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Do You Feel Like You're The Only One?

Caliber26

Caliber26

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 25, 2009
2,328
3,658
Orlando, FL
I have come to the sad realization that I'm basically the only person, from my circle of friends and family, who embraces the Apple Ecosystem.

All of my friends and relatives (with the sole exception of one acquaintance, and my mother) all have Android phones. This makes some things, such as iMessage and FaceTime, completely useless to me.

I know nobody that owns an iPad, let alone Apple TV or AirPort Express, so that makes AirPlay useless to me, if I'm visiting a friend or family member and want to stream music or pictures to their TV sets or stereos. Likewise, if they come and visit me, not one of them owns an iDevice to stream anything to my Apple TV. Ironically, though, they are mesmerized whenever they come to my home and I show off AirPlay to them, yet continue to purchase their Android phones and tablets.

Goes without saying that none of them (with the exception of one) own a Mac computer and I guess I can understand that, given PC's affordability and market share. I just figured that the less expensive -- and insanely popular -- iOS devices should be more common among all the people I know, friends and family alike, but not that's not the case at all. What gives? Anybody else out there in a situation similar to me?
 
Caliber26 said:
(snip)

Goes without saying that none of them (with the exception of one) own a Mac computer and I guess I can understand that, given PC's affordability and market share. I just figured that the less expensive -- and insanely popular -- iOS devices should be more common among all the people I know, friends and family alike, but not that's not the case at all. What gives? Anybody else out there in a situation similar to me?
Click to expand...

I think the nice PCs out there for a great price will keep them on top of market share, but I do see a lot of PC users with Apple devices. I have seen more iPhones than anything else and the local Apple Store near me always mentions how well the iPad has sold. As for MP3 players, the iPod is pretty much the standard. When I saw a kid go into the Apple Store, they asked their parents if they could go to the iPod store. I think that pretty much sums up what Apple has become as far as their net profit and what people know Apple for. The last I checked, devices were 80.2% percent of their profit from an article I read in CNET.

Apple has become very rich mostly from their devices starting with the iPod revolution and if they even get a 5% percent market share bump in personal computers from all the popularity of the devices since the iPod, I would be surprised.

To date, I don't know anybody with everything all Apple. I have my four Macs which I love but I do OK with my Motorola cellphone, and I don't own an iPod or iPad.
 
Folk are always amazed by my Apple TV, iPhone remote, AirPlay setup etc. Yet, no one ever seems to go and get one themselves.

My flatmate doesn't like using iTunes on his Windows laptop, and will listen to music out of it's crappy speakers, when he could be using my home cinema system speakers (in the same room) if he used iTunes. He's complimented my home cinema speakers when I've been listening to music. I don't see what the big deal with using iTunes is as he has an iPhone and uses iTunes to put music on it it, just doesn't have iTunes filled with all his songs. He says "iTunes is crap" - which really irritates me. He can't give me a reason for it being crap, other than "it just is". If he had a valid reason, fair enough.. but saying it's crap isn't.

I think people are too ignorant when it comes to Apple products. Apple's brief history of incompatibility is long gone. I know people who just browse the web, email, Facebook etc who constantly moan about how slow and crap their Windows laptop is. But getting a Mac is out of the question... "oh, I dunno about Apple stuff".

Seems they're happy to stick with broken and slow Windows laptops than switch to a Mac..
 
It seems that it is not enough just to enjoy the Apple products that one has. There appears to be some kind of unhappiness that others don't have similar e-devices. It is possible that the motive is altruistic in wishing that others can be having as much fun and enjoying the benefits of Apple stuff.

But, IMO, it seems to me that there is a need for external validation of one's choices that underlies this discomfort at others not sharing your delight in owning Apple stuff.

Interesting phenomenon...:D


(I'll check back for the down vote count periodically :p ;))
 
wrinkster22 said:
Why do you buy stuff to show off to your friends. You can airplay in your house. So whats the big deal
Click to expand...

I don't buy stuff so that I can show it off to my friends. I buy things because I like them, they offer me practicality, and because I work hard to afford them. I'm pretty sure you know exactly what I meant by "showing off". Naturally, if I'm hosting a social gathering, I'm going to play music, or if I have new vacation pics to share with friends & family, I'm going to display them on my TV via AirPlay. Anytime people see this in action they are fascinated, but I don't do it to be a show off.

Shrink said:
It seems that it is not enough just to enjoy the Apple products that one has. There appears to be some kind of unhappiness that others don't have similar e-devices. It is possible that the motive is altruistic in wishing that others can be having as much fun and enjoying the benefits of Apple stuff.

But, IMO, it seems to me that there is a need for external validation of one's choices that underlies this discomfort at others not sharing your delight in owning Apple stuff.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the analysis, but you're a little far from the truth. I actually do enjoy the Apple products I own. In fact, I enjoy them so much, that I continue to invest my heard-earned cash into them and I couldn't be any happier about my taste in things and I do this with no one's validation other than my financial institution's, whenever I swipe my card at the Apple Store. TRUST, that's the only validation that I need. ;)

Thing is, most of us do enjoy sharing common ground with the people in our lives. While I don't necessarily need anyone to be into Apple products as much as I am, it would be nice to have friends and family who I can share this passion with. It's more often than not that I come on here and read everyone else's stories about how their entire circle of friends and family all own iStuff, so I was just curious as to how many people are in MY situation.
 
