Monday, January 21, 2008

Ars Technica: "Mac mindset" claim is more marketing than science

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080120-mac-mindset-claim-is-more-marketing-than-science.html
"It's no secret that Apple products have a whiff of elitism about them. Their computers have been favored by a minority that emphasize unquantifiable features like design and workflow, and they cost more than many others on the market (this is, however, becoming less true over the years). Their users are often enthusiastic about the product, sometimes to the point of pathology. But do those users represent an extreme, or is there really a quantifiable Macintosh frame of mind shared by its users? A story that is making the rounds suggests that there is.

The "Mac mindset" reports seem compelling because they apparently match so well with expectations. Mac users think they're "exceptional" and "extraordinary." They have exacting standards, value precisions, and rarely forgive mistakes (as John Dvorak has undoubtedly learned). Imperfections bother them, and people expect them to avoid mistakes. Oddly, they're also not very modest. Think different indeed."

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