So, I’ve been getting the question quite a lot lately, and I’ve decided to finally just spell it all out for everyone. Not only are people asking me online, but offline too. So now I’ll just tell them to go to the blog and they can read the whole rant for themselves. First I’ll go into the plethora of legitimate reasons, and then the final not so legitimate ones. 🙂 Now you people know I’m a Microsoft and Dell fangirl. Will love both brands forever and a day, so obviously this comes from a slightly biased place. It doesn’t make the facts any less true.
These are not in order of importance, just in order of how I remember them.
First – the “if it’s not an iPhone” commercials… really? I can’t read books because I don’t have an iPhone, I have an HTC Arrive, or an HTC EVO 3D (Windows Phone 7 and Android) that can prove otherwise… just soooooo arrogant and SMUG. The way they act that if you don’t have these devices you can’t do all of these things, that are FLAT OUT LIES! Most of the features of the latest version if iOS have been part of the Android operating system and even Windows Phone 7 for quite a while.
Second – People just follow them because everyone else does, and often they REALLY don’t even know why. They say “oh Apple is just better”… really? give me some hard data on that, cause all I see is “more expensive”. most of the people that say that can’t pinpoint exactly what it is that makes Apple “better”. They talk about hardware quality and service, but sure if you spend the same amount of money on a super high end PC, you will get that same build quality and service. I have always purchased Dell XPS machines. They are a bit more expensive, but the service and build quality is extremely better than an Inspiron model. The reason is Inspiron is priced for the general market. The hardware and service isn’t going to be as good as an XPS machine. You get what you pay for. It’s not that Apple is better, it’s that they are more expensive because they use higher quality parts. You can get the same high quality in a PC.
Third – Articles like this http://www.pcmag.com/
Fourth – When I get an email from Barnes and Noble that you can no longer browse for books within iOS’s Nook app. Really Apple? Are you THAT threatened by another book store that you have to limit their app?? Why not let the USER decide which app they like best.
Which leads me to Fifth – Apple thinks theirs is the only way of thinking, so it doesn’t let you do anything with their devices besides what they decide is how you should best use them. They don’t “allow” you to use flash on iOS, they don’t “allow” you to think about how you work, and let you customize exactly what you want to see on your home screen (such as Android with widgets). They make you use their products in the way they think is best, and I’m here to say, that what is best for you isn’t always what is best for me.
Sixth – People always saying that it doesn’t get viruses… it only doesn’t get viruses because they only have a 10% market share of the computing world. If a hacker could take down a major corporation by writing a virus for Apple, they would, and they will….as evidenced by today’s news of a Mac virus http://gizmodo.com/5899352/mac-flashback-trojan-find-out-if-youre-one-of-the-600000-infected. The truth of the matter is that of course they are vulnerable to viruses, it’s just that there are less corporations and less of the entire population using the products. The people who create viruses are going to want the widest spread infections. That means they will go after the largest market share of the population.
Seventh – The crazy crazy fanboys. I admitted at the beginning that I’m a Microsoft and Dell fangirl. When Windows 8 is released, I’ll probably buy it. Will I wait outside to get my copy? No. They are legions of sheep blindly following Apple into the depths of eternity. If Apple makes it, they will buy it. These people and some of my FB friends have made Steve Jobs into something along the grounds of Christ-like. As if buying an iMac or iPad has changed their lives so drastically, they have lost their own personal savior, and he was here to save their souls from technology sin. Steve Jobs was just a business man who was a genius in marketing and a genius in making you feel stupid if you didn’t buy his product. Speaking of….
Eighth – The releasing of their products. People ask my husband why he doesn’t like Apple. They need to understand that he has been using a Mac since around 1985. Hands down, that’s longer than anyone in his FB friends have had one. He exclusively used a Mac up until 2001, when we got married. We think Apple products are easily overrated, and overpriced. The biggest complaint I have with them is their crafty marketing to slightly tweak an iPhone or iPod and call it a new model, year after year. They had the technology to make a product better and/or the same as the current market, but refuse to do so, because they have secured their place in the industry around mobile phones and mp3 players. Both of which, Apple did not invent. They are just milking the fanboys every year instead of putting all of the technology they can into a great phone, they decide to space it out so that you “need” to upgrade next year. Then when people try to distinguish one from the other they get all upset! Don’t call it an iPad 3… it’s just the iPad! Yes, Please make it impossible for me to find the right case for my particular device. “I have an iPad”… “ok what year did you purchase your iPad, that will help me determine if I need to sell you this iPad case or this other iPad case.”
