Apple fatigue has officially set in

It’s a factor Apple has cited as a potential stumbling block to future success.

No, it’s not Microsoft or any of the large cell phone producers. Nor is it Dell or Hewlett-Packard.

Instead, it’s Apple fatigue. I am tired of the dizzying number of product releases and price cuts and assorted other news meant to stoke interest in the company.

This epiphany of sorts happened this week as the Apple rumour mill and hype machine cranked itself up yet again. Apparently, there is an event in New York City scheduled for some day next week where the modern day ringmaster Steve Jobs may unveil an iPhone software developer kit, new MacBook Pro models and a 3G-capable iPhone model. 

Others say Apple is going to release some sort of tablet PC not unlike the Newton product of yesteryear.

Yawn. It is all too much. Apple needs to turn down the volume or risk having people tune out.

Luckily for Apple, people like me are still a rarity - one need only look at the company’s results and the white earbuds dangling from people’s heads during a Toronto rush hour one weekday for proof. People still seem to care about Apple’s every bowel movement.

But consumers are fickle. It was this point last year that I was legitimately excited by the prospect of what was then the soon-to-be released iPhone. I even bought a 4GB device on the first weekend it went on sale at an Apple store in Troy Michigan (for roughly US$540, which I later sold for nearly full value). But having watched my iPhone become irrelevant in less than two months and my 80GB iPod become a "classic" device in less than a year, I have decided to forgo further Apple product purchases. I am no longer a preposterous cult member as one Globe and Mail columnist recently stated.

Apple needs to have consumers foaming at the mouth - its growth is based in large part upon the translation of customer excitement into sales. But it needs to tread carefully as excitement can easily turn to disappointment or worse yet, apathy.

My condition, some may say a virus, probably isn’t isolated and could easily spread.