It’s all a bit too Orwellian in scope, but Apple may be headed down the dreaded path of a certain group of fictional Pigs (read: Animal Farm). If that reference doesn’t stick, try this one on:

High School nerd, bullied, ignored, not taken seriously blah blah blah (you know the rest) grows a pair, discovers a gym membership, acne cream and confidence. Now everyone wants to be his friend and he seems . . . well, ‘different’.

It’s no secret that Apple spent the bulk of the 90’s barely keeping their heads above water (nearly filing for bankruptcy at one point) and taking 2nd place to Microsoft along the way. But they saved themselves with the release of the 1st generation iPod making the brand one to be reckoned with in the portable media market. Frankly, they practically invented the very idea of portable digital media. This in turn brought more attention to the Apple brand, (reluctant exclusionary tactics aside) and just as The Little Engine That Could, slowly capturing the minds of the market and the zeitgeist of a generation fueled by digital hoarding, fast connectivity and disposable culture.

Well, a few “I think I can, I think I cans” and 143 million iPods/iPhones/iPads later, Apple is top dog. The proverbial Big man on Campus. And now it’s Microsoft, yes Microsoft who’s the one playing catch-up. But just like the story arch of any good 80’s film involving a nerd who turns cocky in order to "get the girl", he just seems . . . well, ‘different’.

April 2010, news broke of the newly launched iPad not supporting Adobe flash, not only on that player, but on iPhones as well. This was a major blow for fans of the program (as many user generated apps rely on Flash components to work properly).

That was just in April.

On June 7th, Google's AdMob Founder Omar Hamoui expressed disappointment over Apples restricting application programmers from using AdMob and Google's mobile display ad technology on the iPhone and iPad. Apple completely revised their developer terms, shutting out a good deal of what made creating Apps for the iPhone/iPad attractive in the first place.

If the brand that presented themselves as the ‘little guy’, ‘the alternative’, and ‘the underdog’ has now become "the big guy", "the standard" and "the man", do they risk losing footing with loyalists who identified with the original identity of the brand?

Is there an Apple backlash in the wings?

Links to consider:

http://tinyurl.com/appleappslockout