I'm a final design student writing my dissertation and i want to know what makes people love Apple so much? is it something to do with the brand, the community (if so how do you feel part of the community) or is it simply the products

any anwers will be appreciated

I don't love Apple. Why would any sane human actually love a corporation whose only interest is in getting you to part with as much as your money as possible for as little effort as possible? Humans, even animals, are worthy of love, corporations are worthy of nothing but an exchange of cash for goods when they've made something worth having.

I agree with Code Monekey. They made some pretty good products, but the corporation itself is not worthy of "love." One can appreciate that they make products easy-to-use, with slick design asthetic, simple GUI's, and few techical difficulties. I can also appreciate the philosphy of having technology for the sake of creative or productive reasons - not for its own sake.

That being said, I haven't actually used a Mac since about 2001, and I was not impressed at the time (it was an iMac). My iPod rocks, though.

I think their design is pretty damn cool looking, and their ability to sell devices is astonishing. Aside from that, I don't particularly love Apple.

To be honest, I used to be a diehard Microsoft man until just about a year and a half ago. I got my first ipod then, saw how easy to use it was and decided to switch from a Windows PC to a Mac. I still use Windows mostly, but I do enjoy my Mac too. Later this year I plan on getting a better Mac system and will be switching totally over to it then. Ease of use, understanding of new technology, and friendly & helpful associates is why I love Apple.

Good industrial design and aesthetics - thats about it. Their products don't work any better than their rivals, and the rabid Mac fanboy community is a huge turn off.

Love for something that just wants your money isn't love. It's stupid.

I don't love Apple either, but there's an interesting dynamic with Apple that hardly any other companies have. Product announcements have the aura of a pop concert - wild cheering crowds that will provide a standing ovation for nearly anything. Where else do you see that?

Apple takes more interest in design and simplicity than its rivals. The simplicity was originally of great interest to those who found DOS/Windows too complex; this gave them some fans, but not like they have today. The big-time "love" really came with the recent focus on music & video, stylish designs, and emotional advertising. Apple is appealing to more personal, deep-rooted emotions than their competitors.

Once Apple became "hip", a lot of the marketing was done for them by the fans (including a large percentage of "tech" writers), giving them a huge overall marketing advantage and making the "love" grow.

Its an enviable marketing position to be in. They can get away with things that other companies never could. Products are almost never pre-announced; Apple keeps everything a huge secret and waits until the day they're in stores to announce products. This eliminates the waning interest normally occurs after "coming soon" announcements, and eliminates any reduction in demand or discounts for soon-to-be-obsolete product. Of course it sucks if you're one of the ones who bought a product that was obsolete a month later, but everyone loves Apple so who cares about those losers?

Quote: (Originally Posted by lauraprice10)
I'm a final design student writing my dissertation

Just a piece of advice, here. Be careful with your choice of the word "love." For an academic dissertation, it's probably a bit vauge, as its meaning is extremely subjective. I think you have two choices: either choose a different word to encapsulate how you perceive the emotional reaction of Apple consumers, or better yet, use "love" but define what you mean by that in your paper.

For example, you could easily define "love" in this context as Apple product consumers that are loyal to the company, want to spend all their time with the products, and take great measure to protect their "lovers." Much like human love, you can draw the metaphor out and then feel free to use the word "love" throughout your paper.

I don't love Apple.

Great guys, it's unanimous then, We don't love Apple, we like some of their products anyways, but love is too strong. Apple is first and foremost a business, don't never forget that. I guess we guys are just more realistic (boring? )

Well, I'll break ranks; p'bly fair to say that I love Apple. I've been buying Apple hardware since 1980, and Apple's innovation and integration are what makes computers bearable for me ;-) (I go back to the days when you loaded your OS by hand from a cassette tape; back when 8K RAM was A Big Deal.)

Apple's engineering has always been first rate, affecting far more than the finished product. F'r'instance, the first Macs broke new ground in plastic injection molding, by creating a new advanced die process to deal with the roller cradles in Mac mice. All those chips Woz would cook up....

For an old fart like me, Apple's earned a place in my heart by producing great hardware in support of "insanely great" ideas for half my life; outside of cow's milk, it's hard to think of any other product line that's performed as well (and lasted as long) as my Apple stuff (good heavens, I'm still running a Quadra 605 ;-)

#1 reason I love Apple -- thanks to the Steves, I never had to live with DOS!

S2

Quote: (Originally Posted by S2_Mac)
Well, I'll break ranks; p'bly fair to say that I love Apple. I've been buying Apple hardware since 1980, and Apple's innovation and integration are what makes computers bearable for me ;-) (I go back to the days when you loaded your OS by hand from a cassette tape; back when 8K RAM was A Big Deal.)

Apple's engineering has always been first rate, affecting far more than the finished product. F'r'instance, the first Macs broke new ground in plastic injection molding, by creating a new advanced die process to deal with the roller cradles in Mac mice. All those chips Woz would cook up....

For an old fart like me, Apple's earned a place in my heart by producing great hardware in support of "insanely great" ideas for half my life; outside of cow's milk, it's hard to think of any other product line that's performed as well (and lasted as long) as my Apple stuff (good heavens, I'm still running a Quadra 605 ;-)

#1 reason I love Apple -- thanks to the Steves, I never had to live with DOS!

S2

hahah I cut my teeth on DOS. My early experiences with the Macintosh were less than desirable, but that's because I was used to a command line rather than a GUI. I remember when my 8mhz computer was cutting edge fast with 640k ram, a mouse was optional, and norton commander was the most graphic GUI I was using at the time.

Quote: (Originally Posted by S2_Mac)
Well, I'll break ranks;

Traitor!

Quote: Apple's engineering has always been first rate, affecting far more than the finished product. F'r'instance, the first Macs broke new ground in plastic injection molding...

Okay okay, just don't forget Newton, the forever overheated Mac Cube, Apple III, Lisa.

One thing I don't love Apple for... those overly cutsy names they use for everything...accckkk. Totally unmanly.

The Newton was way ahead of it's time despite it's problems. It was killed for political reasons more than anything else and the last iteration was a darn good machine by all accounts. It got more bad publicity that it ever really deserved. The Mac Cube may have sold poorly but has a surprisingly large following these days, overheating was only an issue with the first models. The Lisa was also ahead of it's time and WAY overpriced, again for Political reasons. At $10K a pop, it was just stupid. The Apple III was a total flop.