With the launch of the new iPhone 5, some things I’ve always felt have resurfaced. I never actually put this to words before this. First off, my stance- I like Apple product-design. If I have money to waste, I’d buy some. But I am no fanboy. Given a choice, I prefer Android (but that’s coming from a developer’s perspective. It’s easier to write code for Android apps. It’s basically Java. For developing apps on iOS, one needs to have Xcode, and for Xcode, one needs a Mac). Though at the end of the article the user described is comparable to myself, I’m not in that category simply because I have been that way from the beginning. I didn’t go through preceding stages. I was in the last stage all along.
But this post is not about Apple vs Android or Microsoft or anyone. This is about trends I have observed in a specific breed of Apple users. The average Apple user has evolved over the decade. The keyword here is “average”. There have been and will be extremities in all the stages- fanboys and haters; but this is not focused on them. This post also answers who exactly are the people going crazy over the iPhone 5.
I’ll start this observation from 2001. Granted, Apple had some different kinds of customers prior to that, but this story starts in the beginning of the iEra. October 23, 2001- Apple launches the revolutionary iPod. Shit hits the fan.
Stage 1-
In the early years of the decade, owning an Apple made you “cool” and unique. Apple offered a break away from the traditional rut the tech-world had seemingly fallen into. Apple made technology shift from being just functional to being beautiful. A very hipster concept, by a hipster for hipsters. People were excited, and correctly so. And all the sheep who wanted to stand out, rushed to pour their money into Apple’s pockets. Apple happily painted them black, and they turned into black sheep.
Whenever anyone saw you walking down the street with those white earphones, they knew you were different. The Apple user started to be a symbol of non-conformity in a cool way. It actually meant something, it was a statement.
Stage 2-
As the years rolled by, and Apple kept growing, the fizz started to die down. Competitors entered the market. Obviously, none of these rivals could do any observable harm. Apple had a dedicated following, a ruthlessly effective marketing strategy and obviously, patents for rounded rectangles. There was a shift in the user-mentality too. Owning an Apple product no longer made you V from “V for Vendetta”. Apple was just a company making good products and beautiful user experiences. But it still had public sympathy of being an underdog to the evil corporate machinery the other companies were.
In this stage the typical Apple user was no more a hippie. Everyday people who go to work, have families, and no private jets were Apple users. The public opinion was relatively neutral. The effects from Stage 1 were still lingering though. The users were still smug and still tended to look down upon the white sheep.
Stage 3-
The last quarter of the decade- Apple was falling victim to its own propaganda. Once you paint too many sheep black, they start noticing that there are actually more black sheep than white ones. They realize that they are no longer unique. The problem with being a rebel, just for the sake of being one is that the nature of your views don’t matter as long as they are different from the crowd’s view. You want people to agree with you, but if they start agreeing the entire charade becomes self defeating.
Another problem was knocking on the door- the competition was finally starting to catch up.
Now the tables had turned, the average Apple users started doing what they did best- rebel. The hate towards Apple products started rising. Being an Apple user made you a rich, smug, fool who spent too much money on fancy looking products. The Apple user community was splitting into 2 groups.
Stage 4-
2010-2012… The hipster who originally lapped up the iPod like it was chocolate milk, was now a hater. The other group was the second generation adopters of Stage 2 who saw that getting excited at new Apple product launches was the “in” thing to do. In fact they are the ones who are getting off on the new iPhone now. Most of the first generation has moved on. Since this second group is always the slow one, they still think going insane over a new product launch is what the “cool kids” do. Soon they will realize that those kids have left the concert long ago. The second group might stay back and decide not to follow the first away from Apple. They might say “They have moved on. So what? We are in the cool-zone now and we’re here to stay.”
What they don’t realize is that there is no “cool-zone”, there never was! The first generation was equally retarded and they were here not because it was a good concert, but simply because no one else was.
From an outsiders point of view, it still seems like the same fanboys going bananas over the new iPhone, but in reality it’s actually a different set of morons. It is a cycle. A sad cycle. Wannabe rebels moving to new grounds, the crowd following them there thinking that’s where the “cool kids” are. When that gets too crowded, the original idiots move away again. And that is the evolution of an Apple user.
K9 Contemplates 