Worst of the Week: Apple overkill

Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy.
And without further ado:
Is anyone else a little tired of Steve Jobs?, the el jefe of the all things that start with i?
Maybe it’s just me (I don’t believe that for one second) but the man is hogging too much news time in the wireless world. Enough already! This industry is filled with brilliant people, but Steve Jobs has become the be-all, end-all for wireless, and I for one am just tired of it. (Maybe I’m just tired because Dan is off in Moab and I am stuck here writing Worst of the Week and not feeling funny.)
The funniest piece of Apple news this week surrounds Gizmodo’s alleged $5,000 “purchase” of the Apple 4G iPhone, which could lead to jail time if anyone involved in that fiasco is convicted of buying and selling stolen goods. While prison usually isn’t funny, I can’t help but feel sorry for a fellow journalist because it never occurred to me that paying for the iPhone prototype and posting on the website was illegal—just a great scoop. Check out this Dilbert cartoon for more laughs.
But that’s not all Apple-related this week. The company started to release details on its mobile advertising initiative and is said to plan to charge as much as $10 million for the first privilege to advertise on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad. Not only that, the company is demanding that it approve the creative for the ads, and one report even said that third parties would not be allowed to measure the mobile ads. Can you say control freak? Does that mean Apple is planning to buy a mobile advertising measurement company?
Then, of course, Jobs got into a spitting match with Adobe over how rotten Flash is. Really, again Steve? Just let it go. We heard you the first 100 times — you don’t like Flash. Flash equals bad. The rest of the world seems to not have the same hatred you have toward the technology, but to blog about it in a 1,600-word piece? Don’t you have something else to do? More black turtlenecks to buy? Don’t you feel a little silly about writing about Adobe’s “closed” technology when all things Apple are closed?
I admit I have a little animosity to all things Apple myself since the launch of the iPhone. All of the praise and idolatry toward the little device just caused some backlash. But seriously, the company announces the dates for its developers’ conference and its headlines? It releases the iPad and now is going to change publishing forever? (And as a journalist, I am a little sensitive to publishing-related issues these days since most of them predict the demise of the entire industry, and thus, my livelihood. So when the Great Steve Jobs is personally going to save my career, it seems I will have to be beholden to him forever and that again creates more ill will. Yes, a nicer person would be grateful. I get it.) And then my sister has turned Mac freak and calls me to gush about her latest purchase. And then I overheard my daughter (who has the iTouch) say she wants an iPad, well, the backlash just continues to climb. And now Apple is the No. 1 handset seller in the United States., surpassing Motorola.
All I can say is Go HP! Go Moto! Go HTC! Go LG! Go Samsung! Go Nokia! Go RIM! Go Sony-Ericsson! If I know anything about this industry it is that the mighty can fall. AT&T Wireless messed up local number portability and had to put itself up for sale. This industry is rife with stories of one misstep — and BAM – someone steals your spot in line. It’s time for some line-stealing, I say.
I welcome your comments. Send me an e-mail at tford@ardenmedia.com