Why People Buy Apple products

It's a question that's always confused and frustrated me. A lot of the time, people who buy a Macbook or a iPad don't even know why they are. They're buying it 'cos they want one. Fair enough, but what annoys me is the thought process they go through when they are making their decision. I work at an electronics retail store, so I deal with this everyday. I'm gonna be quoting a lot of actual conversations I've had with customers. For example, all the time people come into my humble Dick Smith store and ask me to help them and give them advice on picking a tablet. Sure, from here I then proceed to show them both the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab2. I then start to rant about how much the Galaxy poops all over the iPad, listing all the advantages such as.

• Cheaper
• Expandable Memory. That's the big one
• Thinner and Lighter
• Larger Display
• A more customizable interface and navigation
• Supports Flash
• Doesn't need to run through iTunes.

 As opposed to the iPad.

•  Higher resolution display, which you'll only really notice if you're watching HD movies or pictures that support the higher resolution. Which you can't really do, because there's no slot for an SD card so unless you spend over $600  you can't fit more then One or two.
• The interface is very dumbed down and user friendly. Which is a good thing, but then that ends up leaving little room for customisation.

Then their response to my biased rant to them is "Yeah... but... my son has the iPad and he says it's really good." So then I ask them more personal questions, about what they want to use it for and then explain how the Galaxy would be good to suit their needs.

"Yeah nah, I think I might just grab the iPad."
"Oh okay, can I ask why?"
"Yeah I dunno, I just... Well, I already have an iPhone?"


And that there is the thing that annoys me. Not because they wanted to buy the iPad. Not because I'm hurt that they didn't take my advice. It frustrates me because of the reason, or rather the lack of reason which determined their decision. If you have reasons and arguements why you would prefer an iPad or a Macbook then by all means, go nuts. But they rarely do. The customer didn't know why he preferred the iPad. They chose it for no reason other then because it's Apple. Because it's what everyone has, because it's the mainstreme thing to do, because it's cool to have Apple stuff, they want it just for the sake of it.

Same with a Macintosh Computer. People come into work all the time and ask me if we sell Macbooks. So then I explain to them, no we don't. We have plenty of brands of Windows PC's, we actually have 20% off Toshiba Laptops at the moment. Is there a reason you want a Macbook?

"Um. I dunno. Just, cos they're better?"
"No, not really. Why do you think they're better?"
"aah, I dunno. They're cooler?"

This sums it up

Again, when people don't actually know why they want to buy a Mac, they want one just for the sake of it. Or when people justify their preference with arguments that are completely wrong such as.

"You pay more for a Macbook, but that's 'cos they're more reliable."
"Wrong, despite paying hundreds of dollars more for a competitor with the same specs, Macbooks only managed to place the fourth most reliable, after Toshiba, Asus and Sony."
http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf

We actually have a 20% off Sale on Toshiba Laptops at the moment.

"Yeah but the Mac OSX is way more secure, you can't get viruses on a Mac."
"No, see that's absolutely incorrect. The reason why people commonly mistake them for being secure and immune to viruses is because there is simply too small of a market share for anyone to give a shit. It actually has way more security holes then Windows and Linux"

Here is an article about some hacker who managed to break into a fully patched Mac running a fully patched Safari in 10 seconds.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9129978/Researcher_cracks_Mac_in_10_seconds_at_PWN2OWN_wins_5k

Can't say I didn't warn you.

And yet after all that and more, aswell as a price comparison they still reply with "Yeah but they're cooler" and ask me do I know if anyone nearby sells Macbooks. At the end of the day, dummies are only going to hear what they want to here. And that is why I hate Apple, because their selling point is peoples ignorance.