Ninth – Now, I know it’s not nice to speak ill of the deceased, but the Steve Jobs worship. This bothered me before he passed, so it’s not like I didn’t think this when he was alive, so I don’t think I need to change my opinion just because he’s passed on. What he did, was take existing products and make them better looking, and arguably easier to use. In my opinion, he was the master of marketing and telling you that you needed one of his products. I feel sad for his family, close friends, and colleagues for their loss. I don’t feel sad for ANYONE who thinks they knew Steve Jobs simply because they bought an Apple product. Get over yourselves! Also when he took back over Apple in 1997 he stopped the companies charitable efforts, and there are tons of reports on how hard he was to work for. Then everyone says that Steve Jobs was such an innovator! Really he wasn’t. He was not the first person to invent an mp3 player (Anyone remember Creative Zen or Nomad or the Diamond Rio?). He was not the first person to invent a tablet (Microsoft was releasing tablets 10 years ago!). He was not the first person to invent a smartphone or an app store (Remember the apps available for the Palm Treo). All of these things existed before. The one thing I’ll give him is that he was an EXCELLENT marketer. He knew how to package a product, make it pretty and give it mass appeal, and make sure that everyone wanted it. Which now leads me to…
Tenth – iOS. iOS is the EXACT same user interface that Palm Pilot had back in 1998. It’s a wall of apps. Yes, it’s much prettier than it used to be on the Palm, but it’s the SAME USER EXPERIENCE! Now we have Android with widgets where I can glance at my tablet and know exactly what my todo list is, my calendar for the day, the items on my shopping list, which of my favorite blogs have been updated, how many calories I have left to consume for the day, and the latest emails I’ve gotten. Without opening anything! Just by looking down at my widgets on the home screen of my tablet. With Windows Phone 7 I’ve got live tiles. Same thing. I can look down and see exactly where I stand with Twitter and Facebook notifications, emails, my calendar, to do list, etc. There is no reason to have to stare at a wall of apps and open several different things to be able to find out what’s going on in your day, and people think that THAT is easier?? They just don’t know any better, and are following the crowd that tells them the iPhone is the best thing ever.
The not so legitimate reason I hate apple is that I know Microsoft products inside and out. I can fix anything on a PC. When I stare at a Mac screen to try and fix something, I’m a bit lost, since I don’t work with it everyday, and let’s just be honest. I do NOT like feeling lost on technology. 😀
So there it is. My top ten reasons for hating Apple and their products. I’m sure there are more, but this rant is already longer than most of my posts, and so I’ll end with this… don’t blindly follow a company or their products, do some research and find out what products best suit YOUR needs. Don’t follow the crowd. Stand up for yourself and get the technology that best fits you. If it’s an Apple product, I will stand behind you, as long as you have checked out the other options first.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive compensation if you make a purchase using the links.
I have to say I was always put off from Apple products because of the attitude so many of the devotees have, such a smug “I am so much better than you because I use Mac.” And that attitude is rampant in their commercials, which turns me off. I do have an iPod and and iPod touch, which I like for the most part, but the inaccessibility of the battery really bothers me. Plus the screen of my brand-new, 5-day-old iPod touch shattered from a very short fall from my toddler’s hands. For the price of those products, I was really disappointed in the durability. The fall was not considered anything covered by the warranty and it is only because of a very nice manager at an Apple store that I was able to get a replacement. The Apple store was a weird experience for me too.
Totally agree Priscilla! Thanks for sharing!
Not sure if I understand your complaint. You gave your iPod Touch to a toddler, it got broken. How can that be Apple’s fault?
It was not covered under warranty but Apple gave you an replacement anyway? How good is that? The very nice manager you speak about is an Apple employee by the way.
Do you really think others think they are better than you because they use Apple products? I think that can be said about any group of people whether it be Apple, Windows, Samsung … If you feel inferior because you don’t use Apple products then that is another story.
