HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Again, don't re-write history. Even AFTER iPod was launched, Apple fans here ripped it as "too expensive", "we already have music in our Walkmans/Tape Decks/Mini Discs/various iPod-like devices/Etc", "Competitors already do everything this iPod does", "Apple has lost their minds", etc. And yet the multitudes bought anyway.
You should clearly recall how successful iPod was. IMO, iPod (not Mac) made modern Apple possible: iPod begat iPhone begat iPad begat Watch/Airpods/et all. If iPod flopped as bad as "the experts" around here then projected, Apple Inc might still be Apple Computer, probably striving to hold maybe 3% of the personal computer market in 2023... if Apple survived until 2023 at all. In my own case, "crazy high priced/nobody will want" iPod brought me to Apple, leading to laying down hundreds for that early iPod and $2999 for a (first) Mac in 200X dollars.
If you don't recall that "armchair genius" sentiment, have a look at one of the early launch threads to get a sense of Apple fan opinion about it (and does any of that sound familiar if applied to Vpro? One could almost copy & paste and change the name of the product). Those opinions were POST LAUNCH, when "we" could actually try iPod, use it, listen to it, etc... not 6+ months before launch when we still had little idea of what it is, what it could do, how it functioned in full, etc.
Before iPad launched, it was rumored to be $1000 and was viewed as "just a big iPod", "insanely priced", "nobody will want" and yet the multitudes bought anyway. Those threads are in abundance in history here too. Look 'em up and see for yourself.
Watch was viewed with contempt as rumors piled up that it was actually coming. "Why do I need a watch, when my phone can do everything it can on a bigger screen and my phone is always with me?" Etc.
AirPods embracing Bluetooth means loss in audio quality (and that's true), latency issues (and that's true), worries about battery drain when wanting to use it (and that's true), not easily shared with others when wanting to watch a movie together on the plane (and that's true), etc... and yet, the multitudes bought anyway.
Bigger than 3.5" and then bigger than 4" Phone screens? "Abominations", pants with bigger pockets, man purses, fragmentation, one handed use, etc. Now many of the same people that slung all that ridicule small-screen phones.
Apple Pay? "Why should I want NFC when the plastic in my wallet already works perfectly fine everywhere?" After Apple Pay was rolled out some of those same people were wanting to boycott any store that won't "let me pay with Apple Pay."
See any pattern here? Apple Fans seem to:
- Hate stuff before it is actually available to buy,
- Close to official launch, the hate moderates with lines like "it's starting to grow on me" and "I'll have to try one in the store"
- At or shortly beyond launch, "shut up and take my money" and "how did we ever get by without this?"
Ahead of airplanes, mass sentiment was: "if God wanted Man to fly, he would have given us wings"
Ahead of the automobile, mass sentiment was: "Why do I need a dangerous/noisy/insanely-priced horseless carriage when I already own horses that can get me anywhere I need to go?"
In spite of so much MASS resistance to planes and cars, I'm glad their inventors pushed on anyway. Else, we would all rarely get to see much more of the world than where our horse or our own legs can carry us.
That's easy. Start with armchair experts declaring a brand new kind of product useless, "nobody will want", "Apple has lost their minds", "what does it do that my existing stuff can't", "far too expensive", etc. as they did with EVERY brand new kind of product before it. There is an extraordinary comparison of collective pessimism BEFORE a brand new product is available for purchase prognosticating how it is DOA... just like all of the majors before it. And here we go again.
"Think different"
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