Columnist Don Reisinger at ITworld.com posits that we will one day look with disdain at current good guys Apple and Google. Reisinger’s argument goes like this: Apple and Google are perceived as “good guys” right now. Microsoft, now perceived as an “evil empire” was once perceived as the good guy. Therefore Apple and Google will soon be evil empires themselves as they increase their market share because consumers are fickle.
It’s not hard to shoot holes in this argument. The two main issues I see are:
- different business practices
- better PR
Apple is the absolute king of controlling the message. They are the purveyors of cool. I kid you not, the design on Apple computers trickles all the way down to brooms. If you work in the IT field, you may be frustrated that they’re not letting you develop applications for the iPhone. You may be mad that you can’t buy their OS to use on anyone else’s hardware. But those are strictly IT biases and not necessarily bad business practices.
Apple is all about controlling the experience. They want to assure that OS X looks good when you use it, so they make you buy their hardware. They want to make sure the iPod works exactly as expected. So they lock you into their software. Paternalistic? Sure. But it works and it works for millions of consumers. That’s what matters. The experience is the same for everyone and it’s simple and elegant. I don’t see that changing, and I don’t see consumers clamoring for it to change. At least not many consumers.
What about Google? Google shows the most promise for overshadowing Microsoft in terms of size and power. I know Google and they are no Microsoft. For one thing, Google has adopted completely different and more open business practices. Have you looked at the number of applications and APIs available through Google right now? I can’t keep up. Licensing fees? What licensing fees? Want to use Google Earth? Free. Google maps? Free. Unlimited email? Free. Word processor? Um, yeah that’s free too. What do we have to do in exchange? Put up with some advertising. TV, radio & newspapers have proved that model works. I’ve been ignoring ads my whole life. Why do I put up with it? Because I get something I want in exchange.
Plus, I think Google has done a pretty good job of controlling how it’s perceived. They respond to criticism immediately in their multitude of blogs. (How many Google corporate blogs are there anyway?) It’s about controlling the message, something Microsoft has never seemed to do well.
I’m not even going to go into a listing of Microsoft’s questionable business practices or my opinions on the quality of their products. This, it seems to me, is a question of perception. Apple and Google will not be Evil Empires 2.0. At least, I don’t think they will.