There is no shortage of rabid Apple doomsayers around at the moment, as pointed out in this morning’s Guardian by Jean-Louis Gassée. He’s the guy who started Apple France over 30 years ago and who succeeded Steve Jobs as head of Mac development when Jobs was kicked out of Apple.
Gassée has an interesting take on the divine purpose of all those financial analysts, rooting around in the undergrowth for plausible reasons for Apple to fail:
I recently experienced a small epiphany: I think the never-ending worry about Apple’s future is a good thing for the company. Look at what happened to those who were on top and became comfortable with their place under the sun: Palm, BlackBerry, Nokia …
In ancient Rome, victorious generals marched in triumph to the Capitol. Lest the occasion go to the army commander’s head, a slave would march behind the victor, murmuring in his ear, memento mori, “remember you’re mortal”.
With that in mind, one can almost appreciate the doomsayers – well, some of them. They might very well save Apple from becoming inebriated with their prestige and, instead, force the company to remember, two years later and counting, how they won it.