One of the most boring arguments I hear from Apple haters is that all of us who use Apple’s devices are part of a cult.
It annoys me, because that means they suggest I’m under a spell, and once I got captivated by that spell, my brain stopped working, and Apple took over the thinking. And that is why I keep buying Apple devices: since 1989, when we bought our first MacPlus.
I guess that if you don’t use Apple devices and have never experienced the satisfaction they offer, it might seem very strange that people use them and are happy and content. Especially if your experience with Windows and Android is more frustrating and annoying. So, of course, you have to come up with some kind of reason why those Apple users are so happy and loyal.
From my perspective, Apple users generally know more about their devices than Windows and Android users do; they are more interested in them because they work well. Apple devices almost turn into your friend. It’s more than a tool.
That’s why Apple users care more about their devices: they update their OS and iOS whenever a new version is released. Read the article on Tapscape.com – yesterday, 40% of all iOS devices had upgraded to iOS7. Only in a couple of days! My Facebook feed was full of friends that was upgrading to iOS7 as soon as it was launched in Sweden. What’s more, there are very few iPhones and iPads with older iOS versions.
Have you heard of anything like it in the Android world? I’m sure you haven’t. The typical Android user would explain that Android users are not part of a cult and therefore don’t follow every step that ”the leader” takes. As an Apple user, I think it’s just plain dumb. Upgrading shows you care about your devices. This is what it looks like in the Android world:
Add that Android users have more than 3,000 different variants to choose from. That is what they call freedom of choice. The developers call this hell. Well, I guess there have to be some enthusiastic developers who actually like to develop apps for Androids, but if you ask me, you probably have to belong to a cult to cope with all the extra difficulties that follow from this mess of variations and different stages of upgrades.
Who’s the master behind this mess? Google. The ”do no evil” company that gives away everything for free, like the kid in the schoolyard who gives candy to everyone and hopes to become popular. Well, that’s not the whole truth. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and there is no such thing as a big search engine company giving away things for free. They earn their money from ads and paid search results. That’s why Android is free for anyone who wants to build a smartphone. You can do whatever you want with Android if you just know how to write code.
The problem is that’s exactly what developers do, especially in China. They figured out that all that ad stuff was a bore and that they don’t like Google’s search engine, since they have one of their own, Baidu, so there’s not much for Google to make money on. You can read about that in this article from
ExtremeTech. To make it worse, China is the number one source for Android malware.
Now, there are, of course, some Android power users, and they are very easy to detect: they are the ones who have actually figured out how to surf the internet on their devices… Do you think that I’m unfair and mean by writing this? The fact is that research after research gives the same result: iOS users surf the web, Android users don’t. It’s like a mystery why they don’t. Maybe they think it costs a lot of money, maybe they just want to make phone calls with their smartphones (that’s like buying a computer to use it as a lamp), or maybe they can’t figure out how to do it. The consequence is that Android users don’t buy much online either, while iOS users do, so more money flows into the system, making it more stable. An OS without money in the system is like a house of cards – it offers no stability.
By the way, Android users don’t like paying for apps either… they just want everything for free and believe Apple users are stupid for paying for everything. I guess they thought it was stupid when Apple turned the music business upside down by introducing iTunes several years ago. Pay for music? When could you get free, pirated music online? Well, it didn’t take long for a lot of people to buy music on iTunes, and they still do, and it’s not so bad for musicians either, because they get paid. App developers get paid, and authors get paid when they sell e-books in Apple’s iBookstore.
I believe in clean business solutions. If you want this, you have to pay for it. Simple like that. If you don’t pay, you just won’t get it.
This is why I want to stay in my Apple world as long as it remains smart, functional, beautiful, and delivers an excellent user experience.
