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Tuesday 24 January 2012

Apple; Conquerors of the Mind...



Apple have become, in a single expression, global. They have, in many respects, surpassed the boundaries of being  just another technology company into a mindset, a phenomenon, an epidemic so expansive and intrusive that nearly everyone has an opinion of them.

About a year and a half ago, I bought an iMac. It was my first Apple computer and I loved it. Previous to that I bought an iPhone. I also loved that. But that wasn't it. In two years I have owned 5 different iPhones (2G, 3G, 3Gs Black, 3Gs White) I have owned 3 Macs (iMac, MacBook, Another MacBook). Over time I grew bored with the initial thrill of the product, but was so hooked to the Apple life-support system that instead of buying a PC or an alternative phone, I just bought a newer iPhone, or a different iPhone. I bought a newer MacBook, or a different MacBook, convincing myself that obviously, of course, there genuine practical reasons for buying more.

Eventually though, it struck me. The products themselves, as day-to-day, personal devices were just like everything else. Sure the smart features and glossy presentation of it all was ace but secretly the opening of Apple products far betters the experience of the product itself. This is why people who own PC's don't upgrade very often because it will be another PC coated in black plastic in a shitty box with a shitty logo in shitty wrapping. Mac users on the other hand, often crave something new, be it an iPod, iPhone, Mac or iPad.

Apple have created their very own environment. The Mac user is special, different, better. Minimilistic advertising which leaves almost everything to the imagination creates an insatiable desire in the common man.  Apple know this. Apple realised long before anyone else that Bloke A and Bloke B don't understand, or more likely don't get excited about specs. They want aluminium design, hidden hardware and feminine shapes. All the Apple hype was self-created, it was all so perfectly devised. The slick keynotes, the enthusiastic messiah of Steve Jobs, who planted an unshakable image of supposed self-improvement with his humored, verging on child-like approach to selling.

I sold all my Apple things. I just gave up. I was exhausted out of devotion to Apple and exhausted out of hunger for their new things and from all the Arty try-hards who defend the Mac to the definitive hilt and the ambitious Electronic groups who 'create' 'with' their Macs I finally understood the craze, devotion and tireless Apple pursuit they all followed.

The cheapest Mac is £680. Spend that much and you have to defend it right?

Right.

(I own an iPad. It's white and it looks shit-hot. Sorry.) 


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