When thinking of industry trend in the tech sector, I like to think of a huge flock of penguins. You know the ones, you have seen them on the learning channel, standing there for hours, days maybe even weeks waiting to start their migration. They stand there and stand there because none of them will go first willingly, and then one gets pushed or falls or jumps or whatever, leading the rest of the thousands of birds into the literally shark infested waters, most of the escaping, but many becoming lunch.
The manufacturers are the penguins, and the market (us) is the sharks.
Apple, is almost always that first penguin, jumping in the water ahead of all the rest. In fact, there are very few times they haven't been that first penguin, but I think it is important to remember that there are many migrations, and while Apple is the first penguin now, they werent always, they were followers at some point, and have been eaten by the sharks on a few occasions too.
We all come from someplace, it is important to remeber that.
Not that Apple isn;t the leader in pretty much every regard right now IMO, but still.
--PB