iWhores

The problem here is that people become so attached to a single thing and identify themselves by that thing. For some it might be religion, for others a political party and for others still it might be their job or career.

A year or so ago I read numerous articles and blog posts about the Samsung Galaxy SIII and how it's new technology far outpaced what Apple's 4S or rumored 5 were going to sport. The iPhone users clutched their devices to their chests like protective parents  Then there was the iPad mini, the long lines awaiting the iPhone 5 and Samsung's mocking commercial extolling the virtues of the Galaxy SIII over the lines of people waiting for the i-5.

For years Apple fanboys (or as I call them, iWhores) have strutted about the developed world exalting their device as being above and beyond anything else available -- a better physical handset and a better software experience -- better than Blackberry, better than clamshell phones, better than Nokias and Palm. 

For years new handsets were compared to Apple's iPhone, the media darling benchmark for smartphones, their software was compared to iOS and the physical features were placed side-by-side with Apple's engineering department's gee-whizz factor.

Now the tables have turned and suddenly, when Android fanboys are holding in their hands the latest and greatest techno-darling, Apple's adherents are feeling distressed and persecuted for holding on to their Apple-tech. Suddenly the people who used to be proud telling you about their brand spanking new 4, 4S, 5 and soon to be 5S are feeling the pressure the rest of us felt when our devices were deemed inferior to theirs and they don't like it.

I like my Android, but more importantly I like technology I can use. I'm free of iTunes, free to multi-task and the generational differences between non-Apple devices are much larger leaps than the generational differences between Apples i-devices. I'm free to root, free to install third party apps and free to install an entirely different software altogether if I so choose. PalmOS really impressed me, but HP tore out the IP and left the rest to rot. I kept hoping someone would make it work and continue the innovation PalmOS brought against Android and iOS, but as far as I can tell, no one's really using the SDK to pioneer a new direction for mobile OSes.

And I may customize my device, depending on the Ubuntu OS or custom Android ROMs in the future. However, I can't if I'm tied to Apple. Apple users have no freedom and no choice.

My brother is an iWhore. I called him one to his face. He smiled and said it is what it is. He has an iMac, the latest and greatest iPhone, iPad, you name it. He's a strong adherent to the i-religion. So much so, he's convinced our brother, our sisters, our father and stepmother to go Apple and they have.

I recently used the term iWhores on Google+ when posting about an article I saw: iPhones are entry level smart phones.

This article struck a chord with me because my mom bought an iPhone at the behest of the Apple store employee. A friend of mine who's grandmother still has a clamshell device which is used about 15 minutes a month recently called her and asked if she should get an iPhone. My friend, an IT Sys Admin, asked her grandmother why she wanted the more advanced phone when many of the features would be left unused based on her grandmother's natural phone habits.

In the end my friend told her 80-something year old grandmother that an iPhone would be fine for her -- not to advanced and not too difficult to use.

The simple matter is, Apple's moved from the top of the pile to the an entry level device and the Apple fanboys, or iWhores, are feeling the sting of gripping tightly onto their Grandma friendly technology. And they don't like it one bit.