Now that Apple is a douchy company...

A somewhat unspoken war has been raging for nearly a decade between several technology companies. The fight isn't over profit margins or manufactured products but simply if the company was regarded as cool in the eyes of the public. Several companies, including Microsoft (most recently with Bing), have tried their hand at winning the title of coolest electronic company. Now only two are left at the top: Apple and Google. And we have a winner.

Before the verdict is released, lets take a look at what made Apple and Google such good contestants for this war. Immediately the design and ingenuity of Apple's growing line of products comes to mind. The simplicity and functionality of their iPod line put the MP3 player on the map of every college kid in the nation, making Apple instantly cool. Anyone who was anyone had an iPod. And six years later it's still business as usual. Apple entered the cell phone market with the revolutionary iPhone, improved the design of their Macbook laptop series, and remastered the Macintosh OS software (which is brilliant, I must admit).

Google is quite the opposite. While Apple is great at building powerful gadgets that cost more than a pair of Sienna Miller's gold-plated underwear, Google has built powerful gadgets that cost..well, nothing. Not only is their search engine always evolving and improving but the tech firm has put out enough industry revolutionizing technology to choke a homeless dog. Google Earth, Docs, Gmail, Reader, Maps, Books- the list goes on and on and on. And all of this is free to anyone, anywhere, at anytime- that's cool.

Down to brass tacks then. The coolest electronic company in the world right now is undoubtedly Google. Why? It's safe to say that both of these companies love innovation, however, Apple's problem is the unseen second half of that statement: Apple loves innovation... if it's theirs.

A perfect example of this was found in an Engadget article explaining that the new Google Voice app for the iPhone was rejected by Apple for duplicating built-in iPhone features... whatever the hell that means. It's nothing short of ironic that Apple would pull such a turn around on Google like that, especially when you consider the iPhone is already jam packed with Google features that Apple asked for (maps, YouTube, etc).

So Google, here is too you for being an innovative company devoted to helping out the general public. For not charging us our first born child with interest for your products. For not having a blind following of loyal fans that will give you their money just because they can afford it and regular people can't. And especially for not being totally anal when someone tries offering an improvement on your ideas even though you should have thought of it on your own in the first place.

-- Chad Waite, Daily Derbi

P.S. Here is another example of how Apple reacts when things aren't going exactly to their plans.

P.P.S. Now roast me Apple haters!