I never knew what the hype was all about. There overpriced lower spec machines that people go nuts over. A friend of mine just sold his 5 year old mac computer online for $550!? You can get a brand new awesome up to date windows laptop for about that price, there phones are the same aswell, there newest phone doesn't compare to 6 month old phones like Galaxy S2, yet it's almost double the price just to get one. There technical support is complete bullshit, you have to pay them just to talk to them about your problem, what!?

So I'm just wondering why are people going nuts over this, year after year Apple is setting records and selling stuff like crazy, why!?

Apple products are expensive. There's no denying that.

They provide great support. I'm not sure why you think you have to pay to talk to someone. You can walk into any Apple Store and talk to their support staff for free. You also get one full year of support with any new Apple product.

The iPhone is similarly specced to any top of the line phone when it releases. A dual core chip, high resolution screen, 512 RAM (on the light side, but iOS is really memory-friendly), etc. It's on par with anything released... Does it look a little light seven or eight months after release? Sure, because it's over halfway through its lifecycle.

Macs hold their price far better than PCs. With a Mac, you'll receive at least five years of support for the OS and hardware. That has value to people. They're also more expensive new so there you go.

I own several Apple products because I have the money and I like them. If someone else builds a better product I like better than Apple's offering, I buy that. A logo on a box is just a logo on a box. I happen to like OS X better than Win7 so I have a Macbook Pro. There's no more to it than that.

My thoughts why people love Apple:
1. Brand/Marketing - Over the years Apple has built up a brand which is considered cool.
2. Easy to use - Though there is less ability to customize, it is much easier for a beginner to use.
3. Though specs are low, Apple uses higher quality internal parts. (Which tend to last longer)
4. Design - Apple products are usually very sexy.

Why they can get away with the price? There is no other company that sells Mac/iOS/iTunes devises, so they can charge as much as they want for their products. Since any electronics company can sell a Windows/Android based product they have to compete with each other for the same business. If only Sony sold Android based products and only HP sold Windows based products they could charge a lot more and the resale on your devise would be higher.

Diversity: apple pie, apple juice, apple syrup, apple cider, candy/toffee/caramel apple and not to forget the original fresh raw apple

It's a reliable brand with easy to use products, and well designed. That's about it.

But I'm in the same boat as the OP. They're overpriced, and there are better products out there. The one reason I would love an iPhone is because of connectivity with iTunes. It's a chore to get music on my android phone because I can't just sync it with iTunes...and all my music is on iTunes.

iPhone and iPod were truly remarkable creations which built them a massive fan base. If you look at smartphones before and after the iPhone it's pretty clear that it changed everything.

I don't really the iPhone is top of the line now though. Screen is pretty small and both the hardware and software designs are starting to look a bit dated. I hope the next increment does more to move the device forward than the 4S did.


I still don't get the iPad or tablets in general however. Outside of a few specialised niches they seem borderline pointless to me.

This my friend is a long running question that has been going on for years now.

And the most simple answer now is brand. The average consumer does not care as much for specs and the true capability of their machine as compared to having a recognizable brand that will make them look cool as well as a very user friendly interface (not that I'm saying Windows is a hard interface to use, I would like to see the average Joe use Linux). Furthermore they just like to have the assurance that their product is stable so that if anything ever goes wrong someone is there to fix it for them. Finally the looks, although I will say Apple Macs or any branded PCs for that matter don't even hold a candle to how sexy you can make a custom built PC look.

Well you know the old saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" right? Well yea thats exactly what people are doing, they are judging Apple products by how they look and how easy the interface is to use, not what their true capabilities are.

On Apple PCs.

Yes, they are overpriced for less capabilities. Only difference is the user's perceived notion of a better OS, in reality its just different. Its not even safer... just not attacked. That's why at EVERY annual hacker conference, Apple falls first in seconds to just a few mins.

On Apple iPods

iPods simply were a better product in terms of user interface and music stores. Their differences in this case actually justified the far more reasonable price difference.

On iPhones

They are the same basic price as other new high end smartphones. $199 with contracts or $500 to $600 of contracts. However, they hold their value longer because they only get replaced yearly where as new Android phones come out every month or so.

While the raw specs are equal at launch and then behind shortly after... their yearly upgrade cycle does keep them close enough to Android's that its not a big issue. However, like PCs they are generally more expensive that a better equipped Android. But unlike PCs the better equipped Android many times doesn't blow the latest iPhone out of the water when bench-marked. Its usually quite competitive due to Apple using decent components in the first place.

Then again, like PCs it comes down to preference in OS. Some prefer Android's flexibility, customization, variety, and typically better sale prices. Others have iPods and prefer the simplicity of it working the same with iTunes and the, like PCs, incorrect perception that its safer/more stable/etc.

But to say they are bad products or all crap, is definitely not true. Hell, I'd own them if I didn't enjoy freedom so much.

hmmm................ah, no....................wait..........................ugh!.................screen resolution?