Why do some hate Apple?
The accusation that everyone who owns an Apple product is a fanboy is common on all tech websites whether they are Apple related or not and it is unjustified on the whole. This comment from Graham does, however, shed some light onto why some people feel this way-
“When I tried to get some help on an iPhone forum they were particularly unhelpful. They would not countenance the fact that there could be a bug in the iPhone rom even though many others were experiencing the same problem. Some of them were quite rude. I was genuinely shocked by the attitude.”
I had a very similar experience when I was having some iPhone issues a year ago and for every helpful response I received 3 or 4 which were blinded by the fact that it could not possibly be an Apple problem. There are fanboys for every smartphone platform, but I have to say that the forums for the iPhone have ‘many’ more people not willing to accept criticism of Apple products no matter what the problem is. They take any form of question as criticism and feel so personally involved in the product that they are blinded to the truth. Don’t get me wrong- this is by far the minority of users, but there seems to be more people like this in the Apple world than elsewhere.
All of the above is one small reason why some people hate Apple and I have been guilty of not buying into the brand either and having an irrational dislike for the company. The question is why? I suspect it is a combination of many things; success, smugness, clever marketing, price and the fact that the company barely puts a foot wrong these days. I personally hate the product launches where the audience claps each new announcement- it doesn’t get any sadder than that. I have long had an issue with the pricing of Apple products, but am seeing this in a different light as well because most Apple laptops and desktops will have a longer life than their Windows counterparts and ultimately they can represent better value. Finally, there is just something about Apple that I don’t get, but I can’t put my finger on it.
Then again, the products are superb, the pricing is not as bad as I used to think and Apple delivers time and time again so what am I not liking about the company? Anyone care to enlighten me?
Lazyboy then came up with this on the site- “Shaun, I’ll be honest with you, I think the term “fanboy” is just a cheap shot taken by people when they have no convincing argument to make. I’ve never used it in reference to anyone else, and never will.
Head on over to Gizmodo or Engadget and look at the sheer volume of posts in which people describe Apple users as iSheep, iTards, Gay, MacTards, Fanboys etc. etc.
This type of name calling, taunting and bullying is typical. People justify it by saying Apple users are smug and arrogant. Well, that’s just a pile of baloney. It’s a personal attack, pure and simple and there is NO justification for it.
It’s based on prejudice, irrationality, fear, envy and spite; and justifying it by saying there’s a special class of people who deserve it is rationalization and self-deception in my book.”
Obviously he is right about people generalising, but there is still a group of people who refuse to see bad points about Apple and other groups who refuse to see bad points about Microsoft, Nokia, RIM etc. etc. I believe ‘fanboy’ is an adequate term and far less insulting than some descriptions, but it is also used far too much in too many situations.
- I dislike the ‘closed computing’ approach and if MS do the same thing with windows mobile 7 (which rumours are pointing to so far) I will give them the same grief for it (and switch platform).. Its a shame as I thought for a while it looked as if things would move more in the opposite direction, but closed is coming back in style
- Working as a programmer and in the retail sector, I see and strongly object to a number of Apple business practices (as a company).. I will say no more than that on that topic..
- I do find some of the users objectionable but I think it is just a result of a large userbase, you are always going to get people who use a platform becuase it is popular and you will always get some that cannot bare to admit (or maybe cannot dare to see) the faults in their chosen platform.. I will bag and praise MS and linux (two platforms I use most) whereever I see necessary, so to me I struggle to understanding such a blinkered POV.. I agree with Shaun, fanboy is a reletively adequate term when appropriate.
I think sometimes (not always) people resort to the fanboy name calling when no convincing argument would matter…
I was thinking a long time back linux forums were as you described Shaun.. If you had a problem you must be the one at fault, and if you asked a stupid question you were flamed off the forum..
I must admit that I am mystified by the iPhone phenomenon. I am known as a bit of a techno geek in the circles I move in. Somebody recently said to me ‘I just assumed that you would have an iPhone.’ In his mind iPhone seems to equate to ‘amazing tecnology unequalled on any other platform’ and he doesn’t even own one!
Even the mobile phone companies seem to be intimidated by the iPhone. They try to market their products as ‘iPhone killers’ even though RIM has a far bigger share of the market. Why don’t we hear about ‘Blackberry killers?’
It’s very odd. Hopefully someone will shed some light on the matter. Not sure that Stockholm Syndrome is the answer!
“Graham N…”
Nicely put!
Ironically, when O2 announced recently they’d sold their “2 millionth iPhone” my first thought was “is that all?”, having seen them everywhere I turned, it felt more like 10-20% of the population.
It’s Apple’s business practices and “walled-garden” approach to the iPhone / iPods that annoy me. While I’m fully supportive of Apple refusing to sell “objectionable” applications in their store if they don’t want to (it’s their store after all), then I think they should provide a legal way for individuals to load the applications of their choice. If I want to “Shake Babies”, sick as it is, it should be my choice.
I’m just amazed they get away with it. Can you imagine Ford saying that you can only buy Ford-approved accessories from the Ford store for your Ford car?
