Why You'll Buy an iPad, and Why I'll Hate You For It

The year was 1976 and Steve Wozniak, a god of modern computing, was putting together computer kits to sell to hobbyists in his garage. The components Woz sold to the Homebrew Computer Club, which alone barely constituted a computer, were packaged as the Apple I, the first product produced by Apple Computer Inc. If you're wondering how this company went from selling computer parts to hobbyists out of a garage to the iCult conglomerate that exists today, it's all your fault. Don't worry, you are not solely to blame for the takeover of Fuhrer Jobs. Anyone who feeds into the reckless consumerism which dominates our market, consumerism that Jobs, in all his snake-oil-selling wisdom, has become a master at exploiting. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some neo-marxist who thinks that capitalism will be the ruination of out country and our souls, well I am a little bit, but I understand the importance of sustaining the consumer/producer relationship and I understand the role of advertising and public opinion in that relationship. What I can't and don't condone is the lack of thought that most consumers put into their purchases, an offense which becomes even more unforgivable in an age where information on everything is more readily available to us than ever before.

When our parents bought a used car they had to basically trust the dealer, or pay for their own inspection, now all you need to do is ask the dealer to "show you the carfax" and all the history of the vehicle is revealed. Shopping around for the best price is a thing of the past, now you simply scan the barcode with your phone and you can see all the prices there and then. So why, in this age of overwhelming information, do people still buy overpriced and underpowered products. I assumed the answer had to do with deep societal issues and maybemaybe an overabundance of choices which lead to the purchase of the most prominent product, and I'm sure those things are factors, however, the overwhelming reasons are laziness and vanity, two vices which are universal across color, creed or local sports team affiliation. Jobs realized these inherent flaws and continues to exploit them; you want to be cool like Justin Long and not a tie wearing nerd like John Hodgman, who doesn't want to dance silhouetted by color, and who has time to see if there are other, better alternatives out there? This commercial looks awesome and is on all the time, therefore, the product has to be good.

This isn't to belittle the achievements of Jobs and crew, the Lisa brought graphical user interfaces to the masses and the iPhone gave the smartphone market the shake-up it needed. However, those successes do not warrant a company coasting for decades on a little ingenuity and alot of market appeal. This also isn't just about Apple, its about all of the companies to whom you give your hard earned money because of the Swedish advertising team they hired and not because of the quality of their product, its our job to keep producers from resting on their laurels as they count our money, we have to push them forward. So next time you're in the market for a tv or blender, fire up your laptop, netbook, or ,God forbid, iPhone and do some research to make sure you get the most bang for your buck. And please don't sue me, Jobs, you know its true.