Doug, Mtn. View, CA

Apple Will Iron out the Wrinkles -- or the Irony

You are correct in that Apple is quite nimble on its feet and DOES fix its software woes rapidly. Let's look at OSX 10.5 (Leopard). It was introduced 10 months ago in October, and had many problems in the beginning. Many customers couldn't even install it. But already we have had 5 updates to it (versions 0 through 4), and it's turned into one fine, stable OS. It takes a while to shake out most of the bugs, but Apple does it. Rapidly, IMO. Vista has been out 19 months (?) and we've had but one Service Pack.

The phone is another example of fast response. Jobs is absolutely driven and will not accept anything less than full quality and functionality. I'll wager that inside Cupertino headquarters, there are war rooms set up all around his office to address all of the iPhone issues. Not because he HAS to fix problems, but because he WANTS to fix the problems. "In Steve I trust."

Compare and contrast this to Microsoft. They (MSFT) have now launched a new $300 million campaign to promote Vista. Rather than correct their many problems, their response is to try to convince you that the problems their customers have encountered are all in their heads, that the software is just fine as is. Ballmer calls this "fighting back." Ha! Steve Jobs recognizes when his products are less than ideal, admits it, and corrects it (MobileMe, for instance, is a work in progress). My prediction is that in 6 months time, all of this 3G phone and MobileMe trouble will be ancient history and long forgotten.

If Apple is guilty of any sin, it's probably that they are under too much pressure to release a product too soon. Part of that is Jobs' responsibility (schedules are schedules) while the rest of it is public pressure. Let's not forget who was clamoring the loudest for 3G iPhones only 3 months ago despite Jobs' admonition at the 2G introduction that 3G phones are power hogs.

I'll trust Apple any day over Microsoft.