Mac-hugger

Ok, so I was checking out some news and I ran accross this article in the Globe and Mail:

Enough of the iHype already

and so being a self-proclaimed mac-hugger I had to read...

The jist is this: Apple is really good at marketing... especially viral advertising.

No.... really??? You mean... you never figured that out before??? Duh. What I really don't get is why this is a big deal. We are bombarded with marketing everywhere and for everything, esepcially electronics where the need must be created.

I don't need a cell phone, iPod, computer... I need food, shelter, clothing. Yet most people have most of these things today. (ok, fine I need a computer for work... but whatever, you get the point). Companies generate a need for these things... through marketing. One look around on a bus or a coffee shop, or your own apartment will telll you that they're doing a damn good job.

So Apple plays the game, and plays it very well. I remember the add for the first iPodnano... man, I wanted to get my hands on one of those. I even had an iPod, but I was suddenly struck by a burning desire to hold, if not own, a nano. It's rare an ad is that effective on me.

Maybe what gets to people most is that Apple still gets play off its underdog appearance. There is still a cult of mac, people who zealously defend and push Apple products (I know because I used to be one of them... I still love macs, and personally think they're better, but unless you really pick a fight with me in the PC vs. Mac arena, I try to keep my trap shut)... but hey, now it's catching on. iPod is everywhere. Students are toting MacBooks around campus, baby-boomers are putting iMacs in their living rooms. Apple profits are up. And ads like the Mac vs. PC portraying Mac as young and hip and cool compared to the barely functional, emotionally fragile, uptight PC are still hugely popular. Has Apple become successful enough that it's just no longer fair to pick on Windows?

Or does the author of the article just really not want to want an iPhone and went off on a disparaging rant to convince himself that he doesn't.

Anyway, the article sent me off on a tangent looking for spoofs of the Mac vs. PC adds and I ran accross this completely politically incorrect, but hugely funny video:

Enjoy, and don't get mad at me... I warned ya.