Monday, May 26, 2014

Fanboy - There Can Be Only One

People want to own their music. - Steve Jobs

Pick your poison and commit, because that's how you enjoy it. My brother was over, heard my internet radio streaming, and asked what it was. I told him it iTunes Radio. When he asked me if I liked it better than Pandora there was only one answer? No. Without a doubt, I like the stations I used to listen to on Pandora better than the stations I listen to on iTunes Radio. So why don't I listen to Pandora? Because I'm a fanboy. Apple is the ecosystem I choose to support and so I do my best to use Apple with all my heart and receive the experience they are trying to give me. Apple Maps. Apple Podcast app. iTunes Radio. iTunes. AppleTV. AirPlay to Airport Express devices. I know that there are better options on the market, but I have this hope that if I give my money to Apple, Apple will do good things with it.

Apple Beauty

Sometimes I wish that I could be a fanboy of another ecosystem. Android, Chromebook, Google Maps, Google Music, Google Video -- it's another tempting place to be. I could declare myself a Google fanboy, wear Google Glass, and mock the Apple kids with all the stuff I could do and they can't. But I am not an Google fanboy.

I look over at the Microsoft Surface 3 and drool. For a decade (wow, really? long time) I have said all I want is a laptop where the keyboard detaches. Not an iPad. Not a big phone. A beautiful touch interface laptop, where I can leave the keyboard at home. I think Microsoft has gotten it right - the tablet they have been trying to build for a decade (wow, really? long time). I could see this great world of the Surface, 3, Windows Phone, Windows 8 running on some amazing laptop hardware with an Xbox as my home entertainment system. That would be a cool place to be. But I am not a Microsoft fanboy.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. For now - Apple is mother. Apple is father. Don't screw it up.