It's called word of mouth. Also it's called your friend (or your brother/sister/mother/father/cousin/whatever) has one and they let you try it. Also it's called you get curious about it and check it out at an Apple store. Apple has never had spec parity with other company's products (though in some specs they might be ahead, in others they won't be). Where they've succeeded has always been in how they put the bits together. So it's also called faith in Apple, a kind of faith few other company's have earned from their customers. They didn't get that faith by waving their hands around and saying that they've got the fastest processor, the most megapixels, the biggest jeejaw. They earned it by making superb finished products. The highest pixel count display only lasts until somebody else has the highest pixel count display, and every year the time between such spec improvements shortens more and more quickly. Apple can't compete with a bajillion other companies on specs. Which is not to say that specs don't matter at all, just that Apple has made them matter only in how they relate to the previous version of their product.
It's the experience a user gets when using the product. If that's what sold the devices then surely they must have used them beforehand. I know I didn't. As for the faith in Apple thing, sounds like nonsense to me otherwise the whole world would be on Macs, but they're not. Word of mouth though... I can go with that. You hear far more praise for iPods and iPhones than you ever did about Apples other stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect The whole world doesn't use Macs because Apple doesn't compete on the bargain basement level that your typical PC owner is looking for when they go to the store looking to spend less than $300 on a full desktop machine with printer.
Just to add to this old thread a personal experience...you CAN indeed transfer purchases from device to device if you have logged on to that device with the same gmail account. I have an Incredible - because that is what my carrier of umpteen years has. When I upgraded to this model the apps I had before did not automatically load but in my applications list they were noted as purchased and I downloaded them for free. If, and possibly when (since there is a new rumor every hour), my carrier has an iPhone then I would indeed consider switching phones but for me - my phone is my phone and is more of a productivity aid and my iPod Touch is my "toy." But that is just me.
Exactly, and the whole world doesn't trust Apple enough to pay more. People are fine with buying expensive cars, furniture and holidays because they know the extra money makes it worthwhile, as soon as it comes to computing it's "Meh, Windows is fine. Plays games".
If you think people who buy expensive furniture, cars, and vacations are a typical consumer I'm really not sure what to tell you.
I wouldn't trade my MacBook Pro for anything though. And I have encouraged a lot of my friends that it is well worth the extra cost.
I just got an iMac a few weeks ago. Despite having lower specs than my Windows machine, it's one hell of a computer. It's also quieter than my laptop.
Actually, there's something that doesn't ring true with your statement. One big reason why people choose Windows over Apple is primarily for business reasons. When the majority of companies use Windows-based systems, it’s a hassle for the typical consumer who may not have the tech background or even the mentality to go through converting documents for example from an Apple to a PC. Yes, cost does come into play, but convenience/compatibility was and is a factor. In addition, prior to this decade, the number of software apps for Macs was shrinking. If I’m a consumer looking at buying a computer at the time, why would I buy one that is both more expensive and has fewer software applications? On that note, much of the progress of the PC can be traced back to the 1980s and a licensing deal that Bill Gates entered into with IBM. While Jobs decided to keep the Apple OS exclusive to Apple only machines, Gates decided to license his OS to other computer makers and thus the birth of the affordable PC in everyone’s homes today. That’s why PCs are as inexpensive as they are today and more widely used. In some ways, you see the paradox with today’s Android OS which is licensed to a number of device manufacturers. While many talk about how Jobs is a genius today, there was a time when the decision to not license the OS to other computer makers really had Apple in the dumps financially and explains to this day why its market share for Macs still hovers around 10%. And by the time Apple decided to license its OS to other computer makers, it had already missed the train. Honestly, if Jobs hadn’t stumbled onto the iPod which later evolved into the iPhone, Apple would be in dire straits. Macs have had a resurgence because of the iPod and iPhone and not the other way around.
I think the iPod is basically what saved them, and put them on the radar for the non-informed mainstream. As you said, people know Macs only because they know iPod/iPhone. Also about the whole 'informed people' business, for me it seems that Macs are for the less informed than the PC. From what I've heard (I haven't had too much experience with Macs myself), PCs are apparently more 'open', allowing people to mess around and tweak it to their personal liking (hence, 'personal computer'), whereas Macs are a more closed system, when you get a Mac, that's pretty much all you're gonna get. PCs seem more liable to damage, but with the right know-how, if you look after it, it won't blow up on you (hence the 'more-informed' consumer). Just my two cents.
That's why I made sure to say things like 'for me', 'from what I've heard', 'I haven't had too much experience with Macs', 'just my two cents' etc. Then again, I see people made random conclusions with PCs here as well, so.
Even today, most people don't choose at all, and aren't even aware that there is a choice. There's more awareness than before, but it's still not widespread. Mac sales were steadily going up anyway before the iPhone, which you can see simply by looking at the data. They ditched the bad old Mac OS and replaced it with OS X, got that into shape, made some nice computers, and some people started to take notice. --Eric
http://www.apple.com/opensource/ Major components of OSX are entirely open source, you have access to a complete completely scriptable command line interface, and a ridiculous library of open source software which will compile on a Mac with almost no effort. You can also run all forms of *nix or Windows as your operating system either along side of instead of OSX. I'd say that's the opposite of "open," unless you're referring to hardware, in which case that's the same with any all in one computer or laptop and isn't unique to Macs in the slightest.
So are you guys really saying a phone coming out in the future will have better specks than the one I have now F*** Apple
personally i love having an ipod touch, so i just get an ipod touch plus the phone of my choice so i dont have to worry about games
I ordered my HTC Desire. First of all, I think Apple is an aweful company, and it's just brainwashing people with their "simplicity" and their ability to create massively hyped products. I mean, you can't deny, 500 dollars for a 2TB external HDD? WTF? Thats 5 times as much as it should be! Second, Android is great, at least, better than iOS. Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkzMhoo7_Ks&feature=fvw It's also more open and more customizable and it's everything I want. Third, HTC Desire is half the price, same speed. Retina display is bullcrap.
