An apple a day

I usually don't make an opinion on things unless I have enough information on the subject. Somehow, I can't seem to do the same for Apple. Every time Steve Jobs makes a presentation on how "incredible" their new product is, I think "Here we go again!". All he creates is hype! Just see this video as an example.



I had a conversation on the iPad that my friend bought, where I said the same thing, and he replied very aptly, saying "It's like a big banner movie plays full shows for 3 days. If the movie is not really good, the movie ticket sales are bound to go down. But after the first thousands of sales of an Apple product, nobody comes back saying that the product is bad. The hype only ensures the first sales, but the quality of the product carries it through many more such sales."

Fair enough. It's a very sound argument. Couple that with the fact that I know close to zilch on Apple products. I was once gifted an iPod years back which I never used and so eventually gave to this same friend of mine. I kept the ear phones though, coz they were extremely comfortable! The reason I never used it was simple - I don't need it! Which is what I think for the iPad as well. The Mac and the iPhone I think are worth using (based on my limited knowledge on the subject), but Apple manages to price them crazy which just angers me more.

My friend, on the other hand, loves their products and maybe he convinces me someday. Last blog post I read of his, he was defending the lack of multi-tasking on the iPhone. But till that day comes, I have issues.

Mac: What's the point of making it so expensive?
iPod: I have a phone that plays mp3s. I'm not carrying two things in my pockets.
iPhone: I wouldn't have minded having one of these, but when there are other phones with similar features at a lesser price, why would I buy this?
iPad: I have a laptop that does what an iPad does. And more (I have a weird need to have spreadsheets with complex functionality).

All in all, I have this very irrational bias against them. I find Apple like Shah Rukh Khan. The sheer hype around it bugs me! Maybe someday I'll be able to overcome this. Maybe I gather enough information to truly and rationally detest Apple products. Or maybe someday I just learn to live with the fact that there are some things I cannot be rational about!