Posted on 03/21/2015 1:33:07 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Apple zealots are one thing, but Apple doomsayers might be worse. This week, on The Network: John Moltz wonders why we ever mixed church and tech.
Stop me if you've heard this one: Apple is just like a relig—
STOP.
Yeah, you've heard it. Apple is just like a religion. And its customers are acolytes, steeped in the heady lore of the Church of Jobs blah blah blah. For certain pundits and commentators, this explains away everything they don't understand about Apple. Why it does so fabulously well, why its customers are so loyal, why the company is able to charge more for its devices... it explains everything!
A little too neatly.
See, if I could add an addendum to Occam's Razor it would go like this: The simplest explanation is usually the right one... unless it involves magic. Frankly, I think that it's much more valid to apply this argument to Apple's critics than its supporters.
Take, for example, those who continuously proclaim that Apple's doom is nigh. You don't have to look far for them: They literally use the word "doom" in their headlines.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying belief in imminent Apple doom is a religion. I don't think it is. You know what is religion? Religion. Words have meaning, that's what they're for. Most of these people who proclaim Apple doom don't even believe it themselves — they're just selling something.
No, I'm just saying one could make a better case that the Apple Doomsday Cult is a religion than making the argument that Apple itself is. Consider it a thought experiment.
The church of Apple
For starters, let's look at the argument that Apple is a religion. We know this is true because researchers in Britain hooked one Apple fan up to a machine and found his reaction to the brand was stimulating the same centers of the brain that religion stimulates.
Oh, you can argue that one is not a statistically large sample or that even if Apple does stimulate the same brain centers as religion that doesn't mean much because lots of things — our loved ones, playing sports, or the rich, creamy taste of Litehouse Ranch Dressing — could do the same thing, that doesn't make them religions. But now you're just hating on science, hater.
Still there is the generic argument about the canonical "Apple zealot". Do these people who think Apple is perfect in every way all the time and will buy whatever product Apple ships actually exist? Probably. When I invented "Artie MacStrawman" nine years ago, it was not without its basis in fact. But here's the difference: The only place the Arties of the world write is in comments or forums or on the restroom wall of the Applebee's they walked into confusedly thinking it had something to do with Apple. They don't write for supposedly serious publications like Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. They don't have positions as big-time Wall Street analysts. They certainly don't get invited on television to make their case and they definitely do not get book deals.
The altar of facts
Are there Apple fans who will take any opportunity to point and laugh and make snarky remarks about Apple's competitors? Haha, oh, yeah. Oh, my god, so many. Most of these people also criticize Apple, too. While we prefer Apple's products and their business model, we're not idiots. But pointing out that Apple makes good stuff and makes a ton of money for doing so — in other words, pointing out facts — does not mean you're a religious nut.
Maybe Apple doom is a thing because our culture loves stories that run counter to what everyone thinks. If you can come up with some kind of evidence that donuts are actually good for you, it'd be a big traffic day on Huffington Post. But this dogged adherence to the idea that Apple will fail runs back to the mid-1990s when it was actually failing. In other words, when Apple was failing, no one was getting cushy gigs telling people how it was actually succeeding. Which is good because it wasn't, but you can't explain the Church of Apple Doom away as simply the novelty of being contrarian.
The sweet smell of success
Now, Apple is so much more of a success story than a failure story that it seems almost impossible on a quantum mechanical level. That's really the only thing you need to know to make my case: Apple's not just successful, it's incredibly, dramatically, wildly, record-breakingly successful. So demonstrably successful that saying it's doomed has gone light years past "not even funny anymore" and wrapped all the way around the universe to "thigh-slappingly hysterical" again.
And yet people still believe it's on the edge of going out of business. Well, as I said, they either believe that or they're just selling that idea to get attention. Which, of course, also goes on in religion. QED.
Is Apple always a success? No. Will it always be a success? Given what we presume is the infinite nature of time, probably not. Some time before the sun burns out, Apple will probably again get the kind of managers it had in the mid-1990s, an assortment of clotted meat products in suits who believe that market share is incredibly important and that chasing the lowest common denominator is a sure-fire way to win.
But we're nowhere close to that point yet. So to buy into the idea that it's happening right now, you have to take a lot on faith. Certainly a lot more than believing Apple is a success.
The topic was Apple is not trying to compete with anyone. And you replied at least 5 times. That is until you refused to answer any questions.
