Amen to that
John Gruber thinks Apple needs a strong competitor. Not so much a competitor with a lot of money (there are lots of those already) but a competitor with a lot of taste:
The only technology company I can think of that shares Apple's emphasis on the emotional design of its hardware and software is Nintendo. It's not that Apple and Nintendo share the same taste (they don't), but that they have taste, and express that taste boldly and confidently in nearly everything they produce. Too bad Nintendo and Apple don't compete against each other.
I heartily agree with him. I think that much of what I don't like about Apples products is a reflection of their being designed in a vacuum of acceptible alternative choices.
What I am getting at is that Steve Jobs might well feel that someone choosing a Zune over an iPod is coming from another world. An acceptible choice in this context means a product that Steve Jobs, or someone he cares about, would use in preference to one of his own. Something that doesn't compromise on the design and feel that Apple think are important.
I think a strong competitor, on Apple's own turf, would be good for us all. Microsoft scream that it's not them with every fibre of their being and I think Google are proving that it's not them either. Unlike software, hardware is still an expensive game, I'm having a hard time imaging who is going to step up to the plate for us.