AppleWorld: Ode to the Mac Zealots

It's funny how Mac (and now iPod) users get the word "zealot" attached to their name the moment they express their appreciation for Apple products. These detractors seem to feel that computers only provide the most basic utilitarian purposes, with no flair or thoughtful design necessary. They think all you need for a good computer is a bunch of top end components tossed in a beige or the newbeige (you know, black) box. "My machine cost a third of your crApple and runs faster too, man."

But computers have crossed over into mainstream long ago. These aren't microwaves or refrigerators; computers are lifestyle items that deserve vanity status and Apple has become successful because they positioned their hardware as such. Do you think car manufacturers just toss together components and put them into a shell for driving you to the grocery store? No, they design them with flair, have big events to show off their latest model, host conventions to get feedback on prototypes... Computers aren't any different and the joy of getting a new piece of equipment matters.

I was amused by this Wired article entitled "Meet the Apple Pack Rats" discussing the phenomenon of Apple customers keeping all the packaging that their equipment and software came in (not to mention photographing them as art pieces). I've noticed this for years, from my brother-in-law holding onto his iBook box until he moved overseas to other Mac fans who quietly store the boxes in a closet or under a desk. It's not just a container that protects the product from damage and enables shipping, but a piece of design work. Yes, it's just a bunch of cardboard or Styrofoam but a team of people created it with the specific intent to immerse you into Apple's world.

From the moment I started my trek home from work with my first "trend Mac", an iBook G3, I noticed I was fast becoming a part of this world. I say "trend Mac" to describe anything after the original iMac and "Yosemite" Powermac debuts, where form became an integral part of the Mac design process. (My Powermac 7100 was as stodgy as anyone else's box back in the day.) But oh all the stares I got on the subway with my iBook in my hands. Furtive glances, knowing nods, and outright stares... It heightened the anticipation of tearing into it and starting it up.

Funny, though, because when I got home I started obsessing about the little touches Apple put in. Opening the box was a revelation; Apple tantalizes you with the components right on top, like the color matched phone cord or the power brick's wonderful cord management feature. It's as if Apple designers went to a strip club and watched a sultry dancer slowly, tantalizingly removing an article of clothing at a time. By the time you pull the actual notebook out, you are simply hooked.

That experience made me hold onto the box. I had to explain to my wife that it's normal, that even her brother kept his box despite his almost transient lifestyle. And that she had 40 odd pairs of shoes which I rarely mention in complaint. I think a part of me enjoys the fact that Apple cared enough to make the unveiling of their equipment important. It's almost fetishistic, but it's not all that extreme; the love affairs men express for their cars or motorcycles can make an Apple user seem indifferent to their prized PowerBook or Mighty Mouse.

I've since bought other Apple equipment and software. A scroll-wheel iPod, iLife '04 and '05, Mac OS X Panther and Tiger, iMac G5, and most recently my own Mighty Mouse. I have all the boxes, not necessarily organized, but never discarded. Including one my wife won't throw away: her iPod's box. Why? Because now she's been immersed too. Her iPod is lovingly named "totoro" (complete with engraving), after the wonderful movie made by Studio Ghibli. And once you're hooked, the box is part of the experience...