Apple’s Velvet Handcuffs
September 2, 2012 6 Comments
Apple’s recent victory over Samsung got me thinking about to company and their increasing influence on the technology industry. Love them or hate them, you have to respect their innovation and their ability to make things work better together as long as you stay in the Apple orbit.
Their recent release of OS X, Mountain Lion continues to put velvet handcuffs on people who own iPhones, iPads and other Macs. For example, three iPhone/iPad apps are now on the Mac too. Notes, Reminders, and Game Center join Photo Stream, Mail, Calendar and Contacts as cloud-based apps. The release of iOS 6 in a couple of weeks will further cement this OS X and iOS integration.
All of these sync with other Apple machines wirelessly, courtesy of Apple’s free, increasingly sophisticated iCloud service. The new apps join Mail, Calendar and Contacts, which already sync with your iGadgets. Change a phone number on your phone, and it’s instantly updated on your tablet and computer; set up a reminder on your Mac, and your phone will alert you at the appointed time or even place.
It’s all extremely useful and a bit magical if you own more than one Apple device. Clearly, the company wants to keep you a happy prisoner inside its beautiful walled garden. Their stock price reflects this as they are the most valuable company in the world.
Can they keep it up? Is it good for the industry? Let me know what you think.
About Michael Keithley
GTD for CIOs 
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Reblogged this on ProduSoul.
Warero – Thanks for reblogging my post.
Everyone – check out his blog ProduSoul where he believes that productivity is never an accident; it is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.
Thanks Michael!
First of all, thanks for a great Blog on GTD.
Interesting topic this if they can keep it up.
If they keep to their “hedgehog concept” al’a Jim Collins Good to Great i’m sure they can sustain it.
I for one believe that Tim Cook is the man to do just that.
Thanks for the feedback for the blog! Your comment about the “Hedgehog concept” from Jim Collins’ Good to Great is spot on. I wonder if they can keep finding new ideas that we don’t really know that we need and keep innovating but there is no reason to think they won’t especially with the strong culture Steve put in place coupled with Tim Cook’s operational excellence. Seems the stock market concurs.