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Apple is starting to look an awful lot like a mega-corp. Remember all those stories about McDonalds, Disney, and Microsoft coming down hard on defenseless non-profits and day care centers that either use part of a name or a visual likeness one of their characters? Now it is Apple's turn... This is pretty odd when you consider that this is the same company that released "Sosumi." They went from challenging the establishment to being the establishment. The latest? Apple is going after a startup firm for using the term "Pod." Even when "Pod" is part of a larger word... This smacks of the trouble Apple got into when
they wouldn't let others license the Macitosh technology or name. By the time they came around it was too late to be successful. Apple computers became a niche product because they wouldn't share the secret ingredients until everyone had the ingredients of their main competitor (the PC.) Once everyone knew how to build PCs with the Microsoft Operating System there was no need to try to work with Apple.
Apple's protection of the "Pod" terminology seems to go against the grain of their established messages and philosophy. Where is the "Think Different" of yesteryear? Where are the great ideas that will bring the next trends in design? Why are the creatives hiding behind the lawyers? The power of the name is in the full name or in the first letter - or perhaps even in the pattern of a single letter in front of the word "pod" (a word seemingly based on the format of the word "eMail" - and you don't see anyone trying to protect the word "mail" now, do you?) Yes there are valid issues buried in here - but we think that the negative press in combination with the publicly friendly and supportive image that Apple puts forth can result in another Macintosh debacle. We're not sure if anyone else remembers, but in the late 90s and early 2000s Apple was on its last legs - and it was there due to the ineffectiveness of their Macintosh line (which in our humble opinion was caused by their protectionist legal strategy.) C'mon Apple... Think Different! Click these links for other takes on this story. [Ed - Apple has corrected itself and stated that they only want to protect the word Pod in conjunction with a portible music player. Jogging foot-doctors everywhere run for cover.] Tate Linden |
