Sometimes I wish they were less arrogant and less proprietary / closed. Maybe it goes hand and hand with good design

Mike, proprietary-nature and quality aren't related.

Example, for anyone beyond the casual listener, the iPod audio quality isn't very good at all. To this day, excessively tinny.

By contrast, the Creative Zen series always gets very high ratings for sound quality. Listen to Miles Davis on a Creative Zen X-Fi and then listen on an iPod, and you'll be ready to toss the iPod in the iRiver. :)

Both have been accused of being overly-proprietary and arrogant.


In my opinion, Apple gadgets are typically sub-standard for the strongest attribute the product is supposed to be known for.

I think it has far more to do with knowing what is important to the consumers and focusing on those needs. (And maybe you're on to something with the focus group comment). I'm a big fan of Creative because they seem to know what customers REALLY need.