No longer the Apple of my eye

http://business.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?265709

I have so far never purchased an Apple product. And it will be a long time before I will. Not unless they stop their bullying tactics. I hate bullies you see, and I like my freedom.

Yes, I do own 3 iPods. The first one, a 30 Gb video ipod, was given to my father by his company as part of some Sales conference gift. The second, 4 Gb, iPod Nano, slim and slender, was a gift from some friend or relative, I don't remember which or who. The third iPod, another Nano, but part of the rounded square series, was won by me at an inter-Bschool quiz held by Infosys. And I cannot describe the sheer joy owning these 3 has given me. The sheer beauty and design of the these products, at that time, was unmatched.

Apple products are usually the best looking and best designed. Using them is sheer joy. Simple, elegant, classy. Genius.

So why am I saying that I won't buy Apple products for some time to come ? And why am I blasting Apple ?

For a long long time I used to really admire all Apple products. And I still do for their design. And I love their software as well. But some where down the line, I started disagreeing with their philosophy. 'Think Different' is their motto - how can I when they control all the apps and service providers and software on all their products ?

Lets start with the Macs. I used to always admire their design, those pure white pristine beauties. But, they were always too costly. Now I don't mind paying more for the cost... but then I don't see the point in buying a Mac and running Windows OS on it. And Mac OS, despite being good, is not compatible with so many softwares. But until this point, I had no problems with Apple. In fact, I used to admire them 100%.

I took serious exception to their behaviour with the launch of the iPods. I would have preferred a simple folder system, where I plug the iPod in, copy my songs onto the iPod HD, and voila ! If I want some classification, let it be folder based. Now I understand iTunes offers multiple viewpoints, so you can classify and view songs, by different meta-data labels associated with each song. And maybe it was difficult to implement this system with the PnP, Copy & Paste system. (Though I don't even think they tried.)

But they could have at least allowed me the option of having a Folder system as opposed to the iTunes system. Like Sony. Like Cowon. Like everybody else. But no.. they want to maintain their 'control' and yes, they wanted to make money via iTunes. Fine.

Things got out of hand with the launch of the iPhone. I was gushing over Apple's design technology then. But then, when it was launched, they pulled off a cheap trick. Your phone was 'locked' to one carrier - in the US, AT&T. What the hell ? Why the f*** should have to stick to AT&T ? This is monopolostic behaviour, this is bullying. And whatever reasons they might give, I can't palate them.

So now, for the iPod, I have to buy music, movies and ebooks only from the iTunes store. For the iPhone, and now for the iPad, I can transact and navigate myself only through Apple approved Apps. Go to hell - I ain't buying your products.

Right now also, I am looking to buy a Phone. A smartphone. Either way I wasn't going to buy the iPhone. Firstly, it is way too highly priced in India. Secondly, the idea of being locked to Airtel or Vodafone, makes my blood boil. Thirdly, I am very excited with the Android mOS - and the implications of an open source OS where millions of people can easily contribute awesome apps.

And to my great great delight, I realised I didn't enjoy using the iPhone so much. One app at a time ? No multi-tasking in the iPhone ? Ha ha. Try again. I enjoyed the Sony Ericsson Experia X10 and the Motorola Milestone much much more. I am yet to try the HTC Legend (out of stock) and the HTC Desire (not yet launched in India), but I have seen enough videos and read enough reviews to know how good they are. I haven't yet bought the phone - but it isn't the going to be the Apple iPhone for sure.

I was about to sleep. I reminded myself that I have to enable currency trading for account tomorrow. Why ? Just like that. Not that I intend to start immediately, but I prefer to keep things 'enabled'. The day I want to do it, I shouldn't have to waste time and energy getting basic things started.

My thoughts drifted to a course I had attended in the Bombay Stock Exchange. One of the courses, introduction to derivatives, was to be taken by a certain Mr. Sanjay Ved. He had a vague resemblance to Mr. Bean, I remember. He was a smart guy and handled the module well. Somewhere in between he started reminiscing about his earlier days, and how he had once been wiped out by in one afternoon during the Harshad Mehta crash. 3-4 years of wealth had been wiped out, he said. He then went on to say how hard it was to acquire knowledge then. In a bid to get back on track and make some income somehow, he got into currency trading. He contacted experts worldwide, via snail mail ofcourse, asking for tips and advice. Slowly but surely he built his expertise in currency trading. Today, he said, he taught out of passion. His main income was from currency trading - 3-4 hours everyday.

That led me to think - in every transaction, when somebody loses, somebody also gains. When I was small, I used to always wonder, if so many people lost so much money, there must surely have been somebody who gained. Why then does the world cry so much ?

Today I realise what happens. In the Harshad Mehta case, for example, he wasn't playing with his money in the first place. In the second place, he was only pocketing most of the money, since he was controlling the markets to a great extent. As the stock markets rose, people kept entering and exiting, making profits for a good 3-4 sweet years. When the markets crashed, the investors, traders, speculators lost money. Now, who gained ? Well no one really. Rather, Harshad Mehta, his brothers and similar such people had already gained - as in, spent away the money. They were making false profits, and having enjoyed the returns, they disappeared from the scene, many behind bars.

All the other market participants, including many brokers, lost. Who else ? The innocent depositors whose money he had been playing with in the first place.

Or take the sub-prime crisis.

As I have said before, by the very principle of exchange, whenever somebody makes a huge loss, somebody else has made a windfall profit. in most scams or Ponzi schemes, it is outright apparent as to who has gained or who has lost. However,In many crises and crashes, when it appears that everybody has made a loss, it is just that the windfall profit has been chronologically displaced.

In the sub-prime crisis, first the initial set of losers came to the fore. Then there was a second wave in which many other victims slowly but surely washed to the surface. Many other bobbed up much later on. Initial not many winners were apparent. All the bank and ibanks were apparently in dire straits.

Then it was discovered that almost all the traders and i-bankers had made a lot of income and encashed obscene bonuses in the run-up to the crisis. But that itself wouldn't be able to balance out all the losses. The majority of 'winners' were all the real estate agents, subprime house owners and the American consumers - who had enjoyed for a long time - living beyond their means in a credit driven consumer economy. Ofcourse they enjoyed first and paid for it later.