The new ipad is out and many fanboy hipsters and tech gear junkies are lovingly fondling the sexy new toy…or dreaming of doing so.

There is a new unease about Apple products.  A lot of critics have said Apple is losing its way and become too corporate.  All of their new products do not allow Flash on their mobile devices.  Adobe has been part of design industry for so long that almost every one of us has used or has come into contact with Adobe everyday. But according to the Steve Jobs letter to Adobe “While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.”

What I’m uneasy with is this: as consumers, we have to download and maybe buy something only available from Apple instead of using the free products we already have and therefor creating an anti-competitve market. In the long run, we as consumers will loose and have to pay out what ever Apple said the product costs.

Apple as a brand, has become a cliche for people who have money.  But long before that brand was established, creative and free minded individuals helped maintain Apple through its near death experience.  Has Apple forgotten their loyal customer base?  Like gentrifying a neighborhood: creative and artistic individuals move in to a poor neighborhood and make it into a community that is hip and vibrant. The yuppies move in, and the rent goes out of control, forcing the very people who made that community move out.  Doesn’t the neighborhood loose the essence of what made it great?

It seems like Apple is moving to into corporate world and becoming self enclosed. Cory Doctorow in an interview on Search  Engine makes a good point on how Apple became worse than Microsoft #39: Apple Rots (listen to the interview here)

Cory also worte for Boing Boing comparing Apple to” Wal-Martization of the software channel” / Why I won’t buy an iPad (and think you shouldn’t, either) and created a big uproar among Apple lover.

These are exciting time in technology.  I can’t help but wonder when Apple product will become just like any other product?

I have recently give into getting an Iphone, paying 30$ extra a month for the data plan.  It is something that i don’t need, and can get for free with my laptop. Why? Simply put, I just wanted a new toy.  But if Apple continues to go the direction that its going, self-enclosed and self-censorship, thinking they are the moral rating body and doing all the pre-thinking for me as the article from gawker.com point out: “Apple believes it has a “moral responsibility” to patrol content on the iPhone. That apparently includes heavily watering down a guide to New York’s gay culture, as one author just learned.” via Apple Rejects Gay-Sightseeing App Over Gay Sights

I will not hesitate to drop them like a hot potato, and may choice to lose a few hundred buck over losing my freedom of thought. Some of the comment below giving any indication to Apple. Apple, you are walking on a fine line of  ignoring and being offensive to your customer’s intelligence, and yes, you are in great danger of  damaging your brand, and losing your core customer base–the hip and the scene maker who thinks outside of the box and makes life a bit more colorful.

“Every other electronic device in the world will allow me to look at naked people. What, exactly is your marketing position that makes you think that by saying “no” you will win?”

“How can they reject an application that merely suggest places of interest, but approve an app like, Grinder, that is basically used for hooking up?!”

“I’ve just lost a lot of respect for Apple. Assholes! And hypocrites, since apparently soft porn like the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is, according to them, just fine.”