“They tattoo Apple’s logo on their arm. They help sell Apple products, even though they’re not paid to. One couple met at the Macworld Expo conference, got engaged and were married there,” Ellen Lee writes for The San Francisco Chronicle. “Apple customers are a loyal bunch. Though they’re only a small percentage of all computer users, they make up for it with their passion and outspokenness. In Apple’s 30 years of business, they have formed a tight-knit, unique community. ‘They’re probably the largest subculture’ among computer groupies, said Leander Kahney, managing editor at Wired News, who has tracked these quirks and more in his books ‘The Cult of Mac’ and ‘The Cult of iPod.’ ‘They definitely have distinct traits and rituals and rites of passage.'”
“It’s right there in the numbers: 50 percent of Apple customers plan to buy another Apple computer, a far greater percentage than for any other personal computer, according to MetaFacts,” Lee writes. “So, here on the 30th anniversary of the company’s founding, how do you know if you’re hooked on Apple?”
Apple users are more likely than PC users to:
• Have a higher household income
• Have received a graduate degree
• Be self-employed
• Live in California, Massachusetts or New York
• Live in big cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York
(Source: MetaFacts)
Lees’ checklist “you might be an Apple fanatic if…” in the full article here.
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Don’t know about the tattoo, but I’ve got the Apple logo sticker on both mine and my wife’s vehicles…
Plus, I plan only to buy Macs in the future, thank you very much!
you might be an Apple fanatic if…….
You get the first post on MDN on a Saturday night
Proud to be a member of the cult!
AMEN!!!
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Guilty as charged – only I live in Chicago and built a wonderful company (eight people and counting) over the past 7 years preaching, using and succeeding using only Macs. And what an inspiring ride it has been. Check it out – our site is full of easter eggs – at:
http://www.richterbrothers.com
Of course, it wasn’t always this way. Working hard, having resiliance, always trying to do the right thing, and of course, believing in yourself can make all the difference.
I’m a 20 plus year Mac user, and then used Apple’s before that.
Sure I take “Thinking Differently” to a whole new level, so what? I can do that, I’m a machead.
However I didn’t realize how much the “cult” was so ingrained at Apple until I visited my very first Apple Store on the “Night of the Panther” and met Phil Schiller in person.
Actually I was there in the afternoon, before the line started and the store closed for the event and Phill showed me Panther’s “Exposé ” feature.
Of course all I could say was “Wow”
And he said “Isn’t that so cool?”
I really didn’t know who he was until afterwards, too bad I didn’t take a picture. 🙁
But I did buy a PowerMac G5 and a whole bunch of Apple stuff that night because of a unannounced (but I had inside info) across the store 10% discount that night only.
I really don’t like religions, I like to think for myself, so now you know why I haven’t been drinking the koolaid around here lately.
I’ll probally never will.
My cars also have apple logos on them. My mac mini comes this week to replace a dead G4 desktop. Meanwhile my 17″ Al, 400MHz iMac + 2 other laptops and 4 pre-G3 desktops continue to do the jobs required of them.
Long live apple. All praise to God Jobs.
You all might not believe it, but I got a bunch of one of a kind Apple stuff.
Like signs from Apple Stores, a rather beat up Lisa, a original 128k Mac, offical company shirts and posters up the kazoo.
I thought it would be nice to collect them over the years, but now that I’m older I realize I really don’t want to be part of a “cult”. It sort of implies we are stupid or something.
I stuck with Apple through the dark years because it was a simplybetter product, but I really don’t like this cult stuff anymore.
I rather see strenght, stability and security.
Apple hasn’t done that lately, change is good, but it has it’s drawbacks.
I guess I should have said I would like to have the old Apple back.
Not this greedy, megalomania, egotistical media empire that Apple has become recently.
Give me back the fun little Apple.
Will Steve do something wacky on April 1st?
I doubt it.
Forget it. I changed my mind. My next computer is going to be a Vaio.
Proud to be a Mac fanatic!!
Bumper sticker on my car!!
See my home theater
Macdude, who the hell cares what you think?
MacDude, unless you’ll be running Linux on your Vaio, you’ll be switching from one megalomaniacal company to an even worse one (with a second-rate OS to boot)
Last two posts not my own. The clones are at it again.
I’ve sold macs to dudes in Harvey Norman and I don’t work there, I have converted 2 of my PC lovin’ friends and I have Apple stickers all over my school books (Plan to put one on my future car!)
I LOVE APPLE!
What’s worse than finding a maggot in your apple?
A half of a maggot.
MacDude’s postings are becoming more and more like those exaggerated fantasies of Christmas form letters you get from people you never really liked but were forced to spend time with years ago. You know the sort: “everything I do is so much cooler and more important than anything everybody else does, because I know more, have more, do more than they ever can, etc. etc.” Pass the vomit bag…
>MacDude, unless you’ll be running Linux on your Vaio, you’ll be switching from one megalomaniacal company to an even worse one (with a second-rate OS to boot)
Hehe I like the pun at the end.
Been a Mac user since my first used PowerBook 520 bought in 1998 right up to my 12″ iBook G4 in 2004. Then I switched.
Got tired of waiting for an affordable large screen laptop. I purchased a 15.4″ HP pavillion dv5200 with 3000+ Athlon 64 processor, 60GB drive 64 MB dedicated Nvidia GeForce 440 video, USB, FW, etc. picked it all up for $700 Cdn (about $600 US). Was it ever a steal!!
Did I mention though that afterwards I’ve had to buy Adobe Photoshop Elements ($100 US), Norton Systemworks (w/anti-virus) ($100 US approx.) just to make it “similar” to my iBook in features. Next I was thinking of picking up Pinnacle Studio for video editing (another $100 approx.) but I’m having second thoughts … why you ask?
Because my year old iBook runs circles around this HP!!! As you add software to Windows it sloooowwwwss dooooowwwwnnnn!!
Sure I’ve got the screen but the laptop is heavy as hell!! The power brick alone is half as heavy as my iBook.
My only question to Apple is … why do I have to spend over $2000 Cdn to get a decent wide screen laptop? Screens just aren’t that expensive anymore!!
My 2 cents … damn missing keycap characters 🙁
Tatoos are for losers, period!
I’ve noticed Apple fanatics also have other traits:
– generally very anal
– poor debaters
– unreasonable, although they think they are
– not really funny, although they think they are
– snobby (snotty too depending on location and time of day)
– bratty when on the internet, often resorting to name-calling when pressed to defend their comments
The regular-types look, sound, and smell pretty much like the standard computer user.
Proud to be a Mac user.
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Greetings from Portugal!
You might be a Mac fanatic if…
…you don’t recognize this extension of a tired Jeff Foxworthy joke.
I went to college and got four of my PC-using friends to get powerbooks instead of dells or HPs. This company (Apple) can’t be beat
MPC Guy:
You need to get out more. Also, I believe that you omitted “True thinkers avoid conspicuous generalizations, blatant stereotypes, and narrow-minded bigotry; and have the capacity to admit their own mistakes and are willing to make corrections.”