iPhone, Leopard mark the coming of the Apple era in 2007
By Triston McIntyre
With the iPhone sleeping peacefully in stores until tomorrow’s debut, OS X Tiger winning fans long-associated with the Windows camp, and Leopard poising itself for complete domination of a currently feeble next-gen OS showing, Apple is solidifying itself as the champion of consumer hearts in all aspects of life. 2007 is quickly proving itself to be the year that Apple flexes its creative muscle and engrains itself in the hearts and minds of consumers worldwide with its powerful trifecta: the iPod, the iPhone, and OS X.
Long have consumers held a special spot in their hearts, backpacks and purses for the iPod. Apple stormed the portable media player market and has unquestioningly maintained its strangle hold, with competitors failing to come close to the success of the iPod. Microsoft, who many expected to provide an equivalent or superior device in the Zune, failed miserably and has been forced to re-evaluate its ability to compete in a market so strongly dominated by Apple.
It is clear on the eve of the iPhone’s launch that Apple’s newest device will make waves on a tsunami scale in the cell phone market. Though naysayers hope in vain that the iPhone could still flop, the flood of media coverage surrounding the new device’s release would prove otherwise; at no point in cell phone history has a device filled the public spotlight. Sprint, a large cellular provider has already alerted its employees it anticipates losing 6% of its customer base to AT&T due to the iPhone; if that number is spread to Verizon and T-mobile, AT&T stands to claim 18% of the large providers’ customers singlehandedly by selling the iPhone. What the iPhone brings to the table, more than anything, is a true iteration of the internet in your hand, on the go, anywhere; that makes it more than a phone…it is a device that truly bridges the gaps between the internet, the computer, and the hand held device.
At this point in 2007, Apple has already released sales numbers reflecting a 100% increase in its hold on the laptop market from 3 to 6 percent just since the beginning of the year; every commercial on tv, every popular tv show, and every movie coming out of hollywood show iMacs, Macbooks, and Macbook Pros sitting on tables, sticking out of bags, and resting on the laps of the who’s who of entertainment. That would not be the case if not for the wonderous operating system that is OS X; though many still hold that Windows is on par or superior to OS X, sales are showing that consumers feel OS X is the superior operating system for the every day consumer who isn’t absorbed in spreadsheets. Furthermore, the competition (that being Windows), didn’t show up ready to play with Vista; the vibe surrounding Vista in the internet community is that its a brushed up, system intensive big brother to XP…a feeble attempt at recreating the polish and smoothness of OS X’s widgets and Spotlight. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Apple will assuredly come to the table ready to throw down with Leopard, which promises to truly push the operating system to the stretches of technology’s limits today.
With that choke hold on technology, Apple has certainly positioned itself to become a company integrated into every aspect of day to day life. By 2008, it seems plausible that nearly every consumer will either own something coming out of Cupertino, or will wish they did. 2007 is the starting gate for what will be an Apple-driven technology age for a long time to come.
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