Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Apple Fanboyisms

Did my usual Monday evening tech site/blog/web entity readings about the recent goings ons in the tech world. I marvel at the number of people who have been attributing the success of the iPad to some sort of fanboy phenomenon, or people are buying them just because they love Steve Jobs. If the folks outside Apple's circle of influence are just as clueless, God help Microsoft and Apple's other competitors.

If my Facebook friends list is the sample, less than 5% of my friends work in the tech industry. Only one third of those people own something, other than an iPod, made by Apple. None of them own an iPad. The people on my friends list who own an iPad, or intend to get one, know how to use a computer better than most average users. They aren't the clueless majority, or techie minority, but somewhere in the middle.

The one constant I find in folks who want an iPad, they all benefit from having a mobile computing device with them at all times. They are the sort of folks who would use it to work from their beds after the lights went out, while waiting in line at the DMV, or at a restaurant while waiting for food to show up. Their time is extremely valuable.

Also, every one of those people has sought to push the envelope of what the device was intended for. For instance, using it as one's primary computing device, getting it adopted on an institutional and commercial level, or figuring out how to use it to create media instead of just consuming it. Also, there is the intrepid user who managed to bridge the gap between their iPad and MS Office. The iPad was something different to each user.

If there seems to be some mindless solidarity among iPad users, it is because we (among the folks I know) are each inimitable people, who don't like being lumped together in a single pile over any issue.

-- Sent from my Tech Envy Generator

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