Andrew
If you strip out kids under the age of 14 and people over 65, 2 million would equate to 5% of the UK population. That’s a VERY big deal considering that those are figures for only one carrier – O2. (Of course, some people have bought more than one iPhone.)
Yes, RIM sells a lot of units, but BlackBerries are available on multiple carriers, and a significant proportion of their sales are to corporations who buy lots of cheap, sometimes outdated, models in bulk. Strip out those units from RIM’s figures and perhaps you get a more realistic picture of how the battle for the hearts and minds of consumers is actually playing out.
Bottom line: perhaps there is a reason why other phone companies are trying to market their phones as “iPhone killers.”
I think you are right up to a point but I also think that things are changing. What I have noticed recently is the number of young people with Blackberries. They now talk about them as cool devices. Who would have thought that a couple of years ago?
I just hate the Big Brother attitude. “You don’t need apps on your phone. Web apps are the wave of the future.” “You don’t need no stinkin’ cut and paste.” “People no longer like to read.” (All positions that they flipped on.)
Get over it, Zelph.
Apple seems to polarize people – not really sure why.
I’m not blinded to the faults of my iPhone, but it does do a lot right.
I was recently over at a tech forum for an open source software product – and the flaming people received if they were posting ANYTHING negative was unreal. NO software is perfect; someone trying to post at the best of their ability the situation they experienced; and the top 10 comments were accusations about how incompetent they were, with little or no constructive suggestions on how to address their problem!
Even this string seems to show this polarizing attitude.
On one level I think a lot of it is school playground rivalry. It’s as old as the earliest days of home computing. Spectrum v Commodore, Amiga v Atari ST, Palm vs Pocket PC. For many of us I think it’s just a case of ‘horses for courses’. Apple will always delivery style and simplicity at the expense of openness and price. I’ve own an ipod for quite a while and get a lot of enjoyment from it. I like it’s styling and simplicity and my wife isn’t afraid to use it (because it’s Apple perhaps?). For other devices I don’t tend to look at Apple goods though I can certainly see their appeal.
The “fanboy” “flammer” “troller” stuff has seen me eventually leave various forums because it takes away from an intelligent discussion and the ability to learn anything new. It gets a bit tedious and boring after a while having the same old people mouthing off at each other online. It’s not just in the Apple circles. I have found the same on many Palm sites, Symbian sites and anything else that has some kind of “enemy” – be it real or imaginary. Maybe it’s human nature to find something to belong to, and then at the same time to find an enemy in relation to that belonging. I did start reading an interesting book in this once, but I left it on the Tube and never bought it again. “The Lucifer Principle” or something like that.
@Steve, Tonyk and Vboelema
Great posts. I see this type of behavior all over the web, and it sucks.
I think anyone who has an “Apple” is a “Banana”.
It’s a joke, so keep your calm. Letting some steam off after long day.
Which platform is best – none – I use all of them but dependant on use, depends on form factor needed etc…
Is the iPhone 3gs the best smartphone. No. Is it very good . Yes.
The HD2 is still King. So keep dreaming.
This “stockholm syndrome” that Windows people have whereby they have conveniently forgotton about the many years that we saw Microsoft behaving in a totally appalling fashion (and they probably still are) is remarkable and then to have the temerity to semi-accuse Apple of being the same almost defies belief. Pot..kettle…black etc etc
My view is this and it is just my view….PDA247 used to be a nice site to visit but in the past year has started to degenerate into a cosy little club for people with a rather predictably sad and open hostility to Apple, it has become an Apple baiting site where some smug anti-Apple post appears and then all the usual suspects turn up to gleefully comment and confirm their own petty and irrational dislike. Probably from behind the comfort of their own souped up Dell beige box…
Huh? Loads of people who regularly post here use an Apple iProduct of some sort. My first laptop was an Apple! I spent many happy years with Apple due to my job as a teacher in NZ, where Apple rules education. I love my iPod and iTunes. I like this site because the people who come here use a bit of everything, and they tend to be fairly realistic about the short comings and positives of the products they’re using. I gather you’re pulling my leg though, and that I’m the idiot (said with a lovely Irish accent) who fell for it. Nice one!
I think every product/meme/etc. has it’s “fanboys”. Fanboys, IMHO are those who appear to blindly follow a group or thought or political party, or buy a product based on the surface facts/info/marketing/etc. As long as a person can defend their opinion or excitement for a product without using only talking points, it is unfair to be labeled as such. It’s good to like something strongly, or feel strongly about something you believe in, but it’s even better to be able to have a adult conversation about it without getting defensive or proselytizing. Those two latter actions are what makes a ‘fanboy’ annoying and causes people to get childish and label someone as one in frustration.
why do people knock apple users? I think you hit the nailed square on the head, it’s the obsessional blindness and unwillingness to see any fault whatsoever. Even when engadget reported their latest iMac arrived damaged with a possible design flaw/weakness, apple fans almost refused to acknowledge that such things were possible.
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/02/the_iphone_obse.html
Paul I love the article “Warning! iCandy will damage your brain!” in that link of yours…
So true, I know here most banks only support mobile online banking on the iphone, with really bad web sites that look terrible only any resolution other than the iphones.. very badly designed.. others actually have no mobile site just an iphone application, apprently no other smartphone users want mobile banking..
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