One of my friend's fiancee was talking to me about the iPhone, and I could not believe the words that oozed out of her mouth: "I don't think I could live without my iPhone because I can't live without Google Maps!"
I think this statement sums up the rampant psyche of many Apple users. In particular, the notion that the iPhone and Macs can do everything, and that every other phone or computer is incapable of doing anything. This is a notion that, in my opinion, is perpetuated by the infamous iPhone slogan, "Only...on the iPhone," that would follow the now wonderfully-abused-by-Verizon-phrase "There's an app for that".
So I've decided to list some things that annoy me about uneducated, computer-illiterate fans of Apple. Let me know if you know of anything else I've forgotten. I'll continue the list in future blog entries.
1. "I can't live without my Google maps!" Let's start with the aforementioned scenario. I don't understand how people come to believe something as totally incorrect as this statement. At the instant that the first iPhone was released, there were already about 15,000 Windows Mobile apps and 50,000 standard Palm OS apps available.
But for some reason, people still believe the iPhone is the only phone that can accomplish anything. In fact, Google Maps for Mobile was released in 2006 for all java-capable phones, and the iPhone wasn't even announced until January 2007!
I blame Apple and their ads. Read the words taken from a 2009 iPhone ad, "If you want to find snow conditions on the mountain, there's an app for that...and if you want to check how many calories are in your lunch, there's an app for that...only, on the iPhone." I'm not sure how Apple gets away with this blatant misdirection, but there are apps for that on the Palm, Android and Windows mobile platforms.
2. "The one thing that is definitely better about my PowerBook than my old PC, is that when you open the lid, it starts instantaneously..." I have heard this from 3 separate people...idiots. No offense to my friends, but they are idiots when it comes to computers. All I do is change the settings on their PCs from hibernate to suspend, and the response is always the same: "Oh, who knew?" Drives me insane!
