Confessions Of A Former Apple Hater

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Apple store logo on 5th Ave in NYC, New York

Apple seemed like a cult.

The fans were rabid.

You better not speak negatively about their Apple product.

You better not speak ill of the company itself.

If you do, you better watch out.

They’d all come after you en masse!

And in their eyes, Apple can do no wrong.

Even if it was definitively proven to be the case.

Just like……..a cult!

I couldn’t stand any of it:

  • The fandom
  • The company
  • The products
  • The Man

And then it all changed.

Let me make one thing very clear:

I am not an Apple fanboy.

I was, admittedly, one of those folks that bashed the company for making so many of its products too similar in nature and functionality for my preferences.

Seriously, there were like 100 different iPods on the market at the same time.

But, somewhere along the way, I came to realize something and eventually caved a little, buying an iPad when the 3rd generation was released, although I didn’t camp out at the store to get it.

In fact, I got an iPhone as well.

I know my fanboy comment seems a little far-fetched so far, but keep reading and you’ll understand everything soon enough.

“I Hate Everything Apple”

From the very first time I saw an Apple computer, I knew I would never like them.

For some strange reason, I had a total hatred for the simple reason of the mouse with no separate buttons.

I mean come on, how can you have a mouse that doesn’t have distinct left and right-click abilities!?

And where the hell was the scroll wheels or thumb buttons, how would you easily navigate your web browser or productivity programs efficiently?

Besides that, I had absolutely no intentions of ever getting into graphic design or any other area that Apple was designed to be superior for.

Besides, they cost enough to buy two really good quality PCs, and even more if you sacrificed a little quality and some features.

When the iPods came out, it was a similar story for me.

Why on earth would I need something that would store thousands of songs giving me hours upon hours of musical pleasure?

I have had stereos in my homes even before the advent of these things.

I haven’t had commutes that would possibly have necessitated owning a product such as this.

I never went on runs or did any other activities which would require me to have a personal music player.

And again, there was the issue of price.

Microsoft had their own version as did several other manufacturers at a lower cost to me if I ever decided to get one (no, I never did, so no Zune jokes).

My attitude towards the iPhone was no different from the previous products.

Way too much money compared to the alternatives which were supposed to be just as good or even better (so-called iPhone killers my ass!).

“If I Can Change, And You Can Change, Everybody Can Change”

[Cool points for those of you who know this line!]

Seems like I was totally against the company, huh?

So what happened that made me run out on the third day the New iPad was available and pick one up?

I stopped the blind hating and opened my eyes and mind, that’s what.

I gave it a real chance and shopped the right way.

This time was different, I was different.

In the past, I allowed the Apple name to dissuade me, which is funny since most of the time a brand name is supposed to persuade consumers.

In the past I allowed my dislike of a particular product to affect my judgment of all others.

In the past I allowed my feelings toward a douchey, cocky CEO with an affinity for turtlenecks to affect how I viewed his company’s products (who’s the douche now?).

It really is amazing what can happen when you try something different, particularly when it is the right way.

My iPad Is The Shit!

Unlike most of the products that run on Google’s Android operating system, whether they are phones or tablets, this thing kicks all of their asses.

It’s thinner, more powerful, more expandable since apps are designed first for the Apple App Store before the Google Play Market, and the battery is almost never-ending (well, not really but it does last a long, long time).

Perhaps the most important thing that turned me to the “dark side” is the logistics of updating and upgrading.

Since only one company builds both the hardware and software, Apple products are universally updated whenever one comes out, assuming it is still being supported.

Any carrier that has an iPhone in its product line-up gets the exact same version as the others.

Compare that to the Android crap, where there are no less than five different handset manufacturers, and each carrier gets a different version of a particular phone if at all (some manufacturers will not make a variant for some carriers while doing so for others).

If an update from Google is made available, it first has to go to the manufacturers to be customized for each of their particular products before even getting to the carrier and that’s the part that pisses me off since it’s not even known from the beginning if a certain product will be given an update as is the case of what happened with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android version 4).

If you thought to yourself that I was one who was left out in the cold when the ICS update when live, you are correct, and that was on a phone which most experts thought would handle it nicely.

Well, there are also my issues with Google’s business practices as it relates to small businesses but you can read about that another time.

I finally decided to give Apple a chance, and when I did, I was more than pleasantly surprised.

You could probably say I was knocked on my ass when I finally saw what I was missing out on.

In fact, I am so impressed with how much better than Android the iOS operating system and the iPad hardware is compared to Android and its many handset providers, I am going to be trading in my Android for an iPhone.

It’s not over yet

Hold on now, I’m not becoming a fanboy or anything just yet.

I still have issues with the iPad and iPhone interfaces compared to the Android.

I hate having a bunch of icons on the screen rather than being able to have widgets that are useful and informative without even launching an app.

I also love having seven different screens available for displaying the widgets and icons so the display isn’t so crowded.

I will miss the variety of options available to choose from.

