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Thank Steve Jobs

thankyoustevejobsfor.com

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Re: Thank Steve Jobs

#11

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

skermes wrote: post #10
rhygar wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm starting to wonder where this meme comes from. I would hardly call owning a product produced by the most successful company in the world and a household brand being a "hipster". Apple products are not really overpriced. Try buying a capable iPad-like tablet for less than $499. Try buying something like the 11" Macbook Air for less than $999. The iPhone 3GS is $49 with a two year contract. Is there a rebel without…

To expand on mrk-hn's comment, I don't think the comparison is entirely without merit. From what I can tell, a lot of the scorn directed at hipsters (or at least the "hipster" archetype/strawperson) stems from fact (or perception) that they value cultural artifacts based on the social status that they can leverage those artifacts for, rather than for any intrinsic value they might have. Compare someone who tells thei…

Back when the iPod came out, MP3 players were all about features. A pure feature for feature comparison of an iPod vs other players makes the iPod look bad. They were probably trying to play the social status card. This seemed to have changed when the iPod actually got new features like the camera, the clip. But I forget all the campaigns.

Let's look at the ad campaigns for the Mac and iOS devices. There was the Switch campaign where they had people talking about why they switched and how it made their lives better. The "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" campaign which was a bit abstract but talked about what the Mac could do. And the iOS ads, all of which show you real life functions of the iPhone and iPad. The iPod Touch is being marketed as a game console and they are showing real games that you can play.

Contrast this to the current crop of Samsung commercials. All the ones I have seen on TV do not show the product in any useful way, do not show what you can do with their products and claim that you will be better for buying their product. They are all very abstract.

The Acer Iconia ads are much better but aren't very well made.

The Droid Does campaign was pretty good but a little impersonal. But there was also their initial iDon't ad which told you nothing about their device but subtly referenced their competitor. Then there was that Droid X space thing which was supposed to be what exactly? And then the Droid commercials where they try and show something that the phone can do and BTW, you will turn into some super awesome android guy.

So in recent times, Apple has not been playing the social status card so much. Also, geeks are just as vulnerable to the social status message. Just look at this "Apple is over priced and it is all about marketing" meme. Geeks are just seeking increased social status in a different group. But they want it just as much as the Apple crowd.

Re: Thank Steve Jobs

#12

Post by zmmmmm »

skermes wrote: post #10
rhygar wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm starting to wonder where this meme comes from. I would hardly call owning a product produced by the most successful company in the world and a household brand being a "hipster". Apple products are not really overpriced. Try buying a capable iPad-like tablet for less than $499. Try buying something like the 11" Macbook Air for less than $999. The iPhone 3GS is $49 with a two year contract. Is there a rebel without…

To expand on mrk-hn's comment, I don't think the comparison is entirely without merit. From what I can tell, a lot of the scorn directed at hipsters (or at least the "hipster" archetype/strawperson) stems from fact (or perception) that they value cultural artifacts based on the social status that they can leverage those artifacts for, rather than for any intrinsic value they might have. Compare someone who tells thei…

> Apple's branding and advertising tends to exhibit a similar focus on how their products will improve your status, rather than on the capabilities of the actual hard/software

Look at the lid of every mac book. Which way up is the Apple? Your way so that you naturally see it right side up when opening the lid? - no - it's upside down to you, because the point is, everyone else is supposed to see it.

Re: Thank Steve Jobs

#15

Post by zmmmmm »

Thank you for being flawed enough that you failed to stop Android taking over the phone market, and thereby preventing the world from entering a technology dark ages where hardware and software ecosystems are locked down and controlled by huge corporations.

Re: Thank Steve Jobs

#16

Post by sunchild »

bsphil wrote: post #3

Hipsters and overpriced consumer electronics?

The fact that you feel the need to disparage a man who, as part of a two-man team, charted the course for personal computing in the 1980's, workstation computing and CGI in the 1990's, and then went on to build the world's most valuable consumer electronics company – says more about you than it says about Steve Jobs. You might not like people who care about aesthetics, but I doubt you'd fare particularly well in a comparison test vs. Steve f-ing Jobs. Talk about a lack of perspective!

Re: Thank Steve Jobs

#18

Post by guillaume_a »

zmmmmm wrote: post #12
skermes wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To expand on mrk-hn's comment, I don't think the comparison is entirely without merit. From what I can tell, a lot of the scorn directed at hipsters (or at least the "hipster" archetype/strawperson) stems from fact (or perception) that they value cultural artifacts based on the social status that they can leverage those artifacts for, rather than for any intrinsic value they might have. Compare someone who tells thei…

> Apple's branding and advertising tends to exhibit a similar focus on how their products will improve your status, rather than on the capabilities of the actual hard/software Look at the lid of every mac book. Which way up is the Apple? Your way so that you naturally see it right side up when opening the lid? - no - it's upside down to you, because the point is, everyone else is supposed to see it.

It's upside down to you because it's on the back side of the LCD panel- if it were the right way facing you, then it would just be upside down when you use your computer, which just looks silly ಠ_ಠ

Re: Thank Steve Jobs

#19

Post by guillaume_a »

skermes wrote: post #10
rhygar wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm starting to wonder where this meme comes from. I would hardly call owning a product produced by the most successful company in the world and a household brand being a "hipster". Apple products are not really overpriced. Try buying a capable iPad-like tablet for less than $499. Try buying something like the 11" Macbook Air for less than $999. The iPhone 3GS is $49 with a two year contract. Is there a rebel without…

To expand on mrk-hn's comment, I don't think the comparison is entirely without merit. From what I can tell, a lot of the scorn directed at hipsters (or at least the "hipster" archetype/strawperson) stems from fact (or perception) that they value cultural artifacts based on the social status that they can leverage those artifacts for, rather than for any intrinsic value they might have. Compare someone who tells thei…

>Apple's branding and advertising tends to exhibit a similar focus on how their products will improve your status, rather than on the capabilities of the actual hard/software.

When I look at Apple's ads (especially the latest crop of iPad ones), I see them showing families getting closer, students learning better, people enjoying their pastimes, etc.

In a nutshell, technology enhancing peoples' lives and not just technology for the sake of it.

That's quite different from just "improving social status" in my opinion.

Re: Thank Steve Jobs

#20

Post by BasDirks »

sunchild wrote: post #16
bsphil wrote: post #3

Hipsters and overpriced consumer electronics?

The fact that you feel the need to disparage a man who, as part of a two-man team, charted the course for personal computing in the 1980's, workstation computing and CGI in the 1990's, and then went on to build the world's most valuable consumer electronics company – says more about you than it says about Steve Jobs. You might not like people who care about aesthetics, but I doubt you'd fare particularly well in a co…

His comment is not about Steve Jobs. It's about this ridiculous tendency of people to form cults around people.
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