I think my favorite reason up there is how a lot of the people who love iPhones can’t tell you why. Drives me crazy. As a Windows phone lover (full disclosure – I tend to get them for free, but would have no problem spending my own money on one), I yell at the TV when iPhone commercials brag about great new features that I was using on my first Windows Phone over a year ago. That’s not to say that WP is better because it was first, but the genius of Apple’s marketing is presenting their products in a way that makes you think they invented the feature.
YES! That drives me INSANE! “I LOVE Apple products!!” “Why?” “They are BETTER!” “What makes them better?” “I don’t know”…. ARGH! Makes me want to punch something. 😀
Sing it sister! I was buying all the “i is better, apple is better, Steve Jobs is king” propaganda until I met the fiancée. He does Auto CAD, and is a self taught techie. I know where the on button is on the computer. I tend to click things, mostly because they show up on the screen. Yes, I have a problem, but, admitting it is the first step, right? Anyway, a few years back, after he built his current computer from the delivered cardboard box of stuff I had no clue what any of it was. He gave me the “old” computer he had also built. With in a few weeks of my getting it. It started acting “funny” (read I downloaded a replicating Trojan Virus, remember I like to click things that pop up on the screen). After three days of an extremely calm man, locking himself in the home office muttering profanity under his breath, and mumbling something like, “if I have to do a complete wipe…..”. I said these words…..”why don’t we get me a Mac or Apple they don’t get viruses” ….. You would have thought I had suggested chemical castration of all men in his bloodline, including him. That’s when I received my first lecture on “isheepeople”, his own word meaning i+sheep+people= people to lazy to learn how to use better equipment, that does more and that costs less, but does not have as flashy of a marketing scheme. I am now on Linux Ubuntu and run Mozilla Firefox. So far I have only managed to make him say “how the hell did you crash LINUX?” once. He loves me 😉
Great story! Love that he educated you. 😉
I have come around to his and your way of thinking, mostly for 4 reasons 1) most of my friends are isheepeople, and at least once a day someone posts how they tried to update their ipod/pad/phone and it crashed and every time they try to update something similar happens, that they think they must be doing something wrong. It kills me that they never think that the i device/service is the problem. (2) Every time I said “so in so’s” phone/pad/tablet can do this… he shows me a device that can do three times more, faster for half the price and is more easily upgraded. (3) i/apple/mac is a pain in the nether regions to upgrade if they ALLOW it at all and (4) the whole “there’s an app for that” what the hell did you people do before there was an app for that? Ok, my rant’s over.
I get more calls about how to troubleshoot Apple products….and that’s not even our product. I think they are very temperamental and I do not care for them one bit.
The reason that I first found your blog was when I was searching for reviews for the Palm Pre (which I loved and I really appreciated your posts about it). When Palm basically died I migrated to the HTC Evo Shift and again found you in step with where I wanted to go. I have really appreciated all your posts about NON-APPLE computers and devices. We don’t drink the Apple kool-aid in our house either, although we did break down and get iPod Touches for our two boys for Christmas. Those are the only Apple products we own. Once they are old enough to have their own phones, the iPods will be history. We have always used mp3 players and our phones for our music. My husband has always feared iTunes because of all the proprietary crap that Apple puts on your computer just by downloading iTunes. Now our kids have iTunes accounts on their computers, but it was hard for my husband to finally break down and let them have it. Anyway, I’m so glad to see a post from you again Sarah! I’ve been missing you on Tech4Moms.
Thanks! I’m definitely going to be posting more. I had a lot of stuff going on in my life over the last couple months, but the dust is finally settling! This was a good post for me to get back in action. 😉
I find it interesting that Apple “fans” are really only fans because their circle of friends all have iPhones or iPads, and heaven forbid one of them go and get an Android or Windows phone. And maybe if they dared them, they would get a Blackberry. 😉 I’m firmly believe that you should get tech products based on your individual needs, not because everyone has one. That’s how I got my PS3, and it sucks. If Apple products are the way to go because your lifestyle and needs fit those products, then absolutely. But, I think generally Apple users get Apple products becasue everyone else has them. I mean, look at the commercials? You are literally left standing there feeling like an idiot if you don’t run out an get the newest, slightly tweaked iPhone or iPad. The commercials are total lies and yet everyone doesn’t care, and rushes to the store to get and iPhone or iPad.
