All of the people I'm talking about are very smart and very independent. Yet, at the same time, Apple has managed to run some kind of brainwashing trick, where anything Apple comes up with and anything Apple says is taken at face value. Here are a couple of glaring examples:
- A year or however long time ago, Apple decides to do their iPhone thing. Great, nice device, cool glitzy graphics, all that. All of a sudden, everyone from a large number of my coworkers to the people on the Oscars buys an iPhone. That is all well, but the more puzzling part is how most people just swallow the garbage coming from Apple without questioning it. For example, I bet that 90% of the iPhone users still think that iPhone was the first device that had a full blown browser that doesn't need the content to be specifically formatted for mobile devices ( while I've been happily browsing on my Nokia E61 for 1-2 years before the iPhone came out, mind you with the E61 happily running a KHTML derived browser, the same browser that Safari extends as well).
- Apple decides to release their SDK and to allow 3rd party Devs to distribute their apps for iTunes. That is all great, nice thinking, good way to screw the walled garden of the network operators (ironically, by creating a new walled garden, this time controlled by Apple). So, all of a sudden, everyone believes ( I spoke to a very smart coworker of mine, listened to the Java Posse) that this is the first attempt where a non-operator sets up a distribution mechanism where 3rd party devs can certify and distribute their apps. Rewind to 2-3 years before the iPhone SDK launch, and I was happily exploring the Nokia Catalogs (on my phone) that has a whole bunch of free and commercial applications for download (that have nothing to do with the operator, the same "independent" software distribution channel that Apple claims to have invented).
The list can go on and on. What really puzzles me is that Apple can throw these outrageously false claims, and all of these smart and independently thinking people that I know just eat it up, without questioning it for a second. What drove me over the edge was when I was listening to a Java Posse interview where they were discussing the release of the iPhone SDK and how Apple supposedly "owned" the device and that Apple was within their right to lock the device as much as they want and go to great lengths to restrict what kind of software could be on it (e.g. starting from the "locked" phones, going through the clauses in the iPhone dev kit that prohibits its usage for creation of VMs, including Java). That is the biggest steaming pile of BS that I've heard . Yeah, I know that when you get the software you don't actually "own" it, you license it, but I can't believe my ears : if I had spent $400-$500 on a device you better believe it that I will want to have as much control over it, I OWN the goddamn thing. Now, if it was someone other than Apple (e.g. think Microsoft), all of these smart people would be up in arms calling for boycotts of the device and the company and who knows what else. But when it's Apple, people just suck it up.
So, people, let get our senses back and start thinking a little bit more critically about the garbage that comes out of Apple's brainwashing machine. I know they make nice products and all, but let's not lose our senses every time they say something and examine it for what it really is : a company pushing their products and very selfishly looking out for its own interests.
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"Now, if it was someone other than Apple (e.g. think Microsoft), all of these smart people would be up in arms calling for boycotts of the device and the company and who knows what else"
ReplyDeleteever try to mod an xbox?
MS really frowns on that sort of thing. You know, the whole copyright protection / DMCA thing.
I think a few people went to jail over modding equipment they thought they 'owned'.
I really don't follow the Microsoft and their products, despite the fact that they're making billions upon billions, they're a dead company for me.
ReplyDeleteMy point here was slightly different though. In your example, I'm sure that when MS went after these poor chaps who modded their xboxes, people yelled and screamed and maybe more people took notice that MS is a crappy company (and maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't buy an XBox next time).
Now, in the case of Apple, although they probably haven't thrown anyone in jail for "jail breaking" their phone, even if they did it seems like Apple fanboys would just shrug it off and slurp up the lame explanation that Apple will offer (e.g. probably something like 'we're protecting the users by limiting the choice"), and will continue buying Apple products like nothing happened.
This is not a new phenomena.
ReplyDeleteFor example, who invented Cinema?
Apple are capitalising on their popularity and brand trust and winning the war in marketing where "being first" is important, whether it is an actual reality or just a perception of the public.
I remember many people who thought Microsoft must have invented TCP/IP because when configuring the stack on Windows there it was: "Microsoft TCP/IP".
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that it does happen quite often that whoever popularizes a particular technology, the laypeople think that the "popularizer" actually invented it.
However, what I'm talking about is slightly different here. I can see how Joe Sixpack might have wondered into his network configuration and maybe think that Microsoft invented TCP/IP. However, here I'm generally talking about a large number of smart, technically savvy, independent professionals, who just take the Apple propaganda at face value. I know that Apple heavily relies on the emotional attachment of its users to its brand and products; maybe that's what's making people blind to their propaganda.
I totally agree with you Alex. Apple marketing is nothing short of a brainwashing mechanism and their products are far from the "it just works" category that users spout until I want to hurl. I continue to avoid Apple products due to their lock-down policies. Until I can buy an Apple device and use it in any way I desire, I'll continue to pass them by.
ReplyDelete