I couldn’t help but notice a collective global sigh of disappointment this past January. It seems every time Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc; ticker: aapl; web: www.apple.com.) sticks his head out of his hole in Cupertino, whether he sees his shadow or not, manages to thrill people and change the world in some small though significant way. But not this time.A nd it’s not that he had nothing to say at the most recent Macworld. He introduced significant upgrades to the iPhone and Touch iPod. He revised the seminal tool of total home convergence, Apple TV, adding the ability to rent and buy movies directly and instantly through your TV to its abilities to play video, share music, and display pictures. He unveiled an all-in-one wireless router and storage back-up device. And, just because he could, he also unveiled the world’s thinest, lightest full-size computer. Any one of these is a first in the world. Everyone of these is unique. Each one is a significant achievement to be celebrated in the annals of computer lore.

Spoiled with Riches

Yet, the crowd at Macworld, and those following the proceedings via some form of live stream from work or home, all seemed to be craning their collective necks to see what else he had in store for them. What else was hidden behind that curtain. People were almost delirious in anticipation of the famous, “Oh, and just one more thing.”What were they looking for? More importantly, why were they looking? Because while these were all fine new products, there was nothing shocking. There was nothing that left people gasping in the streets wondering if it was too late to invest in Apple stock. The issue was, these were more like Dell or HP innovations, predictable and ordinary, not Apple announcements. It was at that very point that I realized that Apple was no longer a computer company, or a design engineering boutique, or a software company. Apple has become the social and cultural visionary of the electronics age. Apple is to the world today what Japan was in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

The Rise of Japan

From tiny TVs to revolutionary motorcycles, from the Walkman to the Honda Civic, Japan changed just about everything they touched for a 20-year period and the rest of the world ate it up. We gave up our jingoism, our trade balance advantage, and a lot of our union-based manufacturing jobs in exchange for whatever the Japanese Developed with next. These were halcyon days when “Made in Japan” meant I’ll take at least one. It changed the world.It occurred to me at Macworld that Apple had somehow replaced Japan, although I’m not sure when.Certainly it was after Steve Jobs returned. Aside from the Newton, System 7, Spartacus, and the conversion to the Power PC, Apple didn’t do much in years Jobs was at Next and Pixar.

iMacs, Diskettes, and Monitors

It was probably the introduction of the gum-drop shaped, fruit-colored iMacs where Apple became the new Japan. In retrospect, the first iMacs were underpowered and had a tiny screen, just like the first Datsuns or Sony TVs. But so much more important, just like the Japanese predecessors, the iMacs were cool, were different, were stylish. Who didn’t want all five so you could recreate that flower poster? Apple had broken the grey box mold that hounded computers in the 90’s. In a short order later, Jobs proclaimed there would be no more diskettes or floppy drives.What? That’s an outrage! How else will we collect hundreds of too small data holders that are easily damaged and more easily lost? The PC makers laughed. The critics shook their fists with anger, yet within two or three years, you couldn’t get a new machine, from any manufacturer, with a floppy drive. And we survived. I still have bunch of diskettes, but I don’t miss using them.Early in this decade, Jobs pronounced that Apple would heretofore sell only flat screen monitors. The cathode ray was dead. I remember the announcement being lambasted on The Everything Computers weekly radio show. “This week Apple announced they would no longer sell picture tube monitors. Well, they’ll pay for this change. It’s too early for flat screens and they are too expensive. The market will never accept it.”You may be able to find a standard monitor or eBay today, no where else, Apple changed and the entire industry went with them.

1000 Songs in Your Pocket

If it hadn’t been obvious yet, it should have been on October 23, 2001. It was just five and a half weeks after the attack on the World Trade Center. That was the day the new Japan announced the new Walkman.The first iPod was bulky and heavy and held only a thousand songs, but it was enough to change the world. One hundred and forty-one million iPods later we see, while everyone else was talking convergence, Apple was doing something. Suddenly, the little company that couldn’t win more than 5% of any market had 90% of the MP3 player world; almost overnight. Did the other companies not see the rise of the MP3 or think that music was popular?Actually, it didn’t matter. To win in the consumer market you had to have more than functionality, you had to be cool. That’s what the Japanese had realized 30 years before. Quickly on the heels of the iPod came iTunes, the iTunes music store, iChat, TV shows and movies on iTunes, all the tools needed to podcast, photos on iPods, movies and TV shows on iTunes, the goose-neck iMac, the all-in-one iMac, the deal with Intel, the iPhone, and 20 or 30 others I don’t have time to mention. Apple is the Japan of today and we’re lucky to have them. All of us, even Microsoft. Brian McMahon, ADM Advertising Standards Chair