Apple launches ghetto blaster, not a HiFi

I'm almost certainly a contender for the Worst-Dressed Writer on the Planet Award, but even I think Apple's Steve Jobs looks like a 1960s throwback. So why so many fashion-conscious people hang on his every word is a complete mystery to me. Apple's products are increasingly becoming a triumph of style over content, appealing to people with discerning tastes. People who want to stand out from the crowd. Or, as I prefer to put it, people with more money than sense.

What finer example of the Apple marketing machine's power over the gullible could there be than the launch of the "HiFi" ghetto blaster add on for the iPod? After years of flogging overpriced products on the grounds that they were technically superior, Apple now launches an overpriced product so demonstrably inferior to a genuine HiFi system that it would be laughable were it not for the power of the Apple Marketing Juggernaut.

Make no mistake, the same gullible saps who think an iPod is cool will rush out and snap up these useless things and push up the level of credit card debt around the world to new heights. Because the battery-powered cereal packet with a couple of tiny speakers in it carries an Apple logo, they'll fondly imagine it sounds great, but as they'll only be listening to James Blunt and Coldplay anyway, who cares?

Once upon a time, expensive Macs were, arguably, more stable than the WinTel equivalents, but those times are long gone. Sure, they looked quite nice, but why pay 50% more than an equivalent PC system and then hide the thing under a desk? Apple trumpeted that its Motorola and IBM chips outperformed Intel and AMD and some people bought the story and the products. In reality it was almost impossible to do a genuine comparison between the two architectures. If people thought they were getting something better by paying more, they were happy.

But now Apple's given up and gone over to Intel processors. It's given up its own operating system and bolted a pretty GUI on an ancient OS called UNIX. Steve, it seems, likes both his clothes and operating systems to come from the same decade. Now what rational person can doubt that rumours of a wholesale move to Windows are founded in fact?

The bottom line is that Apple doesn't care about computers any more. It never sold very many in real terms, which is why the price tags were so eye-watering. Today it makes its money by selling music online and by launching a constant stream of 'must have' iPods and accessories that the gormless Jobs worshippers slavishly buy.

Where Apple's going wrong is that it's launching ever more ephemeral products of dubious quality - the iPod battery saga springs to mind - and leaving behind its tradition of making good-looking, well built products for which people were prepared to pay over the odds. Ten years ago, Apple had a reputation similar to that of IBM - good, reliable products you could rely on. µ