“Apple’s acolytes may not be in heaven just yet, but they are convinced the latest sermon from prophet Steve Jobs means they’re on the road to the promised land of more Macs and fewer PCs,” Ian Grayson and Simon Hayes write for Australian IT in an article that’s illustrated with a photo of Apple CEO Steve Jobs that is captioned, “High priest… Steve Jobs? Is “
“When the Apple Computer chief executive took the pulpit at Macworld in San Francisco last week he told the faithful the company would make its biggest effort yet to entice PC users to the Macintosh platform, with a range of Intel-based machines… Mr Jobs did not announce any new product lines or additions to the successful range of iPod portable music players, but he did reveal their role in Apple’s revenue rise. Apple’s sales leapt 63 per cent in the last quarter of 2005 on the back of iPod sales, Mr Jobs said. It sold more than 14 million iPods in the quarter, up from 4.5 million in 2004’s final quarter. ‘That’s equal to 100 sales every minute, 24 hours a day for the entire quarter,’ he told the gleeful audience of Apple devotees.” Grayson and Hayes write.
“There was a fair bit of glee in Australia too, where Apple resellers have spent the past couple of years looking in vain for the halo effect,” Grayson and Hayes write. ‘In the initial year the halo effect from the iPod was small, and as a reseller I can tell you it was small,” Ben Morgan, operations director of Apple Centre Taylor Square, Sydney said. ‘In year two, the halo got larger. The number of customers buying the Mac is still small, but it’s people who would never have bought one.’ Resellers, some of them less than enthusiastic about Apple’s decision to open up the iPod to Windows, are now starting to see the Mac as an easier sell. Others say an always-strong core of Mac loyalists is being supplemented by a growing band of new recruits.”
Full article here.
Apple’s acolytes. Latest sermon from prophet Steve Jobs. The faithful. Road to the promised land. High priest, Steve Jobs. Etc. Are Grayson and Hayes serious? If they are, what is their intent in characterizing Mac users are religious acolytes, fanatically following a prophet and high priest? Is it designed make Mac users look weird? Is it designed to hide the fact that Mac users have chosen to be Mac users, even as many are forced to use Windows at work? Is it designed to somehow protect and defend the Windows hegemony by making the Mac choice look like the choice of fanatics and crazies, instead of the superior personal computing choice? Choose Windows and you’re “normal,” choose a Mac and you’re a “cultist freak?” Is that what Grayson and Hayes are trying to convey?
Or maybe they’re just trying to be funny? Let’s all ask them both:
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They’re poop heads
MDN’s take: so well said. such insight. How do you do that in the five minutes your boss isn’t watching is beyond me.
Joking
Great job MDN
Amen to SJ!
No, Mac users are educated and no an unsafe out of date operating system when we see one.
MDN: “If they are, what is their intent in characterizing Mac users are religious acolytes, fanatically following a prophet and high priest?”
Reply: But Mac heads are religious acolytes, fanatically following the prophet and high priest, the Stevego. Are you confused MDN? Are you false prophets, spreading the gospel of Steve but not really believing in it? Behold- ye might be smite down!
MDN: “Is it designed make Mac users look weird?”
Reply: Is a radical believer of any religion weird? Or just a real believer? Some may call my religous following the Stevego weird in his jihad against the dark side Microsoft, but it was I and many more like me that finally put the value of Apple more than the evilDell. We are the chosen, we believe in the Stevego and the Mac.
Some people may call the new laptop a “MacBook”…but shouldn´t it be called the “MacBible”??? For what is the holiest book in all the land than the Bible?
Praise the Stevego, Praise the Apple.
Now I will go listen to the secret Apple sermons from the Stevego on my iPod. When I do I always face Cupertino, California.
John: “Mac users are educated and no an unsafe…”
John, that should be “know”, not “no”.
Well….so much for us educated Mac users….
I’d call it a feeble attempt at thematic journalism.
Yes! We ar so very edjumacated!
You don´t get it MDN or you really don´t believe in the Mac.
The answer to all your questions is YES! You didn´t know the answers? Shame.
Let us bow our heads in prayer…and advertise!