That's right. I'm not going to let you substitute Microsoft for "anyone", and start a whole new conversation about that.
So I was right all along. When you refuse to discuss it, it means I win.
Have a nice day!!!
That’s fine. The goal posts stay where they started. If you don’t like that you can take your ball and go home.
You are the one that took your ball home. If you can’t play by YOUR rules, you get mad and go home.
The Goal Posts are still the same, and you’re still an Apple Hater.
Sure they are. "Microsoft" is the same as "anyone". Yup.
I thought you went home cry baby.
Mommy he changed the rules and I don’t wanna play no more!!!
It always ends in name calling, doesn’t it?
How many times have you called Apple users Apple Fanboys??
Since you refuse to discuss i, then why don’’t YOU leave???
If you remember correctly THIS IS an Apple Thread. Since you don’t like Apple, why do you even post in these threads??
If you don’t agree that Apple doesn’t compete with anyone, then you have to hate Apple. Is that how that works?
I posted examples of how MS “Competes” and how Samsung “Competes”.
How many times has Apple made an announcement and these other companies decide to produce something “just like it”? (It's called Vaporware}. And then they hurry up and rush something out the door just so they can say they sold it first.
I even mentioned how Pepsi accused Coke of being uncompetitive, and the Judges decision to throw it out. Because of TWO different markets. One being the Fountain Drink Market and the other being the Bottled Drink Market.
Apple DOSEN'T compete in the same market as MS or Samsung. MS’s primary Market is the Business market, MS’s primary earning are from MS Office, yes I know that also runs on Mac, but the last version is MacOffice 2011, that is 4 years old.
MS is really a software company, that also sells a few game machine. tablets, and phones.
Samsungs primary market is Electronics. They sell TV’s phone, tablets, washers, dryers and refrigerators.
Apple isn't trying to steal any Windows users away, they aren't trying to steal Android users away. You present them with a better product and let them decide.
As far as the “I'm and Mac and I'm a PC”, Apple was promoting THEIR product and USER Experience. If people compare the 2 products they can decide on their own.
Apple sells complete systems that work together, there's not another company in the world that does that. I have an iPhone, iPad, iPod, AppleTV, Apple Airport, Mac Mini. and a few other Apple items. I don't EVER remember MS or Samsung or ANY other company selling complete system like this. Apple products are designed to work with Apple products, and they do that seamlessly. My iPhone/iPad/iPod are an extension of my Mac, I can sync all my data between all my Apple items without having to jump through hoops.
I can stream Movies from my Mac to my TV using iTunes and my AppleTV, over my Apple Airport.
Apple isn't concerned about what the other guy is doing, they are only concerned with THEY are doing. If Apple REALLY wanted to compete against MS or Samsung, they would build products to match what these other companies are selling. Apple already has gobs of money without having to compete against ANYONE.
They don't have to copy anybody, they build their own product and they let the consumer decide. THAT is why everybody is trying to catch Apple.
Now how hard is that to understand??
Bullshit. Apple competes in the tablet market with MS, and a whole range of other manufacturers. They compete in the phone market with Samsung, Nokia, and others. They compete in the laptop market with many other manufacturers. By your account if GM decided to start making bicycles along with cars, they suddenly wouldn't be "competing" with any other auto maker that doesn't also make bicycles. That's a crock.
Do I need to re-post it so you can read it again??
All of it. And as you've already figure out it's not just me. You've already figured out that nobody else understands it either. When nobody understands what you're saying it's time to consider that your not making any sense.
Those of us that do own Apple gear understand it.
Apple is Light years ahead of any body else out there, that is why they are the most Successful company in the world.
I understand that whoever controls the terms controls the debate. I don’t think this is about what it means to “compete”. It’s about power and control - you establishing dominance and making me understand they you’re going to be in charge and the words are going to mean whatever you say they do.
I have given up trying to explain it to you, it's like trying to have an intelligent conversation with a 3 year old.
I have given up trying to explain it to you, it's like trying to have an intelligent conversation with a 3 year old.
I'd bet not. As long as I resist, you'll keep hammering until I knuckle under or leave.
That might be what Apple is to you. If you perceive their "product" as the OS then that's what you think your buying. If you want to look at it that way that's fine, but where do you get off demanding that the rest of the world has to be just like you?
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