“In the world of business, some companies have customers. Others have ‘clients.’ All of them try to create customer loyalty. Then there is Apple Computer,” Jim Stafford writes for The Daily Oklahoman. “Apple has created millions of fanatical followers who display almost a cult-like devotion to the California-based company that makes Macintosh computers.
“Every move Apple makes is chronicled in the technology media the way entertainers are tracked by, say, People magazine. When it opens a new Apple retail store as it did recently in San Francisco, hundreds camp outside the store the night before to be among the first inside on opening day. And yet, Apple holds but a 5 percent share of the computer market in a world dominated by Microsoft and PCs that operate its Windows-based operating system,” Stafford writes.
“Apple has created such devotion by creating ‘cool’ products and a slightly ‘counter-culture’ philosophy that strikes a nerve with its fans, said Michael Gartenberg, technology analyst with Jupiter Research. ‘Certainly Steve Jobs is the heart and soul of Apple,’ he said. ‘It’s very rare to see another company’s CEO speaking at a public forum with people lining up around the block for hours and hours on end in order to get inside. A Macworld keynote where Steve Jobs speaks is some parts marketing message and other parts revival meeting for the faithful.'”
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MacDailyNews Take: Yes, we’re all just ‘Macheads,’ millions of fanatical followers displayng a cult-like devotion to Apple Computer and our fearless leader Steve Jobs because the products are “cool.” And here we were just thinking we appreciated quality, stability, and products that simply just work. We don’t like to use Windows. We prefer the Mac instead. We must be “crazy.” Uh oh, here goes:
There are 2 things going on here.
First is appreciating quality, as MDN has said.
But secondly it can also be a “hobby”. People read magazines about bass fishing, collect stamps, watch “reality shows”, and do all kinds of things to relax. Being interested in Macs isn’t intrinsically weirder.
MDN, if you can’t even cop to the fact that tons of Macusers do have a fanatical devotion to the platform, then you’re kicking out your own RDF.
I love Apple, they make products that work exectly as advertised and sometimes even better than advertised. So what if I’m called a Machead, I really don’t care.
Macs make my life better, cause they fit in with my life and require hardly any maintenance. The odd SW update here and there, and that’s about it.
As I sit here writing this on my G4 with 20″ Cinema Display, my iBook is wirelessly linked to our company network and is streaming music to my G4 in the studio (Chili Peppers) and to my bosses office (Norah Jones).
When things work this well we normally take them for granted. It’s good that we always demand more from Steve & Co. cause they always deliver.
Does that mean that I’m a Machead as well???
I just didn’t realise how crazy I have been all these years.
Crazy for:
1. Innovation
2. Creativity
3. Quality
4. Beauty
5. Reliability
Oh my, I think that on top of being a Machead, I must also be a perfectionist as well.
Peace
Slandering somebody as “cultish” implies that there is a degree of unreality to their beliefs, that there is some illogical rational that blinds.
Well OKaaaaaay then! Using an operating system that is a second best copy, full of security issues and designed to require a gazillion compliant minions to keep the machines working…. hmmm
ohhh and before I forget… using an interface that looks like butt scrapings then saying they like it…
Hmmm Windows is the epitome of illogic… it is the Cult of Windows users that needs to be explored…
WOW, twelveeightyone. Your Boss is Norah Jones?????
Precisely Kill Bill. Why do people continue to use an inferior product like Windows just because everyone else does? That sounds more like the cult to me…
This topic is SO OLD it’s been discussed to death!!!! Let’s see, where did this news come from? The 80’s??
Personally, every night after a hard days work I drop by the local farmers market and buy myself a goat (or whatever animal is in season at the time). Then I go home and slice its throat, chant prayers to Steve Jobs and cover myself in the dripping blood while iTunes plays Gregorian Chants. What do you guys do when you worship the Mac?
Don’t drink the Microsoft Kool-Aid.
it appears that many have drank from the microsoft kool aid cup….
…and spat it out too!
When you use a mac it feels like you are in on the great secret of the computing world, namely that using a computer doesn’t have to be a frustrating experience but can actually be easy and fun. The wierd thing is that even though you then tell Windows users about this great discovery it remains a secret.
chucie c: perhaps it is still the 80’s in oklahoma?
NOBODY EXPECTS THE MACHEAD INQUISITION!
Our chief weapon is coolness… coolness and quality… quality and coolness…. Our two weapons are quality and coolness…and lickable interfaces…. Our *three* weapons are quality, coolness, and lickable interfaces…and a fanatical devotion to the Pope, er, Steve Jobs…. Our *four*…no… *Amongst* our weapons…. Amongst our weaponry…are such elements as quality, coolness…. I’ll come in again.
Yeah, well what do expect coming from Oklahoma? Note he makes an effort to point out Apple as a “California” company. Like in Monty Python: “Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean, know what I mean?”
He lives in the same state as Oral Roberts! Let’s talk about cults and fanaticism. ORU is a hotbed of ultra-conservative, mind-bending subserviance to extreme evangelical right-wing fundamentalism.
This writer probably wrote the piece on his Dell laptop (held together with “duck tape” and bailing wire, using a wireless (two cans and a string) connection in the yard outside his trailer house ( tornado magnet) next to his pickup (cowboy Cadillac) on blocks.
Then he calls to his wife/cousin/half-sister to bring him a beer, and she wacks him with a frying pan, cuz she thought he called her queer. Which is correct. Her father/uncle/cousin used to say “That gurl just ain’t right!”
yeah, yeah… and Christianity was considered a cult too when it was first started.
Firstly, kudos to finelinebob.
Secondly, to everyone getting all riled up about the implied slur: chill out and embrace your membership of the cult and laugh about it.
I refer to myself as a card-carrying member of Macintosh Hezbollah, when switching people to The Way of Truth and Light; it’s partially tongue-in-cheek, and partially true. Also, there is a difference between ‘ordinary’ brand loyalty and the link I and many of you feel towards Apple, its products and its management. Equally there is a difference between being a zealot (me) and a bigot (Thurrott), and I know on which side I’d rather be.
So Oral Roberts preaches a Biblical lifestyle. Sometimes the truth hurts.
The question is always why? But noone will simply spend a small amount of time and do a small amount of hands on investigation and discover why. That’s what sucks…people here are more brainwashed and fearful than the Iraquis(sp) under Saddam.
Kudos to donnie. You certainly know your history.
Some think all religions are cults. I don’t really see why Chri..
No hang on. We’ve done that one to death several times.
Must.Not.Get.Sucked.In.To.Religious.Debate.
Sum it up simply:
ME master, it slave
LOL Hywel. I couldn’t resist and got sucked in.
I love how MDN takes the “cult-like” analogy as an attack, then rebuts it with the Apple “think different” manifesto! LOL
Anyway, the hard-core macheads are cult like, but that’s not always a bad thing. Like many cults, Apple has a charismatic leader who has gained to trust and devotion of a lot of people. Seriously, Mac people are the only ones who are emotionally attached to their computer manufacturer of choice. But what’s wrong with that? Until Jobs’ dog starts telling me to kill my neighbors…. nothing.