Laptop Thoughts: Commentary on the Competition from Infinite Loop

"The first 15 minutes of Apple's earnings call today were not all that surprising, although the numbers were impressive. Quarterly revenue at the end of the company's fiscal year (late September) was $20.34 billion, making this the company's biggest quarter ever. This exceeded analyst expectations and predictions, so big score for Apple. Then things got really interesting when Steve Jobs got on the call and started ripping his competitors a new one."

Let's see, biggest quarter ever, yet, there's still plenty of time to bash the competition, rather than graciously bask in the glow of spectacular financial results (Thank you consumers, you've voted with your wallets! ). I don't quite understand what benefit is derived from publicly pointing out the obvious - see! we sold more stuff than you sold. And, despite the fact that the competition in the tablet space doesn't have real products shipping in meaningful number yet (at least here in the US), we're told that they'll be inferior, and that the small size will be a disadvantage unless fingers can be made smaller. I read that, and thought, gee, I'd better get rid of my iPhone then, because I don't have sandpaper to make my fingers smaller. I love Apple products, because, as Steve J points out,"they just work," but I'm not real happy with the whole "cult of personality" that seems to be developing and causing bad feelings in the industry. All the sniping between CEOs is getting old! Just build the products and let the consumers decide.