I’ve got more to say, but I’m running out of Sunday. Here’s what’s next:
The iPad is the first move in the disintermediation — disintegration — of dozens of well-established institutions in our society.
Vendors of mediocre crap like Windows computers and Android cell phones are done for. Established on-line retailers are finished. Broadcasting in the spectrum is kaput. Best of all, the union-organized ignorami called schoolteachers will be put out of work.
In a circumstance such as I describe, what would you expect to happen?
My answer? Rotarian Socialism.
When the mediocre feel threatened, they pass laws. When the established face disestablishment, they pass laws. And when the ignorant get organized, they pass laws.
If anyone besides me could clearly foresee what a disruptive influence the iPad is going to be, they would already be clamoring for protection from the awful consequences of free choice.
Here’s the good news: Almost nobody can see what is going to happen. They might be myopic, but at least they’re very proud. They will insist — one may hope until it is too late — that Apple cannot be doing what it clearly is doing.
The bigger threat, in the near term, would be the Antitrust Laws, which say that your company can grow as big as it wants, as long as it’s really mediocre like Microsoft. But if you’re growing because you are satisfying — ecstatifying! — consumer demand, the Feds have to come in and bust your company up.
Here’s hoping that everything that matters in this revolution of the mind will have happened before the Rotarian Socialists can marshall their defenses.
And on that note, I will shut up.
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Brian Brady says:
“And on that note, I will shut up.”
…lest you tip off a Redmond lobbyist and Washington State Congressman to muck things up before the 1.2 version comes out
January 31, 2010 — 8:04 pm
Greg Swann says:
> …lest you tip off a Redmond lobbyist and Washington State Congressman to muck things up before the 1.2 version comes out
Check. Mum’s the word. 😉
January 31, 2010 — 8:11 pm
caleb says:
Greg are you seriously pro trust?
January 31, 2010 — 11:52 pm
Greg Swann says:
> Greg are you seriously pro trust?
I’m anti-law. But you’re off-topic and I’m going to bed.
February 1, 2010 — 12:10 am
Benjamin Ficker says:
“Vendors of mediocre crap like Windows computers and Android cell phones…”
LOL, I LOVE my Droid!
Everything else you’ve written today though, I like.
January 31, 2010 — 11:55 pm
caleb says:
As defined by Princeton WordNet: “a consortium of independent organizations formed to limit competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product or service.”
January 31, 2010 — 11:56 pm
Cheryl Johnson says:
Alright, already.
Where does one go to learn how to design and write apps for the iPhone/iPad?
I’m off to do some serious Googling….
February 1, 2010 — 4:37 am
Greg Swann says:
Appcelerator.com is the best place for you to see about building from the ground up. Well, Apple is the absolute best, but that means learning Cocoa and Objective C. There are third-party vendors who will build templated apps for very minor ducats.
An Appcelerator app can be built with CSS and HTML only, or with PHP or Ruby for the brains. Cross-platform, too, with iPad support already announced. You’ll still need the Apple SDK, and you would be submitting to the App store as yourself, not as a vendor, so you would have to jump your own hurdles without help.
February 1, 2010 — 5:20 am
Al Lorenz says:
This all has me thinking that maybe the next big Unchained should be Real Estate Unwired!
February 1, 2010 — 1:53 pm