It seems obvious, but the number of people (and companies) who don't get this at all is astonishing.

It's not really that astonishing. I've been sitting in product design meetings for over a decade for applications, and anything designed through that process almost inevitably ends up looking like that Sony remote.

When you have five product managers that have a stake in something and they care more about their little product rather than the larger picture, this is what you end up with.

Apple has the singular vision of Steve Jobs/Jony Ive to drive their products. You really need a (well-qualified and competent) dictator when it comes to product design.

The better question is "what will happen to Apple after Jobs and Ive are gone?"

You might not expect it, but Baltimore has an awesome tech scene – lots of cool people interested in making stuff happen.

It could use better publicity though. I've been here my whole life, and it's far too easy to get the impression that Baltimore is just a satellite to the fed contracting epicenter in DC. That's why I'm so stoked about this event! I'll be there for sure.

Peter,

You may want to follow the tech in Baltimore google group as it was created to help over come this problem. The idea is to help connect the tech circle, check it out. http://groups.google.com/group/techinbaltimore

That's exactly why we're doing this :-)