Is Apple About To Explode? Growing Pains Or Problems?

The headlines recently couldn’t be more stunning for what was once a beleagured computer company. Apple is clicking on cylinders, to mix a coiuple of metaphors. If PR, mindshare, and headlines mean anything, the Cupertino, CA Mac maker is poised to explode upward like a rocket.

Or a fireball. Which is it?

What’s your impression of the news for all things Mac and Apple? Newsweek Magazine covers the new gen iPod with rave reviews. Sony mounts an ineffective offensive and is beaten back by the critics, no less. Microsoft’s entry into the online music scene is met with snores.

Meanwhile, Apple’s iPods, in all colors and flavors fly off the shelves. In fact, everything Apple and Mac is being challenged to keep up with a resurgence in demand.

Associated Press writer Matthew Fordhal worked hard in a recent article to find anything, anything wrong with the new iMac G5. Results? The best he could come up with was the need to buy a wireless keyboard and mouse.

That’s not all. Previously a source of Mac criticisms, PC Magazine reviewed the iMac G5 and gave it 5 out of 5 stars. What’d they say? ““Simple, stunning all-in-one design. Quiet…. Gorgeous.”

Kevin Maney, who writes Technology for USA Today, says “Microsoft should be worried…” mostly because they have a “...lot of frustrated users out there. He goes on to say that people are (not “should) choosing Macs now because of Windows’ security problems. He also called us “Apple crazies” but that’s a different issue.

Can Apple handle all this publicity? Microsofts’ problems are mounting; meanwhile, Apple is picking up steam. Lots of steam.

Not to be outdone by Newsweek Magazine’s kissing Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ barefoot feet with iPod adulation, Time Magazine calls the iMac G5 the “Gadget of the Week.”

Newsweek? Time? USA Today? Associated Press? And that’s just this week.

The Motley Fool says the iPod’s “halo effect” will drive switchers (Windows users) into stores to Mac OS X. Writer Alyce Lomax says, “there are indications that the open-source movement has become a thorn in mighty Microsoft’s side.”

That can only be Mac OS X, right?

The Mac maker has shipped over 4-million iPods in the past couple of years, and sold nearly 150-million songs via the iTunes Music Store. Reports say that amounts to 60-percent and 70-percent market share, respectively.

What’s wrong with that? This isn’t a fireball, is it? It’s a rocket that looks all fueled and heading for a target.

CBS MarketWatch’s Michael Baron reports that Apple and Hewlett-Packard are planning to ship about 1-million iPods per month in the last quarter of the year. 1-million. Per month. That’s 3,000,000 iPods.

The New York Post says, “It’s a powerful machine, compact and inexpensive and does everything the average user needs.” That’s good news, right?

The DailyOrange (we’re not at the bottom of the media barrel, but this one is closer) says iPod users now make up a cult-like organization. “The iPod is so much more than a device-it’s its own culture,” writes Dana Moran.

Not to be confused with what many people say when experiencing Microsoft’s Windows “blue screen of death,” Student Jordan Ledy says, “Macs are the ####.” His quote in the Columbia Daily Spectator has been picked up (carefully, of course) by leading publications all over the US.

For those who don’t know, “Macs are the ####” means something that kicks butt, vs. something that really sucks.

So, it’s a good thing. Here’s another one. This time on the other end of the same scale. Dawn Chmielewski reports for SiliconValley.com, and says much the same thing as Jordan, but with more words, “Sexy yet understated industrial design has come to define Apple. The latest version of the iMac, which begins appearing in stores this week, is perhaps the purest expression of Jobs’ modernist design sensibilities: a machine stripped of all ornamentation. The snow-white computer is distilled to its essence—a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse.”

This doesn’t look like a fireball. It’s beginning to look like a firestorm of all things Apple. They’ve got a small market share, yes, but statistics can be misleading. There’s nothing small about Apple’s “mindshare.” The company has no debt, nearly $5-billion in the bank, a stock price at a 52-week high, products are hard to keep in stock, and it’s all coming up roses as the company heads into the biggest quarter of the year with everything working.

What could possibly go wrong? Apple is about to fall flat on its’ face. Smack.

They’ve done it before. They’ll do it again. The only problem is, I don’t know what it’ll be. At first, I thought it might be their little row with the Beatles; rather, Apple Corps, The Beatles record company. Apple’s paid out tens of millions to them before to avoid trademark problems (Apple vs. Apple; what a hoot).

Someone said that Apple would pay Apple a ton of money, get Paul McCartney on the Board of Directors (better than Ringo Starr), AND and exclusive deal for Beatles’ music in the iTunes Music Store.

Where’s the problem again?

I also thought it might be those new IBM G5 chips. Whoa, boy. Wasn’t that a fiasco? IBM couldn’t make them work in sifficient yields when moving to that new-fangled 90nm size. That problem seems to be fading away.

Where’s that problem again?

Ah, competition. Maybe it’s Gateways (ne eMachines) new “G5 Killer” in the form of a darkly brown all in one that does less (with Windows no less) and costs more than the iMac G5. Nope. Not gonna happen.

I know. It’s Steve Jobs himself. There was that cancer scare this summer. Apparently no one knew but Steve, family, Apple, and Mac users because the company didn’t miss a beat with the co-founder gone for a month. Nope.

So, I give up.

There are certain laws in the universe that I’ll have to rely on. Murphy’s Law, “Whatever can happen, will happen.” Of course, that doesn’t sound too negative does it? How about “what goes around comes around.”

Hmmm. No. OK, here it is. “What goes up, must come down.” That’s it. Wait. That could be talking about Microsoft, too.

Again, I give up. If Apple’s about to bite the big one (or even take a bite of a little one), I don’t know what it is. What do you think? Does Apple have some speed bumps that’ll upset this high powered rocket sled? Click the Comments link below to share your thoughts with other readers. Or, click the Feedback link below for an anonymous contribution.

There might be some problems lurking out there but I don’t know what they are.