See if you can spot the Steve Jobs head-fake in the following exchange taken from his recent interview with The Guardian:
Guardian: "When the iPod was launched, you said it might lead people to the Mac platform. Do you still believe that?"
Steve Jobs: "No. We brought the iPod to Windows. That was a big decision. That was basically a decision not to use the iPod to drive people to Macs. We’re going to use it as a music device, and we’re going to put it on Windows. The majority of iPods we sell are used on Windows."
Yeah, right. If you actually take that at face value, then I've got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale with your name on it. And yet, any number of so-called news sources are holding this particular snippet as "evidence" that the Macintosh is, in fact, dead. I say "so-called" because they're either so naive that they're currently excitedly emailing me about that Brooklyn Bridge offer, or they're so biased that they know what Steve really meant, and yet they're going to try to spin it toward their own agenda anyway.
A brief history lesson for those still new to the game: Apple initially launched the iPod as a Mac-only product, in order to help motivate Windows users to switch to the Mac (and I know of plenty of people who did exactly that). About nine months later, Apple decided that it had sufficiently milked that particular cow, and then decided to go ahead and begin selling the iPod directly to Windows users. Because now, it was time to play the same game from the other side. Go ahead and sell them an Apple product that'll work with their current Windows PC, let them learn for themselves that Apple's stuff is just better than what they're using, and let them figure out on their own that their next computer, whenever they happen to be ready for a new one, should also be from Apple (and I know of tons of people who have followed this path as well).
But Steve Jobs, not being an idiot, isn't about to go around telegraphing the fact that any Windows user who buys an iPod stands a really strong chance of making his or her next computer a Mac. I mean, why would he? When most Windows users first buy an iPod, they do so because they want to own the world's best digital music player, not because they're hoping to someday become a Mac user. In fact, many of them are probably thinking "I can't believe I'm buying an Apple product, because I hate Mac computers" as they're standing there are the register paying for their iPod. The last thing Apple wants to do is to let them know in advance that they've likely embarked on a path that will lead them to switching to the Mac, the next time they buy a new computer.
It's like when we used to take Grandma to Disney World. We knew she'd love it (she always did), but there was just no way that she was going to agree to go there. So we'd tell her to get in the car because we were going to the store, and then when we arrived at Disney World, we'd be like, "Gee whiz, Disney World, will you look at that. Don't know how we ended up here." And she'd have a great time, and tell stories about it for weeks. But we didn't dare tell her where we were going ahead of time.
Same deal with Apple selling iPods to Windows users. In fact, over at iPodlounge (what, you thought that just because I publish an iPod site of my own, I don't also enjoy reading the other iPod sites?), two readers posted stories about how they switched to the Mac after using their iPod with their Windows PC, and a third said that he/she was about to do the same. In fact, one of them summed it up in the following manner: "the iPod is to smoking pot as the Mac is to cocaine." I'm definitely stealing that line for future use.
The "gateway drug" analogy sums up Apple's gameplan all too well. I mean, does the pot dealer tell you in advance that you that you might be strung out on crack a year and a half later? No, of course not. He just sits back and waits for you to come to the conclusion on your own, and then introduces you to his friend the crack dealer.
And yet, a just plain ridiculous number of online publications have lined up to buy a bridge...uh, I mean, hold up Steve's response above as evidence that Apple isn't trying to use the iPod to get Windows users to switch to the Mac. Apple's not trying to do so, it's doing so. The big Switch to Macintosh is well underway, kids. At this point, you've got to be smoking some pretty heavy stuff yourself not to be able to see it.
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