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I'm actually in the opposite boat. Most of my friends have bought into the Apple ecosystem, and when I show them what I can do with my PC, 360, and WP7, they are astounded. For example, most of them don't know that Intel MiFi can stream anything from your PC to a TV... and it's built into all 2nd gen Core CPU's.

Airplay? So last year. I'll just tell my 360 to play whatever it is I want. And when they go "But doesn't that mean you need to buy everything from Dell (my PC manufacturer)?" I say "Nope. Use any Windows PC, any WP7 or Android phone, they'll all work together. I choose not to limit myself to being boxed into a single company's product."*


*may be embellished for posterity sake.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
I choose not to limit myself to being boxed into a single company's product.
Click to expand...

While I agree with that, I tend to break the rule with Apple. Apple's products are so successful because they are all tied into the Apple ecosystem.

While there is alternative solutions to the likes of AirPlay (Xbox, PS3 etc), they don't offer the integrated solution that Apple offers. It's one thing having something that works, it's another to have something that works and is effective at it plus more.
 
Caliber26 said:
I don't buy stuff so that I can show it off to my friends. I buy things because I like them, they offer me practicality, and because I work hard to afford them. I'm pretty sure you know exactly what I meant by "showing off". Naturally, if I'm hosting a social gathering, I'm going to play music, or if I have new vacation pics to share with friends & family, I'm going to display them on my TV via AirPlay. Anytime people see this in action they are fascinated, but I don't do it to be a show off.



Thanks for trying to play psychologist, but you couldn't be any further from the truth. Contrary to your uneducated guess, I actually do enjoy the Apple products I own. In fact, I enjoy them so much, that I continue to invest my heard-earned cash into them and I couldn't be any happier about my taste in things and I do this with no one's validation other than my financial institution's, whenever I swipe my card at the Apple Store. TRUST, that's the only validation that I need.

This may be a foreign concept to you, but most of us do enjoy to sharing common ground with the people in our lives. While I don't need anyone to be into Apple products as much as I am, it would be nice to have friends and family who I can share this passion with. It's more often than not that I come on here and read everyone else's stories about how their entire circle of friends and family all own iStuff, so I was just curious as to how many people are in MY situation.
Click to expand...

Aside form the angry stuff, I'm more than willing to accept your explanation of your feelings about your Apple stuff, and your desire for shared community. I am also willing to acknowledge that my opinion might have been in error. It wouldn't have been the first time.

BTW: I don't ""play" psychologist, I practice - and I'll keep practicing until I get good at it.:D
 
iMessage and FaceTime are worthless anyways. Tons of my family and friends have Apple devices, but there's basically no benefit. Choose the devices that are best for you, and you have nothing to worry about. Watch you friend's Android phones die halfway through the day, and laugh at them.

Oh wait... That last part's kinda rude ;O
 
Shrink said:
Aside form the angry stuff, I'm more than willing to accept your explanation of your feelings about your Apple stuff, and your desire for shared community. I am also willing to acknowledge that my opinion might have been in error. It wouldn't have been the first time.

BTW: I don't ""play" psychologist, I practice - and I'll keep practicing until I get good at it.:D
Click to expand...

Sorry, about that. Didn't mean to come across as an angry jerk, I just got annoyed that what I said got twisted around into something it's not. Thanks for acknowledging my explanation.
 
I remember starting boarding high school in 2002 and being one of like 4 peole in the entire school with a mac—some of my oldest friends are friends because we banded together as the only mac people around. Now, 10 years later, nearly all of my friends have iPhones, and well over half of my friends have macs. There's a certain feeling of "I liked that before it was cool"...but I'm not that vindictive. :)
 
senseless said:
It was way more lonely in the late 90s when Apple was completely irrelevant. I don't get that feeling today.
Click to expand...

You are right, but it was cool to have the better computer by far.

Many people I knew were running Pentium IIs or even K6-2s which were the new processors on the PC side while I had a PPC G3 which was far better at the time.

My iBook had an active matrix screen vs. what was mostly passive matrix screens on most PC laptops at that price point. I had over four hours of battery life with a Li-ion battery while the PC laptops didn't post those times. I had OS 9 where the PC world was being introduced to Windows ME. There was no doubt that Apple's 333 MHz Powerbook was far ahead of any PC laptop in late-1999 with the 300 MHz iBook not far behind. With similar speeds the PC laptops were lagging on boot up, tasks, and shut down.

These days, while I still prefer my Macs, PC laptops are matching if not beating the Mac laptops at the same price. Desktops are cheaper on the PC side and they are doing fine with a relatively stable Windows 7.
 
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