Apple does not invent. They never have. Apple takes an existing product, and makes it really pretty. I have to give them credit for that. Hands down, Apple products are better looking. The iPhone4 or 4s is the sexiest phone on the market. Nobody can deny that. Keep in mind, I’m not saying that Microsoft or any other company doesn’t suck. For the most part, every company has shady tactics and commercials. My biggest complaint is the fanboys. They ruin everything. In fact, they refuse to take a step back and at least agree on the fact that Apple doesn’t invent anything, they only make slight changes to their products that have been on other products months prior. I mean, is paying another $400 for the newest iPad vs the iPad2 a good investment? “But, the resolution on the new iPad is so much higher than the iPad2. Well, whoopity-doo!!!! When viewing a photo on a 10 inch screen, you aren’t going to see the difference between the two models. Unless you decide you want to view that high res photo on an HDTV, then sure. But, don’t forget that $40 proprietary Apple HDMI adapter becasue having it built into the iPad would be dumb.
Let’s talk about viruses. Who cares!!! I have a 6 year old Dell XPS that has never had an issue. Don’t look at porn, don’t click on pop-ups or banner ads, and don’t download crap from torrent sites. That’s how you get a virus, and if you do, you deserved it. “Well Macs don’t get viruses!” Again, who cares!!! If you were a d-bag hacker that writes virus programs, and (I would say) 80% of the general population has a pc, why would you spend your time or l33t skillz writing a virus for a Mac. The time for that is way overdue. I wish that someone would make such an a-hole of a virus for Macs, just to shut them up.
in regards to Greg’s comment: The reason iPhones or iPods “work so well” with car stereos is because EVERYONE has an iPhone or iPod. Why would Alpine, Sony, JBL, or Pioneer make decks with only usb or micro usb ports on it when they know that the mass sheeple out there has an iPhone or iPod. Just for the record, I have an iPod. It’s 5 years old. At the time, there wasn’t another MP3 player. Apple totally dominated that market. I will replace it when it dies.
Well, that’s enough for me.
Sarah, your site is wonderful! Keep up the great work!
Thanks Bruce! Great comments!
My single biggest problem with the whole iWorship thing is that Apple is more toy company than tech. Remove everything Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, etc. from the world, and there would be absolute chaos. Remove everything Apple from the world…Well, there would a lot of depressed people who would soon find a comparable device. But life would move on pretty quickly.
I will share my experience. I got my first computer in 1980. An Apple IIc. It was expensive and did very little to be honest. I started bying PC’s after that because of the price and programs available. I can attest that the Windows OS pre-Win95 was absolutely horrible. I am certain there was more hours productivity lost from people sitting behind locked up screens than any other time in history. BSOD became a very well known acronym much to Microsoft’s chagrin. My 3 daughters all have DellXPS 17 inch i7 laptops running Win7 and although it is much less infrequent the BSOD is still alive and well. In fact two of them have already had the hard drives replaced under Dell warranty, one of them twice! They are less than a year old. Virus’s and Windows…well we all know that story.
Back to myself. I have used Dell XPS machines for a decade or more. All have been good reliable computers, the Windows OS that was installed on them has not been stellar to say the least. Do you recall Windows ME? How about the recent Vista? All horrible versions of Windows. I actually uninstalled Vista and used Win98 up until my latest Windows box had Win7 that I will admit is very good and MS’s best version yet.
Last spring it was time to purchase a new computer, As a professional photographer I need power. hundreds of high rez images a day being processed in Adobe products is not for an Inspiron. This time I decided to try an Apple….I purchased an 27 iMac with a huge Thunderbolt drive and fastest Intel processor offered. 3.6GhZ I believe. I will never go back to a PC. Since owning this machine I have never had a single issue. It just runs perfectly no matter what I do. Not only is it the fastest computer I have ever used it is built so much better than the XPS Dells I have owned in the past, just no comparison. And the entire thing can be moved in 2 minutes. Just unplug the power and go.
