signifies: The company he once built now, officially, no longer exists."

Comments

Re:This just in!

[bmajik]

A personal computer is a computer that _does what you want it to do._ For a shockingly large number of people, Apple's present product line does exactly that, which explains their present high popularity and booming market share, especially among consumer media devices

I wonder if the next generation of Apple Personal Computers can deliver what their customers want today -- namely, the sense of smug superiority and being set apart for having the priviledge of overpaying for a name and some self-righteous packaging that advertises where something was _Designed_ [in california, no less], as if that had any bearing on its fitness for any objective purpose...

Yes.. I wonder if in the near future, Jobs and Apple will be able to deliver that without actually putting any electronics in the machine at all...

Will it still be a personal computer, since it does what its buyers want?

I see a business opportunity, btw. Selling Apple laptop "skins" that either
- cover up some other brand of computer
- don't contain a computer at all. The skin is just that - you just sit somewhere in public, with a laptop-looking-thing open, proudly showing the apple logo to all who pretend to not be looking at your glorious presence.

With a fake-Apple skin over your laptop, Onlookers will see that you are better than they are, and will forgive you for spending 2 hours fucking with your hair all to make it look like you didn't spend any time on it. They'll want to sit down and ask you what important work you're doing, but be too threatened because your Apple Skin -- hey, the name of the product will be called "Apple Peel" -- your Apple Peel clad-device will put an impenetrable psychological distance between you, the annointed, and them, the plebians. And so they will remain standoffish and contemptuous, and at least in this little microcosm of the stifled social dynamics of the wifi coffee-shop, you will emerge victorious.

Apple Peel (C) -- the apple-branded covering for your affordable and functional laptop. All of the social superiority, none of the overpriced shittyness of an actual apple product.

You saw it here first. I want royalties.