[Rizla]

Apple lacks the market penetration of MS and Android. Under Jobs, Apple was an innovator at the front of the wave. More and more, we will see apple lose that edge. Really, it's already lost it. It isn't producing any hardware or software that other companies aren't emulating. And it charges more. Admittedly it's hardware is of a slightly higher quality, but the user pays for that with extra $. Add to that that the Apple OS is in a minority and famously doesn't get on with the greater outside-world of other OSes, and the conveniences become inconveniences. Ultimately, Apple excels where the user doesn't need to understand the device, but only to use it. See ipad and iphone.

I think the MS / Apple race is about compatibility and to what depth the user wishes to go with the system. My perspective is biased because I am a relatively knowledgeable user who likes bang for my buck. So I use MS and Android. If money is not an issue and you don't understand computers and you like shiny things, Apple is for you.

Apple could have done well here, if they'd competed on price. Take a teenager who wants to use facebook on a shiny tablet. Ooh, the ipad is pretty, but look, that Android tablet which is nearly as nice is also nearly half the price. Guess what...

And remember, prior to the release of the iphone and ipad, the Apple laptop was a marginal device swamped by MS devices. Apple innovated and jumped ahead, for awhile. Kudos to Apple for producing the first practical tablet. But that's done. I don't see where else they can innovate in hardware, other than to make it shinier.

Ultimately Apple is incompatible with the rest of the world, and the world ain't gonna change to get on with Apple. I know developers who love their sexy Apple hardware, yet more and more they turn to a laptop because Apple just doesn't play well with so much other tech.