I have used both systems and I am not a ‘fanboy’ of either. I need a machine that works for me. The iMac does this. No Windows machine I have ever owned has ever been 100% reliable like this. There were so many WTF moments I cannot remember with Windows that I probably am a bit biased but the greatest thing about this iMac for me is that I don’t need to do anything to tweak it or even think about how it is performing, it just does.
As for your top 10 list? Most of it has nothing to do with the machine itself. More your opinions of people who use them and Apple’s marketing. I really don’t see anything in your list that is a ‘legitimate’ reason to hate Apple.
Says the Apple fan. Wanna put your i7 monstrosity beside my dual booting Windows/Linux rig and see what’s faster and more efficient? I’ll guarantee you it’s not the silver and white motif box missing 16 USB ports and thermal throttling under slight load. Apple is shit, but it’s good for people that need a fisher price replacement, that I admit. I haven’t used antivirus since XP, not even SP1 or 2, just the original. Infections: Some PUP, false detections, baby stuff in internet temp folder that has no system downfalls. Whatever dude, enjoy your garbage baby linux box. Some of us need real machines hooked to stuff that can be replaced/upgraded/modified. Like my 5k 43” monitor sitting here in front of me. If I had to do any professional work on the Apple OS interface, I’d probably quit that job myself.
In other words Monte you like the operating system and that’s it?
Lol
Sorry that I have technician experience and know how to fix those problems in my sleep
I guess macs really are for those who just really have no experience with computers, or not enough of an attention span to look up and fix their own problem
Next time build your own PC. Oh wait… You don’t know how
Exactly my point. Thank you for making it for me. You didn’t read (or understand) my post if you think all I like is the OS.
I am a photographer, not a techie. I do not WANT to be fixing a computers problems, I WANT to be using it for work.
Computers are not gadgets we play with and tweak all the time to improve performance, they are devices used for increasing productivity and efficiency. Every minute you spend fixing problems with your computer is a minute of wasted opportunity doing your real job.
If you ever get a job you will realize this is much more important to you than having the ability to solve OS issues constantly.
BTW, this is 9 months since my original post and I have still not had a single issue with this iMac…or the new MacBook Pro I recently bought and they both work very very hard.
Monte im not sure what you do to cause all of these problems but I suspect it has nothing to do with Windows. Macs have EXACTLY THE SAME. Hardware so they are no better in that respect. My Brother in law is a professional photographer doing NHL and OHL hockey cars and various other venues like casino’s he is even featured in the band Kiss Latest tour program. He uses a PC always has with no issue’s. He will not go to a Mac because of the available programs. I suspect it was browsing habits or other user error that caused your issue’s with Windows. I personally have 5 Acer laptops in my house, the oldest being 10 year’s old. No issues with any of them whether it be wih the OS or the hardware. P.S you spent 2.5 times as much for the same hardware just to have the most limited OS on the planet. But that is the Apple mentality.
Oh ya and My sister has a Mac book pro and has issues constantly. Bsod is built in to Macs too pal
ok Pal! geeez.
Well you got me there…I did not know the BSOD was built in to the Mac’s….Because I have never seen it since I used a PC lol
Thank you! That is exactly what I mean. I consider them to be the Nazi in the tech world to how they do things, restricting user to only how Apple wants you to do things. For those who disagree with them, will receive a condescending attitude from their fan boys.
You can make a fan boy pee his pants just giving them a scary look. Pansies…
You are right, it is not iPhone it is just iCrap. Ever tried to share a file between two iPhones ? They call it Bluetooth, but you wont be able to use it easily. Why don’t they call it iTooth ?? They should not use Bluetooth word.
The reason i hate them is they just dont want to follow standard in anything. They will come up every possible way to make money , they will not use standard port for chargers , they will come up with their own. In technology, systems should be built in such a way that they have minimum dependency on each other to make the system flexible. Why are they even using HTTP protocol , just come up with your own crap. Why dont they create their own mini INTERNET (call it iNet) so their devices will be secure forever.
So true.
Why I hate Apple iPhones?…High price and miniscule upgrades, not to mention they don’t even have a micro SD card slot for memory upgrades?!…how stupid is that?!
