Apple created the idea of a rebellious "oppressed minority" (to quote Neal Stephenson) by hiring big ad firms. The devotion to Apple is not what it used to be as now Apple is everywhere and the myth is obviously breaking down. Despite that, fervent supporters remain.
The Apple Pope, Jobs, said 7" was ridiculous, so the faithful have been faithfully expressing disdain for the idea. Now the mini is widely regarded as a good thing, and will be loved by many of these same people when it's announced.
Another interesting thing to watch for is the coming change of opinion with regards to the ugly long phone. It's been widely panned, but as more leaks come, more people chime in with "Take My Money" and what not. (Remember the widespread condemnation for ANY change in screen size? Down the memory hole, Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.) Now, my prediction, is that you'll see widespread love for the new ugly phone in a similar manner as many espoused the great utility of Siri (only later defended as "in Beta" and now open reviled by many as the marketing gimmick it always was.)
You're mostly right, but what I do not like is that you put everything who likes Apple products in
one group.
You're suggesting that everybody was really enthusiastic about Siri. I was not. Many were not. In fact, Siri is only supported in very few countries and Siri
is a useless for a big majority.
You're doing this with more things (like the 7-inch tablet). You're suggesting everybody who likes Apple products agreed with Jobs. Well, guess what, a lot of people didn't.
I love Apple products, but that doesn't mean I think everybody what Apple does is great. I don't really like the Mac. The designs of their Macs is usually quite good, but I simply don't like the software that much. And thus, I don't have a Mac. I have Windows 7 PC. And even though I'm using Windows 7, I'm not planning to upgrade to this terrible thing called Windows 8.
I'll give you another idea. I bought the original iPad in 2010 and a third generation iPad earlier this year (in 2012). In 2010, the future of iPad was far from certain. It didn't even do multitasking, but I wanted to try the iPad anyway. It was the first real tablet with multitouch and acces to a big App Store. It had great battery life - I just wanted to try it out because, well, tablets... tablets were a category of devices few people had ever entered. I didn't buy the iPad 2 because I felt like the upgrade was not big enough, but earlier this year I bought an iPad 3. I really like the retina display and over-all it was a great upgrade from the first generation iPad. That doesn't mean the iPad 3 is perfect. I even wrote a short article here on Macrumors on why the iPad 3 is great, but it isn't.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1336624/
Similar story for iPhone. In 2010 I owned an iPhone 3GS (which I bought in 2009). When I saw the iPhone 4 for the first time (via Gizmodo), I actually really, really liked the design. I considered the iPhone 4 to be a big upgrade compared to the iPhone 3GS, so yes: I bought the iPhone 4 the day it came out. And it truly was a big and great upgrade. In fact, I'm still using an iPhone 4 today. I'm eligible for a new contract with a new phone. I didn't get the iPhone 4S. Siri is useless for me. And a dual-core processor + a better camera won't do it for me.
I might consider the sixth-generation iPhone, but it all depends on what new features the iPhone will get. All we know now is a different design, a 4-inch display and - if we look at the iPad 3 - LTE. Nationwide LTE networks won't become operational until at least 2013 over here so, for me, that's not a valid reason to upgrade. The different design is nice, but that's also not really worth it to spend $1000+ in a period of two years.
So I'm really hoping they come up with some awesome new things. Hopefully they'll add NFC (because, as it appears right now, NFC will get a great future). I also hope for even better cameras (both front and rear), better battery life (hopefully with faster charging through the new dock connector) and a better chip (A6?) which is even more future-proof (so at least 1 GB RAM, hopefully Cortex A15 architecture) [but we probably won't get a new chip].
But hey, since I can get one on contract I might just do it. For the first time since 2009 the iPhone is cheaper (with a 2-year contract) compared to previous years. The cheapest possibility I have found now is 200 MB internet + 90 minutes + unlimited texting. Total costs over two years (with a 16 GB 4S)? €765,00. That's a little less than $950.