Pirate Journalism

Leading the Revolution, Again

As you read this, Apple has already changed the world.

As I write this, we are still a day away from that monumental shift in the computer/communications world.

Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, and in the pre-event world in which I am writing from, many of the tech blogs have begun to mock the mind-numbing hype that has preceded Apple’s newest product. Jokes about letting users walk on water or access the Internet through demonic powers have become more prevalent than speculation over built-in cameras and size.

This is not to say that those mocking the hype are completely in the wrong. There has been a deluge of rumors, fake spy pictures and boding on Apple’s tablet computer. I think I even read a story linking it to one of Nostradamus’ prophecies.

However, there is some good reason for this excitement. Apple has repeatedly revolutionized the computer and gadget industry over the last few decades.

Turning the way-back machine to the 80s, Apple brought the first “personal computer” into our homes. My 16th birthday gift was an Apple IIc. That was in 86, and the home pc revolution was already kicking with IBM PC Jrs and Commodore 64s, but it was Apple that spearheaded that moment.

With the spread of beige-boxed IBM clones, Apple near faded away, but in 1998, they did it again. Introducing the iMac in 5 brilliant colors, with screen and computer built in one unit, Apple changed the rules on what a computer looked like. They also killed off the floppy disc, when they went CD only with the iMac.

Now, at this time, I wasn’t a Mac fan. The Apple IIc was a nice toy, but lack of support, software and the fact that my high school was all IBM had left me with little love for the rainbow apple. In college, I had to work with both Mac’s OS and Windows, and firmly determined that Macs were just as crappy as Windows, but Windows had more games. I didn’t buy another Mac again until I picked up a PowerPC at a garage sale for $200 that included a HP laser printer and monitor. I was more interested in the laser printer, and the Mac became just another toy, albeit with less games than my IIc had.

Then in 2001, Apple changed the world again, twice. First, they introduced the iPod, ushering in the world of digital music players. While there may have been mp3 players out there, none of them before or since the iPod have had such an effect on the way we listen and buy music.

Also in 2001, Apple introduced OS X. With a complete rebuilding of their operating system (and not just rewrapping a crappy system in a new menu bar and renaming it like some other OS companies), Apple changed the way computers should work. Things worked automatically. WiFi support was built-in and easy to use, as was Ethernet and USB. You could plug a printer in, and it worked. You could plug into networks with ease and communicate with Macs and Windows machines. These are all things Microsoft is just now figuring out. (You know why they call it Windows 7? Because they are only 7 years behind Apple.) It was OS X’s ease of use that made their PowerBooks and iBook so popular, prying laptops out of the hands of rich businessmen and into the hands of everyday people. (It was 2003 when I got my first PowerBook with OS x 10.3, and never looked back.)

Then, just a couple years ago, Apple did it again. Some people thought they were nuts to try and compete with established industry giants like Motorola and HTC with a new cell phone, but like all those cutting edge products before it, the iPhone completely changed the mobile industry. While there had been smartphones in the past, they were regulated to the business world where the exorbitant fees for slow access to data could be afforded. With the advent of the iPhone, even a lowly freelance writer like me can afford a smartphone (However, I use an Android phone and not an iPhone) with unlimited data access. Furthermore, the iPhone’s success has not been a selfish one. Unlike the iPod’s success, which has failed to help other media players, the iPhone’s popularity has lead to Blackberry’s growth, Google’s Android, and saved Palm from the gallows of gadget history.

Now, even before anyone really knows what Apple’s new toy will be (At least on my side of the keyboard), it is already changing the world. At the prospect of an Apple tablet computer (think Star Trek: The Next Generation’s hand-held touchscreen PADDs), companies from Microsoft to Acer and dozens of unknowns are rushing to get their version out there. When it was discovered that Apple bought the domain name “iSlate.com,” the entire industry and surrounding blogosphere started referring to this Star Trek-style of computers as “slates.” And that was just on the rumor of a possible name.

Is the world that different as you read this article? Probably not. However, in the one small aspect of life that is how we interact with the data, entertainment and the world around us, it will never be the same.

January 29, 2010 - Posted by Christopher Huff | geek, mac | apple, apple iic, computers, history, iPad, iphone, ipod, ipod touch, islate, leopard, mobile, new releases, os x, panther, powerbook, slate, snow leopard, tablet, tiger