Apple and the three bears; or, why great can beat cheap or free
Apple, in the minds of some media outlets and market makers, is
perpetually failing. The latest big thing is always the last,
the newest competitor is always the killer, and no matter what
Apple does, they won't be able to sustain their current
advantages. They're predestined to doom. Yet, to date, since the
turn-around begun by Steve Jobs' return, Apple has vexingly
failed to fail. John Gruber deftly points out the reason for
this, one the three different types of Apple bears he defines
keep missing: Design quality and customer delight are
sustainable advantages. From Daring Fireball:   How many
commodity electronics vendors, the ones who dumped VHS players
in the 80s, are still vibrant today? How many computer makers,
the ones who dumped netbooks in the 00s, are still growing right
now? If you compete on price, your customer's loyalty is to
price, and they'll go wherever the lowest price goes. If you
compete on quality - real quality - your c