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iPhone users are delusional

by on14 December 2009

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Analyst firm's comments spark fanboy war


Leading
analysts at Strand Consult have created an internet storm over their comments that iPhone users are nuts.

Strand released an opinion entitled "How will psychologists describe the iPhone syndrome in the future?." It said that Apple has launched a beautiful phone with a fantastic user interface that has had a number of technological shortcomings that many iPhone users have accepted and defended, despite those shortcomings resulting in limitations in iPhone users' daily lives.

It claims that iPhone buyers behave in a similar way to kidnapped hostages who end up defending their captures. It is what psychologists call Stockholm Syndrome. It is not surprising that Mac fanboys have rushed to defend themselves against claims that they are barking mad. As well as the usual whining that it is Microsoft users who are the real victims of an abusive company, the Apple fanboys make themselves living examples of the complex that Strand describe.

As you would expect the comments have provoked badly written, poorly spelt posts, often in capitals, on news groups. The posts claim that Apple fanboys are picked upon, and that Strand are paid by Microsoft. There are long lists of the features of the iPhone without comparisons to other products followed by statements like “I LOVE MY IPHONE”.

What is even more amusing are the attempts by reporters in the US to play down the comments. The tech press over there is so well and truly in Apple's pocket that they make snide comments that imply that Strand's minds are not “finely calibrated”. In fact the comments are pretty much a no brainer and an attempt to explain why a mediocre phone with a nice interface has managed to do so well.

If you talk to fanboys and point out the shortcomings of their gadget they some how manage to turn these things into advantages. Otherwise they ignore the problems with the phone all together and just insist that there is not a more wonderful piece of gear out there. However it is unusual for an analyst firm to say anything this amusing about any product, or its customers, and we have to salute Strand for having balls so big you need a wheelbarrow to get to the shops.
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