Risking Losing Readers It's Time To Ask The Question Is Apple a Cult?

I have used Apple hardware before and will admit it tends to be very well made and planned out.  I could criticize the flimsy charger cords that seem to be designed to break frequently and cost, literally, ten times the generic replacement cord for my non-prestige lap top but in some ways the hype is nearly matched with performance.   And I can also point out that the time I've spent with tech support for the PCs I've used the entire time I've used computers isn't any more than Mac users I know. And, to the theme of this post, I have absolutely no brand loyalty to any of them.  I'd have no problem replacing the computer I've used with one from another company,  at one time I was seriously considering buying a Mac mini - it was the lack of a CD burner that made me decide against it. 

The spectacle of people waiting in line to be the first to buy the latest shiny new toy from Apple, it's latest  iPhone is crazy.   I strongly suspect that a lot of them are the kind of people who would start with snark about people the smart set deems to be superstitious and ignorant, the ones who will drop the accusation of "woo" faster than their latest model Mac will boot.  

I'd thought that once iGod, Steve Jobs, died and was safely discredited as a pretty awful creep by his official biography some of this would decrease.   And some of it does seem to have diminished a bit.  A lot of the cult-flavored Apple-Mac-iCargo cult was bound up in his phony, constructed persona.  But for a lot of people who would scoff at the idea of religion, it is religious.   One couple I know are true believers in the Apple religion and their children have learned it from the time of their birth.  Their faith in Apple is one of the strongest aspects of their identity.  I teased one of the parents - who was complaining about the high cost of replacing those flimsy chargers - about the consequences of buying a Windows based product.  I really think it would cause problems in the family.   It might lead to a divorce or alienation of the children.  Which is just sick.   There used to be Ford and Chevy families when I was growing up but I doubt it was really as bad as this is.  This is worse, it's almost as bad as devotion to sports teams. 

Best thing I ever heard on this topic was said during the week after iGod died and before his scandalous biography came out.  While the Jobs devotees were snarking against Bill Gates as opposed to iGod, someone said,  "Oh, yeah because providing you with your shiny new toys is SO MUCH more important than curing malaria in Africa."   I wish I'd made a note of who it was who said it because it deserved to be the last word on that topic.