“Gary Ian Reich remembers his first time in lurid detail: The struggle to get home, how he fumbled with the outer layers, his delight with what was concealed, the many lingering caresses in the ecstatic aftermath,” Pete Mortensen writes for Wired News. “Seven years later, it’s hard to describe the 34-year-old photographer from Annapolis, Maryland, as anything but an addict.”
“OK, you could call him a geek, too. Since that first primal moment, Reich has had many more ‘packaging experiences.’ He’s one of the legions of Macintosh and iPod users for whom the elegance of the user interface begins with the bold graphics and sleek texture of the box the new machine comes in. It’s in the smell and the way the box logically reveals each new component just as the user needs it. And, like the famously long-lived Apple Computer products they carry, these aesthetic outer wrappings have a habit of sticking around,” Mortensen writes.
“Legions of Mac users take pictures. Apple users have a particular fascination with online photo galleries of other users unwrapping the latest company products, often with a smiling model performing the geek striptease one USB cable at a time,” Mortensen writes. “Such galleries occasionally pop up for other tech products, but with less staying power. Photos of an iBook opening, on the other hand, can circulate on the net for years.”
Full article here.
Uh, oh. We just glanced around our palatial headquarters and see several boxes that are what could only really be termed “on display.” There are multiple boxes for multiple versions on Mac OS X, of course, many Apple software boxes, at least three iPod boxes for various models, a couple of Mighty Mouse boxes (why we need duplicates is beyond us, but we do – and, no, we’re not throwing them out), Airport Base Stations, Apple displays, and boxes for Power Macs, iMacs, and PowerBooks, to name just a sample. Curiously, the packaging for the likes of Samsung monitors, Epson scanners, HP printers, Belkin USB hubs, etc. are nowhere to be found. Yikes! Do you have an Apple packaging fetish, too?
Hey guys, you know how much the packaging costs right?
Think about it – an iPod costs $200, but really, it’s only $20, and the packaging is $180.
hehehehe
But we love your innuendo iDon’t, so don’t start holding back on us now…
I have to admit that I was a bit like that when I opened the iPod packaging for the first time. (Scary thought;)!) I still have the iPod box (20GB)
i put all my apple boxes on my bed, then get naked and roll around in them.
could i be a bit disturbed??? does anybody know a good box cleaner?
Apple product boxes shamelessly on my bookcase…10 GB iPod, 60 GB iPod, iSight, Tiger…I can take the geek heat
I think i have the box my free t shirt from the store opening came in. It wasn’t just a box, (altho many places would probably have just had them in bags). The box was sort of an origami affair, a longish rectangular cubey thing that unfolded into a circle with some flaps. No glue or staples or anything. Even the iPod shuffle packaging shows some thought.
MW -‘cars’ as in I can’t wait for pixar’s “Cars” movie
“but let’s face it, as much as I like my Mac, it’s not my freaking religon.”
BLASPHEMY!!!!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”shock” style=”border:0;” /> Who’s got a lighter?
Guilty here too. I’ve taken it further. I still have all the cellophane. And, to make matters worse, when I got my iMac G5 Rev B, I cut around (neatly) the cellophane on my keyboard to keep the back covered to prevent scratches. I did the same on the steel “foot” of the iMac.
Those of you who have the really old boxes, sell them on eBay and I’m sure you can get some good cash. Sell them with the computers, and watch the collectors flock
::: hugs his cellophane :::
But the only way you’ll get mine is if you pry it out of my cold, dead hands!
Sad but true…I feel the same way as the writer.
I felt bad cutting the UPC off the box of my new 60 gig iPod 1 month ago for the $179.00 student mail in rebate.
Lame it is…lame.
I have my G5 PowerMac box in that attic for when it needs to be moved.
I have a PowerComputing t-shirt (“fight back for the Mac”) I wear when I’m doing yard work. My Applet-shirt is now a paint rag.
The way some folks get all hot’n’bothered about Apple products, you figure if Apple put a solenoid in an iPod nano, it might be the fastest selling vibrator of all time.
Hmmm, a vibrating iPod nano playing Steely Dan…..
Somebody might think that’s something to get excited about!
I was playing some Steely Dan on my nano yesterday, but it doesn’t vibrate – it has no moving parts ; )
I bought a refurbished 15 inch Al PowerBook 1.25 GHZ Superdrive from Apple almost 2 years ago and it was shipped in a plain brown box. I am still bummed about that to this day. 1) I need a life if that bums me out and 2) If anyone has that box, I will buy it from you.
I bought tiger online and they sent it too me in an envelope without a box. I can’t express how disappointing that was.
Yep, I keep all the Apple product boxes iMac G5 rev B, Ipod G4, iPod nano, and iPod nano armband. Very very nice box indeedy!
Hey …. I still have an original Mac Plus Box with the OS box, Plus, Keyboard, Mouse, manual. Wonder what it’s worth now that I think about it. Am I sick for keeping this around?
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”rolleyes” style=”border:0;” />
I am not a sick person. There is a perfectly good reason I still have my MacII box. Oh, and the iMac boxes… and the iBook box…
Oh,I see what you mean
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cheese” style=”border:0;” /> Jobs help me!
oh my, I’m caught… I’ve re-opened my empty ipod box a couple times to regain the wonder
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> ~ my iMac g5 box still takes up much needed room in my office
Aesthetics, man. It’s all in the aethetics! That’s the feel you get from anything Apple, the care and attention to detail. Not only the way the item is boxed but the design on the box, it’s the presentation that’s what I appreciate. It’s like getting a bottle of perfume from a boutique. It just reeks of quality.
My wife makes a comment almost weekly along these lines: “Why do we need all these boxes stacked in the closet?”
I just can’t bear to part with them… and to a certain extent the PowerMac G5 and Cinema Display boxes will be great to pack the computer up when we move.
What I can’t defend is the boxes of miscellaneous accessories… iPods, wireless keyboard, Base Station, etc. Yet they remain!