QUESTION #1: Who Does It Serve?

Seems like someone at the New York Times is reading this blog.

Yesterday, I shared a couple of thoughts with my readers, including the notion that technology companies are generally way behind the curve when it comes to caring for their customers.

I also wrote that the most important question we business-leaders can ask is, "Who do our company's policies or practices serve?"

I've dubbed this QUESTION #1. If you never read another word I write, this single, all-important question will serve you well. Keep it in mind each time you make a decision, no matter the topic, and you'll never go wrong.

But as I said, someone at The Times must have read that entry, because they ran an article on Apple today that perfectly illustrates both of my assertions in action.

Unofficial Software Incurs Apple's Wrath: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/technology/13jailbreak.html?_r=1&ref=business]

The gist of the article is that Apple is trying to limit what software you add to your iPhone. Basically, you can buy their product, but even then, it's not really "yours" - not as we currently understand ownership of property, anyway. To put this in perspective:

* Imagine if Ford sold you a car, but tried to ban you from switching out the factory-issued stereo with one of your choosing.

* Imagine if Muller's sold you a box of spaghetti, but tried to bar you from cooking with homemade sauce: it's Muller's brand sauce or nothing!

* Imagine if you bought a Sony flat screen TV, but were only allowed to watch shows produced at the Sony Studios in LA.

Hey, I can understand if Apple is losing money - if people are pirating their software, sharing files with their friends, that kind of thing. This apparently is not the case. People using unauthorized software on their iPhones are not doing it to the detriment of Apple. They are voiding the devices' warranty, which seems - what's the word I'm looking for? ...Got it: Fair! That's it, these Apple customers are adults making adult decisions, and choosing to live with the consequences.

You know what really gets me? Think of the buzz, of the company- and product-loyalty that Apple has engendered first through the iPod and now with its iPhone. People LOVE their Apple products. This whole underground, unauthorized movement to create more software apps is part of the appeal of Apple stuff; it is helping to more fully engage Apple's customers! Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but customizing software is certainly the second-most sincere.

What kind of a nut would mess with a self-perpetuating loyalty-machine like that?

Apple doesn't know what it's got. More's the pity.

*****

Note: I am not a zealot in the Mac versus PC culture wars. Indeed, I currently have one of each. But guess what? As far as these things go (which is not very far for me) overall I am more enamored of Apple than I am of its competitors. For what it's worth.