People need to remember that Apple makes $ through hardware and software (and music sales) so it’s in their interest to still require a decent client side machine (decently speced, decently priced) with some client side software to use the cloud – else we’d all just go an get the cheapest computer and just run a free browser on it (there is little $ in that).

Apple has been trying for years to do something with the Internet (just like Microsoft), but to no avail — this has had ZERO impact whatsoever on the “shine” of Apple products and software.

Most of the new adopters to the web are either a)older people or b)the younger generation. These people are either a) just learning how to use the email or b) chatting with friends, or playing games.

Online storage for documents, spreadsheets? Most companies haven’t even picked up that idea due to security and privacy issues. They still feel more secure having their documents on their hardware, under their lock and key. Not Google’s.

The problem is that Apple has been leading the way so long we’ve just taken it for granted that whatever they do must be golden.

Truth is most tech companies could built an empire from any of their near misses.

I also believe that for these very reasons the media delights in finding chinks in their armor. How long after its announcement have we ever had to wait to learn about Apple’s performance under projections? Most of the rest of the tech sector just ends up as a footnote on the financial pages.

For the record, my business uses both PCs and Macs and I favor Macs because they’ve always been easier to use to get the same work done. Not because I need a cause to champion.

Besides, I’m still not sold on the whole netbook thing anyway. Netbooks just don’t seem very usable to me at the moment, and the thought of me doing any actual work (besides browsing online) doesn’t seem to make much sense. I’ll hang on to my Macbook Pro, thanks.

On the hardware design front, they have nobody to catch up with, but themselves. OK, they could learn a thing or two about mobile phones from Nokia, so could Nokia learn from them. As for the netbooks? They’ll enter that market as soon as they are figure out how to offer the typical Mac experience in that format. They are very close. They have MacBook Air now the MacBook Pro extended lifetime battery. Once they figure out how to put the two together, they’ll ship their netbook.

Since Apple is getting more and more into the news and people’s minds with stuff like the iPod or the iPhone even the non-techies realize that Apple is quite a decent alternative. So I personally think that Apple sales will increase furthermore.

Being I mac user myself I don’t like the way Apple handles criticism or the way they ‘communicate’ (actually they don’t) too. And unfortunately Apple will no longer be the cool company which is inventing a lot of awesome things – they’re going to focus on selling more macs to the everyday normal guy…But I still think they are producing great products and they’ll shine even brighter in 2009. At least their sales figures will..