With the announcement of Steve Jobs' retirement from Apple, I thought it appropriate to discuss an observation I have made about Apple products: There is no middle ground.
I'll bet that if you asked 100 people their feelings about Apple products, there would only be about 5 that hover in the "no opinion" category. The rest would be either "love" or "hate". I think I can understand why.
For many years, Mac users had the image of being bearded, suspender-wearing "better than you" types who had the money to pay for what PC users claimed was a worse product. That was, of course, an image. How many schools had their first computer labs consist of all Apple products? Mine did.
Fast forward to what I like to call the "wholesale change in thinking". No, it wasn't the clamshell, bright-colored iBook laptop or the all-in-one iMac with no CD drive. What changed everything was the iPod. (That and iTunes.) How many people just HAD to have one once they became the be-all and end-all of mp3 players? No other player came close to the style, the ease of use, the ease of downloading, etc., etc. Once folks had their iPod, then the iMac or iBook wasn't that big a leap. As Microsoft released ever-buggier operating systems and the MacOS became sleeker and virtually uncrashable, the tide turned. Fast forward again to the introduction of the iPad. Honestly now...how many of you made jokes about the name when it was first announced? Honestly, I said! And yet...HP had to pull its version of the tablet after a bit more than a month because it just couldn't compare to the iPad2.
The tide has turned, and yet the battle goes on. But this time, the battle isn't between Microsoft and Apple. No, Microsoft has been virtually vanquished (which no one thought would happen). Instead, the new battle is Apple vs. Google. Who is winning? I have no idea, but the same "us vs. them" attitude is on display in this new battle. Apple users swear by their products, while Android users revile Apple. Frankly, I can see the positives in both systems. I'm an Apple user, and I really love how all of the products just simply work; no muss, no fuss...they just work together. That's what I like. My friend loves his Android products because he can customize them however he wants. That's cool. More power to him. Despite those differences, we are, indeed, friends.
Still...I see him leering over my iPad2. A year from now?
He will be assimilated...
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3 comments:
When I heard the news, I admit the first thought to cross my mind was 'I wonder if Adam is curled up in the fetal position, wailing 'Nooooooooo!'.'
And I totally made iPad jokes. I mean, come on.
I don't hate anything, really. I have coveted many an Apple product, but my Android was just so much cheaper for what I got. I don't have money to spend on mp3 players or songs to put on them, so that point is moot. I do want my next computer to be a Mac, because they are so lovely for design work, though I want my lil PC to always be there as backup. And I, too, made iPad jokes. But man...I NEED one!!
And now, the oooohs and aaahhhs over my iPad are getting more severe. This is one time where I feel like the money I spent was truly justified.
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