The secret of A le's succe

Scott Steve on has been thinking about why A le has been so succe ful for the last few years. He points out that in each market that A le is an unmitigated hit (MP3 players, music downloads) they were not first to market. So why do people dig what A le is doing?

Scott's a wer: A le doe 't care what the crowd thinks. They are doing things without co ulting with focus grou , or months of market research (we imagine, you never know what is going on in Cupertino). A le seems to be fearle , and that is what is helping them soar while other companies are limping along (just look at Vista's ever receding ship date).

So, TUAW'ers, what do you think is the secret mojo that kee A le in the black?