Steve Jobs: Snake Oil Salesman?

Well Steve Jobs has done it again. He has taken the act of announcing the latest release of overpriced, underpowered technology with exaggerated capabilities to the level of a rock concert. The announcement this week of Apple's latest iPhone release sent Mac-lovers into an absolute froth.

Jobs took the stage in his signature jeans and sneakers to tout the new unit's features like an evangelist preaching the Gospel. With promises of video calling, more applications and faster operation Apple's newest trinket will sell for a whopping $300 and slam users with advertising embedded into "free" apps.

So why do people go so nuts over this stuff? Honestly, to me at least, it's a little bit of a puzzle. I spent many years in the information technology industry and I really don't get it.

I would say it was sheer greed, but there is no real advantage to having an iPhone, especially when you consider it has only one service carrier. If anything, there is a definite disadvantage.

For those of you who don't follow the gadget frenzy, the iPhone is on its fourth generation and still has failed to prove its worth - at least to any consumer who doesn't have an Apple computer logo in the back window of their car. Early releases of the device have been expensive and plagued with problems much like Microsoft's Windows systems have been.

Comparing Microsoft to Apple, however, is, pardon the phrasing, comparing apples to oranges. That is, these two companies may seem similar, but have evolved into sharply different business models.

Microsoft is a software development company. Bill Gates' empire was built on the Disk Operating System, or DOS, and eventually the Windows OS family of programs, all of which made the IBM standard personal computer easier to operate.

Apple, on the other hand, develops not only the operating system, but the computer hardware as well. All of Apple's computer equipment is proprietary, which basically means that you have to buy their hardware if you want to use their software.

In reality, the one thing that Gates and Jobs have in common has very little to do with computers. The real similarity between these two technology pioneers is in an uncanny ability to market what they sell to just the right people.

Microsoft made its mark by partnering up with IBM in the 1980s. Apple targeted schools along with the mavericks of the computer user market, essentially anyone who didn't like "the establishment" - I like to call them hippies.

Whatever the strategy, it worked well for both companies. As a writer, I have often had a Mac and a PC on the same desk, working with them simultaneously. For my work, the Apple computer was better suited to publishing and photo manipulation while the business applications worked better on the PC.

As Apple's marketing department is fond of lampooning, Windows computer users are generally associated with conservative office types. They're shown as boring and clad in the suit and tie uniform of Big Blue. Apple is usually depicted as liberal elitists working in the arts.

Actually, my major objection to buying Apple computers had nothing to do with the technology or the politics. What I can't justify is the outrageous cost of all things Mac.

Generally speaking, an Apple desktop computer is roughly double the price of a comparable Dell PC. For all of that money, virtually no useful software comes with the computer and any third-party programs you might want, such as an office package of some kind, are far more expensive than their Windows counterparts.

In the end, you'll have to evaluate what works better for you, weighing that against what you can afford. If you rush out and buy an iPhone just because of Steve Jobs' pulpit stomping, you should talk to some people who bought the earlier models or Windows Vista. I should note that even Jobs couldn't get the iPhone 4 to work properly during his release announcement.

Where the iPhone is concerned, I think that Steve Jobs is the modern equivalent of the old snake oil salesman. The stuff he sells might do some of what he says it will, but it's likely you're going to get a headache from it and be left with an empty pocketbook.