Katherine Pope sat among hundreds of other people in the West County Mall, waiting for an Apple. Although not edible, Apple Inc. products are able to download over 600,000 apps and harness the Internet, empowering them to do far more.
“I am definitely attached to my iPhone,” Pope, senior, said. “When I break or lose my phone, it’s the end of the world to me. I don’t think I can live without it.”
Pope said she became part of Apple’s fanbase after reading Steve Jobs’ biography.
“I would consider myself part of [the Apple subculture],” Pope said. “I waited in line for the iPhone 4s, and it was really cool being there because I got to be around people who appreciated Apple like I did.”
Pope said although there were people who shared her love of the company, there were plenty of others who did not understand why people would wait in line for an Apple product.
“People would walk by and call us crazy and roll their eyes at us, but it was really cool that I was able to spend my day around something I was so passionate for,” Pope said.
Luke Backer, junior, finds it difficult to appreciate the company as much as Pope.
“People think I have a burning hatred for Apple, and at one point I did,” Backer said. “But there’s more important things than going around hating a company that makes a product that a lot of people have.”
Regardless, Backer said he still prefers PCs to Macs.
“Most of the time, Apple will produce a really well-working product, but there’s only one way to use it, whereas with other technology from Apple’s competitors, you can customize it way more and use it the way you like to use it,” Backer said.
Backer said his dislike for Apple lies not with the company, but with the loyalty and infatuation of its customers.
“Whatever Apple puts out, people will buy because of the reputation the company has earned itself,” Backer said. “I do think that the reputation Apple has earned is fair, but I think people go out a lot of the time without even researching the product and buy it just because it is Apple. To me, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
Matt O’Brien, freshman, has been building and modifying computers since he was in middle school, but even with all his hands-on experience with technology, he does not have a preferred type of computer.
“Today, it’s gotten to where you have big Apple people and big PC people, kind of like the Democrats and Republicans,” O’Brien said. “My family is pretty Apple crazy, and my dad says we live in an Apple household, as crazy as that sounds, but I’m pretty neutral.”
O’Brien said he notices both the positives and negatives of the company’s products.
“Overall, I think [Apple] is a good company that has made a lot of innovations, but I can also see how some people can be annoyed with the format and how it might even be too simple,” O’Brien said.
Although he recognizes several differences between Apple and its competitors, O’Brien said he is not loyal to any one company.
“It would take a really revolutionary product from Microsoft or an Apple you can modify to change me into a PC or Mac person,” O’Brien said. “For now, they both have their really good pros and really bad cons.”