I have come to like Dell myself….I have a Dell Dimension 9200 that I picked up for about $100, put a quad core cpu in it, maxxed out the RAM and installed Ubuntu Linux!….WoW is it Snappy!
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I can not stand the recent upgrade to my iPhone 6s software it freezes every hour on the hour. Thanks Apple!
It figures that they have extensive advertising on the blog sight!!!!
Apple and all it stands for should be condemned to the devils toilet i balk at the thought of these products infesting everyday life and its time you sad acts got your head out of your rear ends and save yourself a ton of money and buy a £50 not a £500 handset that does what its meant to do …. You know…. Txt make phone calls and take the occasional photo or are you just one of the many lead “sheep” who thinks its cool to own a “label” so you can impress your peers…pfft what a load of toss what shallow lifes you “apple” lovers must lead.
So, cloud account has to be reset… 13 DAYS I HAVE TO WAIT. Someone from apple thinks this is acceptable???? On what planet???
This article is old but still so completely on point and I would marry Sarah based on her article alone I despise Apple but was a MacBook pro user since 2009 and 3 generations of iPhone until 6 plus when I got so fed up I ordered a Galaxy S8 in October 2017 and have never been happier. Best phone I have ever owned by leaps and bounds. I am no longer able to update the ios on my macbook pro and therefore unable to upgrade or use certain apps and while Steve may have been a Marketing genius he fails here because I refuse to buy a new overpriced piece of aluminum so I can have the latest OS. The iPhone got so buggy and slow I couldn’t take it anymore which we learned was behavior built into the updates I think to influence me to get a new iPhone. Another marketing fail as far as I’m concerned. I love my Galaxy for all the reasons clearly articulated in this article. I was reading a rediculous exchange recently on some forum between a brainwashed Apple fan boy and an enlightened Android user and Apple boy trying to argue all the ways Apple was superior to Android and being shot down time and time again it finally culminated in how easy it was to swipe down on Android to quickly adjust the screen brightness but Fanboy was quick to add that the iPhone had superior control because you have to drag the slider vs Android simply clicking and touching the screen and having it jump to that position and his argument was that iPhone had more control over precisely dragging the slider vs touching the screen and having the slider jump to that position. I’m not sure how or why that was so important but what Fan boy didn’t understand was that the Android has both options. Silly Fanboy.
Hello All,
I just did a search for some website that could help me rant on Apple products. I’ll start here!
I know for many people, the company’s practices are the target, and also a general Apple attitude with many as well.
What sours me the most is how massively overrated they are.
I have an iPhone, and I like it OK. But I also had a MacBook Pro laptop, which is in every TV show. And yes it set a standard for beauty.
But when it comes to Apple software and customer service, oh my is Apple overrated. I could imagine starting a blog that is ONLY about the technical and user experience yuks.
Maybe I will.
Anyway, if this is an appropriate venue for that I’ll post some specifics now and then, in the context of entertainment, since no way would Apple would admit that their software is nonintuive, hard to use, and lacking basic features that Windows users enjoy. And I will point out that as one who has seen both sides over the last 25 years from the context of a daily user, software developer and entrepreneur, I can deliver on the arguments not as an Apple expert but yes as someone who has done at least “Hello World” level Mac development and kilotons of Windows development.
But what matters to me is dispelling the notion that Apple is better software than Windows. Dream on.
Thanks for listening!
Stephen
White Salmon, WA
This hands down was the best rebuke of Apple and iPhone ‘superiority.’ You hit all the points that often are not articulated because tech writers when defending their respective tech citadels immediately react so emotionally that their pieces become little more than impassioned pleas and thin rhetorical exercises. What boggles my mind is that when some myths concerning how better Apple products are–such as this oft-heard “less viruses more secure” nonsense–that devotees will still believe that–despite the fact that this is illusory and simply a result of less exposure due to less Apple pc adoption. What I find ugly about Apple is how they bake-in ‘defects’ that are consciously designed to make their user base spend more money. I have an LG V20–which has a removable battery and expandable memory. YOU WILL NEVER SEE THIS WITH APPLE PRODUCTS. Care to guess why? Apple does not care about their users since they’re like Trump supports: so enamored by the flash that reality becomes a background distraction.
Exactly. 😉 THANKS!