There Ain't Nothing Like an Apple Product Launch

Like many alpha geeks across the planet, I spent several hours today waiting for the latest news on mobile device we've been hearing about for weeks.  While the iPhone 4S did not meet the media hype (which is no fault of Apple because Apple didn't hype it), there were some cool things to see.  The Voice Assistant (formerly Siri), dual-core processor, high resolution camera and HD video recording were all welcome.  What amazed me the most is the number of people on Twitter who every time a new feature came on the live blogs, would declare that Microsoft and/or Android had that feature first.  Now, I'll admit that Android has a bigger market share than iOS and WP7 is gaining.  But a lot of people went to Android because of price, not features or quality or because they got tired of AT&T service (which in all fairness to AT&T is much better now).  The point is that Apple is not always first to the game.  They missed the demand for the AppStore and cut and paste was an afterthought.  However, even after Apple releases behind someone else, the competitor often ends up copying Apple's ideas.  So it doesn't matter that you are first to market.  People can always switch to someone with a better way of producing an idea.  It reminded me of what Eric said several weeks ago: "Value people over ideas" and "Execution is your best defense."  Apple defends itself with execution and it's how they are on top of the software industry right now.