Apple have, in recent years, turned the Mac from a specialist machine used by those focused upon graphic design and video to a functional object of desire for developers, designers and general users of all types. Hardware prices are comparable with PCs, the OS both looks good and is rock solid and it seems to lack the problems that plague the Windows world…

… Then came Leopard. Many reports abound of it being a nightmare to install, of it eating battery power, of frozen keyboards and of glitch-ridden applications. In fact, previous public advocates of the Mac have taken to apologising to their audience in advance when doing presentations due to the high risk of a problem occurring during a presentation.

So has Apple’s bubble burst? Have they created a product so bad that people will flee from OS X to Vista? Probably not, but it shows the danger of trying to innovate too fast. I have recently being listening to a set of podcasts by the innovation guru Phil McKinney. One of his key messages is to do with the innovation funnel, whereby hundreds of ideas are whittled down to one or two innovations. It strikes me that Apple – normally the Kings of Innovation – simply bit off more than they could chew with trying to develop Leopard, the iPhone and the iPod touch at the same time. Perhaps it’s simply a case of too many killer innovations spoil the apple stew.