MW: Apple's Reach Exceeds its Grasp

by , 5:00 PM EDT, August 13th, 2008

Apple has gone from a company that makes an offbeat, non-Windows computer to one that makes all kinds of cool products. Apple has steamrolled over much of the competition, but in the last year signs of strain are showing, and Apple's reach has exceeded its grasp, according to Jason Snell at Macworld on Wednesday.

Apple is still small in many ways compared to Microsoft. Microsoft's revenues are twice Apple's and Microsoft employs 91,000 people worldwide compared to Apple's 21,000.

As a result, Apple's limited resources and ambitions plans are often mismatched. Last year's delay of Leopard is one example, according to Mr. Snell. MobileMe is the latest.

Apple's strain and Mr. Jobs' recent apology for MobileMe's launch are well known. The question now is, what does Apple do next? Does Apple need to hire more people, scale back its ambitions or both? The editor of Macworld doesn't have any specific suggestions, but it's his hope that for the sake of the customers and the company, Apple figures it before another "July 11" happens.