Is it a disputed fact that Apple creates elegant, easy to use combinations of hardware, software and services?

I hate iTunes and Quicktime with a passion and don't consider them to be user friendly, but then again I'm a Windows user, so maybe it's my fault.

It's not your fault - back in the late 90s when I came to light side I hated iTunes too. It's clearly stockholm syndrome - I deal with it because I've grown used to the way it does things. It isn't bad, but it does take getting used to.

Quicktime, well, I can't see why you'd hate it (except for maybe that it probably sucks on windows) - it's actually amazing on the mac. Lightweight, fast, everything a user needs and nothing else.

Not to be pedantic, but iTunes wasn't released until 2001.

Not your fault. Apple software in Windows is awful. iTunes is slow and ugly, for example. But when you use that apps in a Mac they're just great.

Don't ask me why this happens. It may be Apple's engineers fault or Windows' architecture fault.

I use iTunes on both Windows and Mac for dealing with iPads, podcasts and grabbing stuff off of iTunes U and it sucks just as much on both platforms. It might be a great music player, but when they decided to make it a kitchen sink app for handling all those non music listening tasks just mentioned, they ended up creating a usability nightmare.

By designing elegant, easy-to-use combinations of hardware, software and services. First iPhone ads were just showing what and how you could use it. Ads for other mobile phones at the time…

It's a vicious cycle: People who read news often use Apple's products, and they won't like any Apple-bashing news. Critisizing an iProduct will instantly lower the journalists' credibility.

It's similar to the old IBM/MS thing, nobody ever got fired for praising Apple.

I see. That must be the explanation for why the media didnt blow iPhone 4 "Antennagate" out of proportion, and why the media gave Apple a pass for using the same Foxconn factory journalists gave Dell and others such a hard time for using...

On the contrary, Apple is reported on like a celebrity because celebrity sells magazines, papers, or page views. The reporters are happy to write admiring articles, but even happier if they can find dirt to dish. The more controversy, the merrier.

Even on non-controversial topics, writing the contrarian point of view is more likely to drive links and page views and "engagement". Why do you think Joe Wilcox has a job? And why did MacWorld employ Dvorak? Turns out people get hired for dissing Apple.

Hell, look at Rob Enderle...

Many of them will own iPhones, so they'll have first hand experience. Write about what you know and all that.