I’d say the Blind Faith required to be a zealous Windows follower qualifies as a Religion more than being a zealous Mac follower.
can ya give me an A-MEN! pa-RAISE JOBS-ah!
and now let us all bow our heads and pray-ah:
Oh great JOBS-ah, we beseech thee, strike DOWN thy enemy Microsoft and DAMN them straight to DELL-ah. blessings be on thy followers, may they find everlasting Stability-eh and Reliability-eh on their current Macs-ah and the next-ah. In Mac we pray-ah, A-MEN!
religious acolytes: pay their QuickTime upgrade religiously then use VLC
Yes, I’ve been wondering about the upswing in “macolyte” characterizations. I think PC Pundits are just running out of things to call Mac users on.
Halo Effect—
I was sitting at a restaurant bar on Saturday, talking to my wife about the new Intel Macs (we were heading to the Apple Store after lunch). A young man working behind the bar overheard us and we starting comparing our appreciation for our respective 12″ PowerBooks. He was talking about putting his on Ebay so he could buy a new MacBook. After conversing with him for about 15 minutes on how great the Macs are and what we like about them, it comes out that he has been a Mac user for only about a year! Yeah, he got an iPod a year and half ago (his first Apple product). There IS a halo effect.
Well, if the Mac is a religion it has to be Zen Buddism – peaceful, thoughtful minimalist and highly effective for those who choose to practise it.
And naturally it follows also that Windows must a religion too, only it is Radical Islam – terrorist tendencies, loud, controlling, fragmented and much hated.
One has a future and the other in its current guise doesn’t!
The most ardent Mac fanatics are the new switchers. Sort of like Born-Again Christians who want to spread the word.
In their heads, they have seen a better way.
Tech. Journalism 101 – Writing About Apple – Web and Print (10 Credits)
1. If you write about Apple, Jobs and/or the Mac, always avoid facts, careful research and really any research at all if you want lots of readers or web hits.
2. Use as many religious references as possible. Macolytes don’t mind and Windows PC users still think it’s funny.
3. Always refer to marketshare instead of installed base. And always use single-digit numbers regardless of your source. You don’t actually need a source and it’s o.k. to make up a number.
4. Quoting a source from the 1980s is preferred.
5. Never hesitate to use trite puns especially in headlines. “Rotten to the core” and Apple Yields Bad Fruit” are always in style.
6. NEVER, EVER, EVER, actually use an Apple product before submitting a review. Don’t even look at one. It’s not safe.
7. It’s spelled MAC.
8. The iPod is a fad. Just like all Apple products over the past thirty years. A fad can only last a century at most and who has that kind of time?
9. All Mac users are bizarre, defensive, lonely cultists. They may send you e-mails about your articles. It’s best to ignore anyone who has actually used an Apple product (refer to number 6).
10. They are also liars. About everything. And what they call “flamebait” is actually just reliable, productive journalism that your editor will want.
11. If possible, change your opinion several times throughout a year’s time about Apple products. Again, it is not necessary to back this up.
12. Get in on this bandwagon now because this company will not be around for much longer (refer to number 8).
Ampar,
You forgot that they should seek out a turd named Enderle for am entertaining comment.
Hey, it looks like Wired has at least some readers down under. This has been their main angle of attack against Mac users for quite a few years. These two just took a page out of their book (or magazine) Hey, if you can’t dis the product, go for the users!
However, it is nice to see an article about an increase in Mac sales and mindshare.
PS: I hope you’ve all been polite and grown-up after clicking on those mailtos, otherwise we’ll be getting a “look, Mac users are all fanatics, I can prove it” article next week!
This’ll probably be the most-read articles those dudes have ever written!
Ampar, you forgot the REAL rule number 1: Apple is just about to go out of business, any minute now! See also rule 9 (formerly 8)
MW: daily, as in that’s how often we see this kind of crap!
MDN Take: If the shoe fits….
Last night I found out 4 out of 5 of my geeky Aussie friends have Macs (although one is only a tourist – his is supplied by his job.)
So, there’s an opportunity there now:
4/5 geeks choose Macs. What computer is your family using?
(joke Joyce)
Btw, Mac penetration in Australia appears to be pretty low. Very few people have them, and my rough guess as to the average number of people you might know with Macs is probably less than 5 people (by “know” I mean family/friends, not acquaintances you met at the pub.) Then again, with articles like this one, it’s no wonder.
Actually I’ll just quickly add that it might appear that the number of people you know with Macs might increase now with this halo effect, and probably just the general buzz around the products.