Apple getting the Nokia treatment? · Links
20 March 2013 · PPK
The business press has become somewhat anti-Apple of late, predicting doom and gloom without any really good reason. John Gruber recently described the phenomenon and confessed his bafflement. Now Ewan McLeod explains that this is exactly the same as what happened to Nokia a couple of years back. Apple is getting the Nokia treatment, and fans and corporate authorities alike are Not Amused.
Sure, Apple ships millions of phones per month. So did Nokia. It still didn't keep Nokia from losing mindshare in the business press, and the same fate may await Apple. The business press is clearly getting bored with the "Apple is breaking records" posts they were obliged to write time and again, and is looking for greener pastures.
Honesty requires me to say that pretty much any Symbian phone Nokia produced since 2009 or so is terrible, with the exception of the very newest, which are merely annoying. So Nokia was losing its technological edge, while Apple doesn't have to worry on that score. Still, the way in which the business press selects whom to bash sometimes has little to do with technical excellence, just like it has little to do with sales figures.
The result is known: Nokia panicked and made Stephen Elop CEO, who ditched homegrown MeeGo in favour of Windows Phone, a decision that still hasn't brought Nokia even close to its old pre-eminent position. Something similar will not happen to Apple, but the going will get a bit tougher now for the Cupertino-based uncrowned king of smartphones.