I don’t know if a whole lot of explanation is necessary after you compare these two pictures, which I took at Wal-Mart tonight. Wow!

Apple, Apple, Apple… when will you find the limits of your greed, your “in-factor,” your branding, your mark-ups? Seeing Apple charge thirty dollars for a few pairs of socks brought me a rush of emotions, and interestingly, the first thing that came to mind were my days in school. Back when Steve Jobs had just come back to Apple, just when the company was beginning to drown in its own lack of relevance. A company that, though it made really pimp desktops and notebooks that were great for design and audio, surely wasn’t going to last much longer.

Enter the iPod… a little white plastic box (well, “boxy,” especially in generation 1) that would forever change the world (and the world’s perception of Apple). Being a design student/Mac user watching the release of the iPod and subsequent explosion of Apple’s name felt very strange… maybe the way it felt to be a rock ‘n’ roller in Seattle during the late 80’s, only to see your favorite bar/garage bands like Nirvana take over the world in ‘92.

In other words, to summarize this rambling discourse (I’m still trying to get my mind around all this), in 2000, who would’ve thought that Apple would one day be so IN that they would sell a pair of socks for $7.20?! Furthermore, in 2000, who would’ve thought that they, personally, would be so foolish as to pay this amount for a pair of socks in 2007? I don’t know…