Acer Founder: Apple is Like a Mutant Virus
Acer founder Stan Shih compared Apple's products to mutant viruses while also predicting a grim future for US-based PC manufacturers.
Wednesday during an interview, Acer founder Stan Shih took a slight jab at Apple, comparing its products--namely the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch--to mutant viruses. According to the exec, its difficult to find a cure for said viruses in the short-term, however he believes that the PC industry will eventually find a way to contain the infection, and become immune to its effects.
However Shih didn't completely devalue Steve Jobs and his accomplishments. He noted the success of Apple's innovation and creativity through iTunes and the introduction of apps. Shih said that PC vendors need to follow the lead and focus less on hardware and more on innovative software in order to grab a portion of the growing market.
Shih also added that Apple actually deserves a little respect. While PC manufacturers have evolved naturally and developed products "in a more solid way," the Apple boss has taken a different strategy, looking for a "revolution." But despite Apple's success, Shih believes that the PC market will eventually come out on top, as history dictates that a natural evolution builds a stronger industry backbone.
During the interview, Shih also compared Microsoft’s Windows against Apple's Macintosh OS, and then eventually into the war between VHS and Betamax. Both examples compare the open platform approach against a closed platform approach, with the latter option apparently providing a far less market share than the former open Windows platform group. He even noted the emergence of Google's open Android platform as a tool that could help isolate Apple in the future.
Towards the end of the interview, Shih spelled out a grim future for the PC market here in the States. According to the Acer founder, US-based vendors will eventually abandon the market in the long term and turn to the services industry. He even cited IBM's sale of its PC department to Lenovo, deeming it as a sign of things to come.
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Couldnt agree more ...Allthough there are markets for simple products too i guess.
The only downside to Apples domination of late is that it shows how many computer simpletons are in the market nowdays ...That's not Apples fault i guess ...If people want to support closed in computing and "locked standards" i suppose it's their choice.
I for one will not give apple money ...the best way to voice opposition to the ethos imo.
The only downside to Apples domination of late is that it shows how many computer simpletons are in the market nowdays ...
You could always just spout a bunch of crap on the internet instead...that's real freedom!
Acer...well they are not exactly in the same market space as Apple are they?
Whereas premium companies like Apple, Sony etc. aim for the top end of the spectrum where decent profits exist companies like Acer have to knock out their cheap crap by the boatload just to stay in existence.
MacOS and Windows are BOTH closed systems. Nobody gets to mess with the OS other than Apple or Microsoft.
VHS and Betamax were BOTH closed systems. Nobody messed with the system other than JVC and Sony. Plenty of other people got to make machines to the spec though. VHS won out because it was a whole lot cheaper (quality was not as good but generally not noticable) and it got backed by the porn industry so goodbye Betamax.
Yes the PC market is grim but that is largely because companies like Acer are pumping out crapware infested junk year after year and the industry is saturated to the point of danger.
Is Apple really so dumb for not wanting to be a part of that?