Apple is beginning to remind me of Ford's slogan back when the model-T came out, and I believe the Apple model is not only one for success in the consumer electronics market, but also one that other companies (such as Microsoft) must follow if it wants to compete.
Microsoft has always prided itself on the hardware "ecosystem" created around technologies such as Media Center and Windows Mobile. While this is great for geeks, the majority of people out there want an electronic ecosystem that just "connects" and "works" together. True, the software Windows provides allows this to happen, but its certainly not out of the box. My Motorola Q took me 3 hours to setup. I had to copy certificates from the root certificate store in my computer to get ActiveSync working with Exchange, and of course that assumes that I have Exchange in the first place (read: most home users don't).
The technology partners Microsoft allies with makes the whole Windows Mobile, Media Center and music ecosystems fail. While many more designs are released based on a Microsoft standard, this does nothing but become poorly market the ecosystem as a whole and confuse consumers. Should I get a Blackjack, a Q, a Palm.... To most, there is no brand recognition amongst any of these. Not to mention, the hardware and software are rarely designed to complement eachother, as is important in a device like a phone.
Apple, if they've done their new iPhone right, is off to a great start. By integrating with things people know (Google Maps?), they'll instantly have a great suite of applications to offer. I know "I can do that on Pocket PC too, I have been able to forever," but lets face it -- most consumers don't know how to find Pocket Streets, install it, choose a map, and get it on the device. Windows Mobile simply doesn't make that easy.
Software development on Windows Mobile is much better, but I 'm beginning to believe for a consumer, this doesn't matter. How many consumers install applications on their machines? Mail/IM, Media, Office and Internet are the major players. For the same reason OS X users are happy with the amount software available to them, I think iPhone users will be happy with their suite of software. 99% of people simply don't need much else.
An Apple era? Maybe they'll knock out Samsung, Sony and a few other major names in consumer electronics. Unless Microsoft starts making hardware, I don't think they'll be a prominent contender in this space.
I was drawn into a debate the other day with one of my brothers my long standing argument that hybrid cars (such as the Prius) are not as environmentally friendly as both the car companies, hippies and media claim. I argued that although the burning of fossil-fuel is greatly reduced while the vehicle is operating, the overally environmental impact of the toxic batteries and the electric motor (both in manufacturing and disposal) has the potential to greatly outweigh the green operation of the vehicle.
Needless to say, this argument did not go over well. Without facts in hand, my brother rightly told me my argument had no merit. Today I went searching about buying a hybrid car for a future road trip, and accidentally came accross a dust-to-dust automotive energy study that details the energy cost of different vehicles from creation to disposal. Sure enough, the hybrid sector of the market appears to be above the average energy cost for a vehicle, at $3.180 per mile.
In fact, even entry level SUV's had a significantly lower energy cost, at $1.336 per mile. Cars similar in size (or larger) to the hybrids, listed as "Lower-Mid-Range" in the study show an average of $2.064/mile. Only the Luxury Car segment beats the price per mile of a hybrid.
According to this study, a Prius not only consumes 150% of the energy of a comparable size car, but also contains parts (such a Nickel Metal Hydride [NiMH] batteries) that will do harm years after the car is disposed of. This "eco-friendly" picture that has been painted onto the hybrid cars scream marketing scam to me. Surely one study does not completely prove the fact that the car is worse for the environment, but I would love to see more people (eg. newspapers) were to look into this and open up some level of debate.