From: "Rich Gauszka" 

Wired's been drinking far too much of the Apple happy juice with this statement

'There's been a shift here. In a few weeks, the Apple TV went from "who
cares?" to must-have.'


"mike"  wrote in message
news:7ca303l6l408mvsmcjrsents1h6u4h5ju0{at}4ax.com...
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,73005-0.html
>
>
> ===
> They're saying odd stuff, like Macs are good for business; Macs can save
> money; and that Apple's stock -- at $90 a share -- is a bargain.
>
> In fact, there seems to be a widespread re-evaluation of Apple going on,
> a cultural shift that's changing the way people think about the company.
> It's been building for a while but it has reached a tipping point in the
> last couple of months. Here's what people are saying now.
>
>
> - Macs will save you money
>
> Macs have always been derided as more expensive than PCs, but now Wilkes
> University in Pennsylvania is dumping its Windows machines for Macs --
> to save money! A few years ago, universities like Dartmouth College, one
> of the biggest Mac-centric colleges, couldn't dump their Macs fast
> enough.
>
> - Macs are good for business
>
> Macs in the workplace used to be just for the artsy types in the design
> department. But now they're appropriate for regular desk jockeys of
> every stripe. In Computerworld, consultant Seth Weintraub recommends
> Macs for the enterprise because they're easy to learn, easy to
> administer and not as prone to viruses and other nasties. Weintraub says
> IT managers who bought Macs for home use are increasingly looking to
> deploy them at work.
>
> - Less is more
>
> At one time, loading on more features was the mantra. When the iPod came
> out, critics said it didn't match rival devices, which boasted FM radios
> and bigger hard drives. But users wanted fewer features, and better ease
> of use. "That's why the iPod succeeded where its predecessor products
> bombed," writes Chris Taylor, Business 2.0's senior editor, in a recent
> piece titled "The Trouble With Gee-Whiz Gadgets."
>
> - Closed is good
>
> Apple's traditional closed system -- proprietary hardware, software and
> online services -- is now a selling point. A couple of years ago, many
> confidently predicted Apple would fail if it didn't open up the
> iPod/iTunes system to rivals, who would "hybridize" the platform with
> interoperable hardware and software from multiple companies. "It's
> absolutely clear now why five years from now, Apple will have 3
> (percent) to 5 percent of the player market,'' Rob Glaser, CEO of Apple
> rival RealNetworks, told The New York Times in 2003. "The history of the
> world is that hybridization yields better results."
>
> But consumers seem to want the opposite -- products and services from
> one company that are guaranteed to work well together. Look at
> Microsoft's attempt to copy the iPod's top-to-bottom integration with
> the Zune. And customers are embracing that "closed" system.
"I just
> switched from a Dell to an Apple laptop and love the Mac lifestyle,"
> student Priya Sanghvi told USA Today.
>
> - Apple is the darling of Wall Street
>
> Wall Street analysts, traditionally skeptical of Apple, are suddenly
> giddily bullish, releasing extremely positive forecasts on future
> performance. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster says the Apple TV will give
> the company a big lead over Microsoft in the digital living room.
> (Target price: $124.) UBS Investment research analyst Benjamin Reitzes
> believes the iPhone is the beginning of a "mega platform" of
> touch-screen devices that will give Apple "open-ended growth." (Target
> price: $124.)
>
> Jon Markman, a columnist for Microsoft Money, thinks Apple's shares will
> double by 2010. "If you have ever kicked yourself for not buying Apple
> four years ago when you bought your first iPod, you should go for it now
> during this market weakness," he writes. And The Street's Scott Moritz
> says that thanks to the iPhone, "Palm seems doomed."
According to Zacks
> Investment Research, 14 of the 17 analysts following Apple rate the
> stock a "buy" or better. (There are three "holds"
and no "sell"
> ratings.)
>
> - Macs can run more applications
>
> I can't remember the last time I heard anyone say there's no software
> for the Mac, or that Macs are too expensive. People still acknowledge
> that Apple's products aren't the cheapest, but they seem happy to pay
> for better-designed, better-made products. As for software, the old
> argument against Macs is moot. New Intel Macs can run Windows software
> as well as any PC. I more often hear the opposite -- people complaining
> that software like Apple's iLife suite isn't available on Windows.
>
> The change in perception seems to have been tipped by the iPhone. A lot
> of people thought Apple got lucky with the iPod: It was a one-hit
> wonder, a fluke not likely to be repeated. But the iPhone is already
> starting to look like another industry-changing smash hit, and it's
> shining a different light on the company.
>
>
>
> The clearest example is the Apple TV, which is due to be released this
> week. Late last year, there wasn't much buzz about the Apple TV. Most
> people just shrugged. There didn't seem to be a need for a wireless box
> to stream content from your computer to your TV.
>
> But lately, the buzz has been growing. I've seen a lot of blog posts and
> news reports predicting the Apple TV will fly off store shelves. Some
> analysts are even saying the Apple TV is a more important product than
> the iPhone.
>
> There's been a shift here. In a few weeks, the Apple TV went from "who
> cares?" to must-have. The product didn't change, but what people were
> saying about it did. I think it's because Apple is very clearly looking
> like a serial innovator: a company that can successfully trot out one
> big product after another. This has been generally true since the iMac
> in 1998, but now the wider public is catching on.
>
> What's changed is not Apple, but people's perceptions of the company.
> ===
>
>  /m

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