Arguably Apple's least successful core hardware product in decades, the Apple Watch could have been nursed along, like a terminal patient.

Apple's advantage is that it designs and builds software together, so if the software isn't excellent, it does the superlative hardware a disservice.

My first computers were a Timex Sinclair and an Apple II.

Even Apple, notorious for keeping a tight grip on its products, allows fierce competitors like Google, Amazon, Spotify, and Microsoft to offer their apps on its phones and tablets.

I wrote a lot about the need for an information appliance. I think we've pretty much arrived at one: the iPad. A child could figure out how to use it quickly. Compare it to a DOS computer or even an Apple II; it's no longer nearly as much of a hassle or a mystery.

Though many people mistakenly credit IBM with the first PC in 1981, the Apple II came out four years earlier, in 1977.