Google Chrome Spells Doom for Apple

Apple doesn't seem to realize it, but its new hardware-software gadget strategy is a road right back to the irrelevancy it so recently crawled out of, argues Henry Blodget of Business Insider. As before, Apple will prevail only in the small, premium market, muscled out by a more ubiquitous standard. Last time it was Windows. This time, it'll be Google's Android and Chrome.

Sure, Apple has a big lead. But look what's happened in the browser space. Google's Chrome browser has grown from 0% of the market to 7% in 20 months, while Safari has inched from 3% to 5%, despite backing from Apple's much-hyped gadgets. “Extrapolate those trends for a few more years," Blodget writes, "and Apple will be left with the same thing it was eventually left with in the PC market: a niche.” (More Apple stories.)