There was a period - call it the post-Jobs, pre-Jobs period - during which Apple let its OS stagnate while also dropping the quality of its hardware. Windows 95, for all of its faults, was in many ways markedly better than anything Apple could offer. It took the acquisition of NeXT, the return of Jobs, the complete reinvention of the OS and a couple of years of very hard work for Apple to recover to the point where I would again consider purchasing one of its systems.

Apple products still have their eccentricities. The stubborn refusal to add a second button to the mouse (with the gradual implementation of features that replicate the functionality of right-clicking), for example. A few years ago I asked somebody associated with Apple how he kept the mini track ball in his "Mighty Mouse" clean - he replied, "I wouldn't know, I use a Logitech mouse." I sometimes encounter issues with software, such as iTunes, that assumes that I want to do things in a particular way - and makes it really easy - but if I in fact want to do things in a different way I may find my quest difficult or even impossible. And in terms of the finder, I find the simplicity and consistency of the Microsoft's system to be more user-friendly than Apple's. (Conversely, from the introduction of OS X through the introduction of Windows 7, OS X was on the whole markedly superior to Windows. In their current forms I can't say that I have an overwhelming preference for one over the other - I use both on a daily basis - although I'm interested to see OS X Lion.)

The issue with the iPhone antenna dropped in importance primarily because when iPhone users actually used the phone they realized that it was largely a media contrivance, and the actual impact of how you held the phone was pretty minimal. The manner in which you hold a phone is, actually, an issue with certain other cell phones; but that didn't interest the media. (I don't have an iPhone, or for that matter a smart phone, but I have relatives with that model.)

I purchased an iPad for my daughter, as my nephews enjoy theirs, I wanted her to be able to call distant family members using FaceTime, and it is incredibly intuitive. Before it arrived I was skeptical - it is incredibly intuitive, but it's also very limiting. It seemed like an oversized iPhone but a lot harder to hold to your ear. But in using it, even for a short time, I could see how tablet computing with the larger screen, multi-touch interface is a game changer. It's great that competitors are starting to release tablets to the market, as that will help keep Apple on its toes, but I can see how tablet technology might soon be ubiquitous.