It's only Apples for me
20th Feb 2008
By Chris Tomlinson
I'm not sure how it happened but I seem to have become encircled by Apple products.
I've always been pretty neutral when it came to hardware elegances. I've worked with many life-long Mac addicts and have always found their devotion to the Apple brand amusing given it inevitably leads to a comprehensive technology lock-in.
But even when Macs were clearly inferior to PCs (between 1997 and 2000 when Mac ran on OS9) and more expensive - the Mac faithful never faltered.
However, from where I type this today, I can see no less than four Apple logos on devices I purchased with my own money!
How did this happen? When did I turn in into a Mac-man?
Like most it started with an iPod, a small, innocent device with seductive looks and an ingenious flywheel interface. Who'd have thought it would the domestic Trojan horse for an army of Apple consumer products?
The iPod, of course, needs something to run iTunes on. Initially I used an old PC. But driving an iPod from a PC required more cables and didn't run very well on the Windows platform. Queue my iBook purchase.
The iBook ran OSX, based on an old friend of mine, the Unix operating system, so we got on fine.
Next came the suggestion from the other half that we needed an iPod docking station to share our eclectic music mixes. I pointed out that we owned several thousand pounds worth of hifi and that listening to music on a couple of tinny speakers six inches apart would be a backwards step in our quest for high fidelity.
Queue the purchase of an AirPort. This Apple gizmo plugs into your amplifier like a CD player. You then beam music to it wirelessly from your iTunes. (Note: your neighbours can also do this and play their music in your living room if you don't encrypt the device - hilarious the first time.)
Next, assuming I was an Apple man, my family bought me an AppleTV for Christmas.
Turns out I am. The Apple TV transforms your TV into a giant iPod for images as well as music (it also lets you access YouTube and Flickr ).
You load all your holiday photos onto it and create high definition slide shows for your TV. Dinner parties are always fun at my house!
The final nail in my Apple coffin was hammered home last week when my PC at work packed in. The IT department assumed I'd accept nothing less and wheeled in a brand new iMac.
Ironically, in a world where interoperability is increasingly cherished and the purchase of content without strings attached is universally desired, Apple's proprietary products just keep flying off the shelf and into my life.
Chris Tomlinson is Head of Digital at WAA.
Comments on this article
steve commented 3 months ago
Sounds like i need an Apple TV - assuming u have learnt how to use yours !
Jason Byers commented 3 months ago
the whole 'cult-of-mac' thing can be a little off-putting to potential converts, but it seems like Apple are slowly winning the war. I think Apple's product line probably has more misses than hits though, the latest MacBook Air being a big miss in my view (the multi-touch technology is a big advance though and has been rolled-out to the MacBook Pro range, i noticed).
Alex Speed commented 1 month ago
Good work Joe - you know it all makes sense :)
Joe Turner commented 3 months ago
Another converted to the way of the mac at WAA. Won't be long before everyone is after a fancy new iMac ;-)