The thrill is gone............

[SitarMac]

I'm not sure why, but after growing up with Apple (first kid on the block with Apple ll, to being Mac wizard in 80's and 90's, working for my beloved apple in the new millennium.) I've lost my love. I was such a hard core Apple devote and felt Apple was paving the way through the future with brilliance and direction.
I'm 45 now.....yeah, I have an iphone and ipad. I have an iMac...... but something happened when I left Apple in 2008 to start my own business. The initial iPhone release was the last time I felt such intense Apple love. Since then......well......nothing. Apple is not the lifestyle that set me apart from so many that I was so proud of. Its a boring company that has had nothing new to offer. I dont know Tim Cook, but I certainly believe that he has no where near th3 drive, focus and mojo that Steve had. I dont want to blame him, but he is the CEO. Anyway....I wondered if I was alone in feeling this way and fivured I'd put this out there?.....

 

[maflynn]

I felt such intense Apple love.

I can't say that I ever loved a mutlibillion dollar corporation.

I do enjoy their products, but to me their a tool. The iMac I recently bought, has been the best computer I ever bought, I struggled in choosing between the iMac and a PC. I'm very happy I made the right decision with the iMac.

As for the thrill, yes, there was a thrill back in the early days of computing when so much was unknown. Like anything the product matured and I'd say we did too.

I'm still liking apple products but I choose what works best over a given logo. It just happens that Apple with the phone and computers have fit the bill for me. I have a Surface Pro, which is a great portable computer, and an HP computer in the household, so I'm not always buying apple.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Do a search here if you want, there are plenty of identical threads to yours.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Apple were also at their biggest [then] when the iPhone was announced. 21 million iPods were sold that quarter leading up to the announcement.

I actually ended up sitting around at the AT&T store today and played with the 12.9" iPad Pro for 20 minutes out of the hour. I think split view and slide over really work well. I also liked using the full on-screen keyboard compared to the one on my iPad Mini - Being able to long press the numbers to get the symbols is really nice! They had so much stuff on the demo unit, so you could realistically try and use it as you would too.

I could never give up a computer for that, but can't say those aren't nice additions and make perfect sense for the new generation of computer users - Who are probably finding the iPad advancements thrilling.

It'd be a lot worse if they weren't.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Love comes, and love goes. Often, it doesn't mean the thing we loved changed, but that we've changed. But everything changes, so sometimes, that which was the anchor of our love inevitably changes. Those anchors are sometimes small and fragile.

My affection for the first car I owned was lessened after my mother-in-law burned a deep hole in the upholstery with the cigarette she refused to extinguish. It apparently wasn't about the car, but the lost illusion that ownership could improve people's respect for me. I continued to love the car, but things were never quite the same after that.

We often associate objects with the events that took place when we had those objects. I definitely feel more love for the cameras I used to take my favorite photos than I feel for other cameras I've owned. Yet those favorite photos required being in the right place at the right time - any of those less-favored cameras might have sufficed, had they been in my hands at the time, and I might now love them more for it.

For some Apple fans (and former fans), their anchor seems to have been Steve Jobs' charisma. No matter how competent (or incompetent), no other Apple CEO will be able to hold the same place in those hearts. Maybe they need to find something else about Apple to love, rather than search for love in Tim Cook's eyes. And if they can't, is it entirely Apple's fault?

 

[maflynn]

no other Apple CEO will be able to hold the same place in those hearts.

And not for nothing, but Cook was stepping into the footsteps of a legend, something that few people ever succeeded at, be it in the business world, or sports world. Its hard to follow a visionary, but Cook has put his own spin on Apple and while I don't like or agree with a lot of the moves, he's clearly managed the company very well.