Granted, I can always switch over to a Windows device, but my experience with those products wasn’t the most positive when the first one came out in the form of the HTC Hero a few years ago.

Bottom line–Apple may just have won me over, but only time will reveal how much of a fan I do become.

Your Turn

How do you feel about Apple products–are you one of those “never Apple” people? Are you one of those “only Android” people? Do you not even care and just get the cheapest thing that does what you need regardless of name or platform?

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20 Comments

  1. You do know you can arrange your icons onto different screens, right? You could put one icon on each screen by itself if you wanted. =P

    Anyway, I’m glad to see this post because I know how anti-Apple you were before you bought the iPad. I think it says a lot for Apple’s “walled garden” when a former Apple hater sees the value in uniformity across all devices. I’m the biggest fangirl on the planet (as you know) but I didn’t start out that way; it came after my experiences with products that are stable, predictable, and always work the way they’re supposed to.

    iDevices aren’t perfect and there could always be improvements, but I like knowing that I can accomplish what I need to – especially for work – without waiting for updates that may never come or struggling with shitty hardware.

  2. ya what she said. you can as many pages as you want. You can also group your icons into little subject groups as well (I have one for a ll my reading apps, another for all my music apps, another for all photography apps… you get the idea)

    Welcome to the dark side!

  3. I’m not a big apple fan either I actually hate their stock price right now and think it’s absurly over priced. There is a market for Apple products but definitely not the end all be all!

  4. This concept of going down the path of being a user of Apple products is one that I’ve resisted, but might actually revisit soon. My current Android phone (droid X) was the latest and greatest when it came out a few years ago, but I haven’t been completely thrilled with it. Seeing the latest iPhone that a few of my friends have has really gotten me to consider that for my new phone purchase, which will likely come soon. I might be converted too!

  5. I am still an Apple hater. I don’t see why I should spend that kind of money for something that is no better than what I am doing now. In fact, for a lot of what I do it seems that Apple would hold me back.

    I was just looking into the Surface Tablets with Windows 8. I like the snap on keyboard with the Windows environment and touch screen.

  6. Welcome to the darkside! I just picked up an macbook pro 13inch to go with all my other apple products and I couldn’t be happier. Truth be told, it just works man. I was an Apple hater too, then over the years they won me over. However, the ipad mini is a complete piece of shit and fuck them for switching the cables to the new format.

    1. My boss has one of those (macbook Pro), and I have to admit that it’s pretty slick. The other side is that it cost so much more than a windows-based laptop, and now with those Dells that have the flip-screen, I may actually end up switching back to Windows should the new OS turn out to be a revelation like people are saying t will be once it’s perfected.

  7. I resisted apple for a long time but when I started using my IPhone it was one of the moments in life where I thought how lucky we all were to be living at a time when we have this kind of power in our palms…podcasts,news,email,facebook in our palms. There are plenty of alternatives now to the IPhone now and I completely understand your attempts to resist being another Apple fan boy

    1. The funny thing is that the biggest thing that competitors overlook is how great the battery life is on Apple products, which is one of the strongest selling points to me. I could live without some of the apps that are Apple-only,but not having to constantly recharge is a whole heck of a lot better than anything else most of the other companies offer.

  8. I have never had any Apple products other than an iPod, but will be upgrading my phone in a few months, so it’s good to get some opinions before I decide. Still not sure an iPhone would be worth the cost, but we’ll see.

    1. Since this was my first foray into the world of Apple, I may be a bit overly optimistic when it comes to future purchases based on this experience. My contract is up on 12/31 and my initial thought was to jump on the iPhone, but I may hold off a bit to see what the next version entails before making the switch away from Android.

  9. I know several people who looooooooooooove their ipads! I am always so behind on technology. I think I am just too cheap to get too into electronics.

    1. There are certain things that I feel are necessities, and ever since my laptop died, a mobile option was one of those necessities (from a business standpoint at least). I have stifled my desires for a bunch of other things like a new soundbar to replace my outdated home theater set-up and a tv for my bedroom and office, but this was something that would increase productivity which I’m all for.

    1. I can understand how people do get hooked so easily. I can honestly say that the performance, especially the battery life is leaps and bounds above all of the others I tested (read: bought and returned)

    1. I’ve never been a follower of the whole “beauty” trend with those types of things, but when I got my hands dirty and saw how markedly better the iPad was than the Android counterparts I went for it. I’ve found that it was well worth the little bit of added cost. Now, if we talk about the computers, I will pass that up in a heartbeat solely based on price!

  10. I used to prefer PCs vs. Apple, but I am changing! In the last 2 years I have had a couple viruses on my computer. My next computer will be an Apple. In the long run, Apple is less expensive than the initial sticker shock.

    1. You are exactly correct. The amount of time wasted waiting for a Windows computer to be available for your use in a single quarter offsets the sticker difference between a Mac and a PC.

  11. The more you use Apple, the more you realize that there is a difference…you actually get to use the device rather than try to keep it running. They “just work”.