The Cult of "What’s-Its-Name"
It’s a sweltering Sunday afternoon at the mall. Inside The Apple Store it’s clean, cool and buzzing with hipsters that resemble that “Hi, I’m a Mac” guy. As a Mac user, I stop in occasionally to give props to Jobs and Co. for a brand well done. Sometimes I give mad props if I’m feeling like parting with money.
One of these hipsters glides past me on his cell phone. His conversation caught my ear. At first it sounded idiotic, then I realized prophetic.
“Yeah, I’m here” he says to his friend. “I’m at the iPod store.”
Wow! In a brief second, this yahoo reduced The Revolution of Zen Cool that Apple had been building to a single product.
Was this odd? Do others understand Apple’s greatness? Can you be an Apple user without being an enthusiast, or are we creative folks blinded by pretty stainless steel?
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Consider me part of the horde. Total PC guy, dating to when that meant DOS. And yep, I'm on my second iPod and use iTunes on a PC.
Viewing the world of Apple (iSociety?) from the outside, I agree with John. It feels like something specific and social that I'm just barely dipping my toe into.
Do I "understand Apple's greatness"? As a tech creator and as a marketer, objectively, how can you not? But that doesn't mean I'm buying in: I'm perfectly comfortable remaining an outsider. When the revolution comes, please don't hurt me. I'll be over here right-clicking on things.
Apple has become so much more than a computer company. They are now, without a doubt, a "lifestyle" electronics company.
Those of use that own and love our shiny, metal, Mac computers and OS X are a mere slice of the pie chart when compared to the hordes of PC users that use iTunes and carry a iPod or iPhone. The odds are that the guy you heard at the "iPod store" probably owns a PC.
Even though Jobs probably considered it sacreligious, making iTunes for PC was the best thing he ever did for Apple. iTunes infected the PC world and is spreading the message: "Apple is great."
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