 

[Flow39]

I haven't been too impressed for about the last year and a half with Apple. Their products are very expensive, have poor hardware (especially the Mac line), offer almost no reason to buy their products over the competition, and are just plain stale. Now, with the iPhone 7 rumored to keep a very similar design to the iPhone 6/6s, it's only going to get more stale come September. All of the accessories cost wayyyy too much. They increased the price of the Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad in this last refresh. They add "Pro" onto the end of things and use it as an excuse to charge $100 more for marginally improved functionality over the regular or "Air" models. It's getting old, and hopefully Apple wakes up soon.

 

[pedrom]

I'm not sure why, but after growing up with Apple (first kid on the block with Apple ll, to being Mac wizard in 80's and 90's, working for my beloved apple in the new millennium.) I've lost my love. I was such a hard core Apple devote and felt Apple was paving the way through the future with brilliance and direction.
I'm 45 now.....yeah, I have an iphone and ipad. I have an iMac...... but something happened when I left Apple in 2008 to start my own business. The initial iPhone release was the last time I felt such intense Apple love. Since then......well......nothing. Apple is not the lifestyle that set me apart from so many that I was so proud of. Its a boring company that has had nothing new to offer. I dont know Tim Cook, but I certainly believe that he has no where near th3 drive, focus and mojo that Steve had. I dont want to blame him, but he is the CEO. Anyway....I wondered if I was alone in feeling this way and fivured I'd put this out there?.....

If all of that is honesty and you are expressing yourself with 100% confidence, then you must be psychologically unbalanced. There's no rational reason to "love" corporations.

We might get attached to particular products, say a 911 R. Hell, maybe one of those products can save our lives. But intense love? Being a hardcore devote? That's nothing more than irrationality, or worse. Get some counseling from professionals.

 

[Deefuzz]

Love comes, and love goes. Often, it doesn't mean the thing we loved changed, but that we've changed. But everything changes, so sometimes, that which was the anchor of our love inevitably changes. Those anchors are sometimes small and fragile.

My affection for the first car I owned was lessened after my mother-in-law burned a deep hole in the upholstery with the cigarette she refused to extinguish. It apparently wasn't about the car, but the lost illusion that ownership could improve people's respect for me. I continued to love the car, but things were never quite the same after that.

We often associate objects with the events that took place when we had those objects. I definitely feel more love for the cameras I used to take my favorite photos than I feel for other cameras I've owned. Yet those favorite photos required being in the right place at the right time - any of those less-favored cameras might have sufficed, had they been in my hands at the time, and I might now love them more for it.

For some Apple fans (and former fans), their anchor seems to have been Steve Jobs' charisma. No matter how competent (or incompetent), no other Apple CEO will be able to hold the same place in those hearts. Maybe they need to find something else about Apple to love, rather than search for love in Tim Cook's eyes. And if they can't, is it entirely Apple's fault?

Very well put indeed! Similar thoughts/feelings have been kicking around inside of me but this articulates all of that beautifully!

Thanks for that!

 

[ApfelKuchen]

If all of that is honesty and you are expressing yourself with 100% confidence, then you must be psychologically unbalanced. There's no rational reason to "love" corporations.

We might get attached to particular products, say a 911 R. Hell, maybe one of those products can save our lives. But intense love? Being a hardcore devote? That's nothing more than irrationality, or worse. Get some counseling from professionals.

I don't think this is unbalanced. A corporation may be an inanimate object, but who hasn't loved a thing of beauty, or become devoted to a cause? Over the years, Apple has certainly produced things of beauty and has had all the trappings of a cause.

As to "devotion to a cause," it's fairly common to root for the underdog and/or prefer to be part of a special minority rather than the larger mob. Once the underdog becomes top dog...

I'm also not sure the OP expressed "intense love," it seems far more garden variety to me.

 

[Apple fanboy]

For me I couldn't really care if everybody has Apple devices or nobody. They are tools that allow me to do things. My user experience is far more enjoyable on Mac's than it is on my PC at work. But to be fair that's a low value cheap desktop that the company provide me with.
Expecting a company to keep bringing out revolutionary tech year after year is unrealistic.