It’s nothing new. When the iPod first came out, bloggers and so-called tech pundits were busy complaining about the features it didn’t have, such as a built-in radio, or perhaps a working kitchen sink. None of that hurt actual sales of the product, of course, since it became a runaway best-seller and sales only began to flatten and dip over the past year after the market matured and smartphones began to take over.

Apple gave the naysayers six months to complain about the iPhone’s notable lapses. That was the period between the product launch and original shipping date. Even though it sold more than anyone expected, the initial lack of a proper method to build apps for the gadget, aside from Web-based ones of course, had to be the killer shortcoming. The lack of cut, copy and paste and multitasking played second fiddle.

A year later, the App Store was unveiled.

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Humans are strange beasts. I wonder what an alien race might think of us if they come to Earth to observe our society and psychology. Consider how we root for the winner, and then, in an abrupt change of face, fervently hope for their defeat.

So consider Apple’s plight over the years. Despite a loyal fan base, it hasn’t always been so easy to get the press to come along for the ride, except for those who depend on Mac users for all or most of their traffic. Indeed, The Mac Observer had an Apple “death knell” section for years, where they’d recount the latest efforts on the part of the media to declare the company an abject failure.

It’s not as if Apple didn’t help things along. Consider all the missteps they made over the years. Despite having what was undeniably a superior product, a knock-off, better known as Windows, ruled the operating system empire then and now.

This is not to say that the Mac could have achieved total dominance in the same fashion as Apple has today with the iPod. But it wouldn’t be so one-sided a battle if Apple’s executives in those years had a clear-eyed vision for the future and not the failed vision of salespeople whose only concern was this quarter and the next, while innovation took a back seat.

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The financial community has, in the past year, warmed to the inevitable success of Apple’s business plan, and you wonder why it took so long. For so many years, you see, the words “beleaguered” and “Apple” were synonymous. Whenever Microsoft released a new version of Windows, you just knew that the Mac couldn’t possibly compete, and it’s true that Mac market share was stagnant for oh so many years, but not now.

Even during the worst of last year’s economic woes, Apple managed to defy the experts, and for years the headline “Apple Beats the Street” were common. Wall Street, to use the famous garbled expression from our previous president, “misunderestimated” Apple.

In reporting its quarterly earnings Monday afternoon, Apple soared to record earnings again, with revenue jumping 32%. The figures included first-quarter net income of $3.38 billion and revenue of $15.68 billion. The new features represent Apple’s decision to adopt a new FASB standard for revenue calculation, which means they no longer postpone much of the earnings from sales of the iPhone and Apple TV.

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I’ve said it a number of times that I do not expect Apple to get into the large screen TV business. There are a number of sensible reasons for this, one of which is the fact that this is a heavily-saturared market with companies already rushing to exit the business.

Now I suppose some of you could say the same about the mobile phone industry, but Apple picks and chooses its markets carefully. Rather than just built another boring handset, or a handset with a few flourishes, they chose to fill the perceived gaps in the smartphone space. That’s why the iPhone is such a great product not just for consumers, but the enterprise as well.

When you examine TV sets, yes it’s true there are higher-end contenders there as well, products that offer large plasma or LCD screens and loads of extras, such as Netflix streaming. But most of the people who used to buy such gear are starting to look at the entry-level, partly because it’s hard to pay the price for more expensive gear, and also because picture quality is pretty good across the board among most major brands, regardless of product position.

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