Client Server Apple Crumble

You know, I'm somewhat skeptical that Steve Jobs is particularly running Apple nowadays. The Steve Jobs I knew would never allow "magical" in marketing material because that just is not a word good designers and clear communicators use. Maybe he's just gotten old and fuddy-duddy, like your grandfather running Apple.

When I switched to Apple for my personal computing in 2003 it was because a PowerBook was essentially a peer-to-peer device, a free outlaw on the network. All the Microsoft stuff was (and still is) slave to some other thing, whether it be a domain logon or checking in for the latest antivirus definitions - ie classical client/server no matter how you cut it.

Today, I see freedom in the way Google operate and allow you to access your stuff from practically anywhere with nothing more than your Google logon and whatever computing device you have to hand. Now, technically this is still a client/server relationship of course, but it seems no less inconvenient than carrying the keys to your front door (which, presumably you don't leave open to just anyone). The Apple eco-system on the other hand has become weighed down with client/server of old - just look at iTunes and the way it is (and still marketed as) your "digital hub" - your server. Which might not be so bad if management was effortless and not time consuming. But, it is. Even my kids (8 and 11) have remarked how slow iTunes is to sync. As a consequence they don't sync. If only iTunes could sync effortlessly and frictionlessly OTA (that's 'over the air' for anyone who's been using Apple products for too long and has never seen the acronym before because you are being left behind like you were left behind in the nineties) then the management of iDevices in the household might not seem like such a godawful drag. I mean, seriously, no user accounts on an iPad? That's not personal computing; therefore cannot be eroding the PC market.

So what's my point? My Android phone is essentially a peer-to-peer device, a free outlaw on the network ...