Why I Can’t Stand Apple

I usually try to stay away from the negative when I blog. As a matter of fact, this might very well be the first time that I wrote about something that I don’t like. My dislike for Apple has been growing over the past few months, and has peaked with the open letter that Steve Jobs released last week about why there will never be Flash on iPods, iPads or iPhones.

In general, Apple makes a lot of fun products. Everyone in my house has an iPod (except for me because I have an iPhone.) We all love them. They are very cleverly designed.

I was annoyed at Apple before I read the letter. I’ve had some issues with my daughter’s iPod and purchases that I’ve made on iTunes. Their customer support is horrendous. They kept me going in circles trying to get her iPod to sync without losing the purchases. Thankfully, I figured it out myself, without their help. So much for their “Geniuses.”

Another thing that I really can’t stand about them is that they make their products obsolete on purpose, so that you need to buy the next generation to enjoy new features. I understand that I’ll need to upgrade if I want things like a better camera on the iPhone, but I shouldn’t have to for most software updates.

News has gotten out that the next version of the iPhone will support multitasking.  This important update of the OS is said to be incompatible with the current release of the iPhone. That just doesn’t seem to be the case. Tech n’ Marketing blogger, Hillel Fuld, did some research and found a nifty video that shows that the new OS actually works very nicely with iPhone 3G.

Talking about news, I can’t believe how Apple attacked Gizmodo for talking about the latest release of the iPhone. Gizmodo got an illegal phone, and started testing it out. They even came out with a very nice video, praising the new device. Apple was really upset that the Gizmodo guys got a hold of it. They got it back right away

So when Steve Jobs came out with his letter about how he is going to protect us all from those evil people at Adobe who are the creators of Flash, I think that he was going way too far. He says that he doesn’t want his users to have inferior products. What he isn’t saying is that he is angry that Adobe has been strong in the PC market. He doesn’t want to open the ability for anyone to create iPhone applications that are not Apple authorized. He doesn’t want to open the ability for more people to contribute.

If Apple approved apps are so much better, why does Jobs have to worry about people using Flash apps? OK, I get it, they use more battery and they aren’t optomized for Mac OS, but as consumers, shouldn’t we have the right to decide? It’s almost as we are being treated like children, that we don’t know what’s good for us, and that Papa Steve is going to save us from the evils of the world.

When I graduated from college, I really wanted a MacBook. I had a good computer and really had no reason to get one. I was disappointed at the time, but now I’m not. I will not be buying any more Apple products any time soon. It’s not that they aren’t great. They’re a lot of fun to use. It’s just that I don’t want to give in to “The Man.”