fanboy – is a term used to describe an individual who is utterly devoted to a single fannish subject, or to a single point of view within that subject, often to the point where it is considered an obsession. Fanboys remain loyal to their particular obsession, disregarding any factors that differ from their point of view. Fanboys are also typically aggressive and hateful towards the opposing brand or competition of their obsession regardless of its merits or achievements.
It seems I may have caused a stir amongst certain members of the Apple community in my last post 5 Reasons Why I’m Disgruntled With The Apple Store Reps. Based on the uncensored comments left on my blog I have made a few conclusions:
1. Fanboys prove my “Holier than thou” stance
Quotes such as “You were never in the market for a Mac computer, [sic] Windows dork”, “stay the hell out of apple stores” or “please, stay out of the Apple Store, we don’t need you” re-iterate the fact that certain Apple fanboys feel I am not worthy of a Mac. So my question is, what makes a customer a worthy of Apple’s hardware, or a welcome guest inside of an Apple store for that matter?
2. Fanboys are incompetent
Certain fanboy’s feel as if Apple computers are not PC’s. A commenter wrote, “Go buy a pee cee.” If by “pee cee” you mean PC (personal computer) commonly associated with the x86 architecture you failed to realize the minute Apple started putting Intel chips inside of their machines they became a PC retailer.
3. Fanboys assume non-Apple users are out to attack you
Calm down, I didn’t enter the Apple store to prove I was technically brilliant, “feed my ego”, or debate with the sales representatives. I simply wanted to know about Macbook’s, and the update to the Macbook Pro refresh. If I want to know about running Windows, OS X, and Linux, you should not feel hostile towards the fact that sometimes OS X doesn’t “just work.” A certain commenter noted, “Just say you’re a Windows guy” (mind you I am a Linux kind of guy) – when you are in the corporate world you have no choice but to live with Windows, why not embrace the fact technology is at a point where we can run multiple operating systems? We have the freedom of choice. Please, leave your hostility with your non-fat latte at the coffee shop.
4. Fanboys have fallen to Apple marketing, thus making them incompetent
“Gee, there weren’t any hardware engineers available at the Apple Store, imagine that.” Gee, does it really take a hardware engineer to get some specifications of a processor? Incompetence. Any non-Apple retailer will post the kind of processor you are purchasing. Last time I checked, hardware engineers worked on improving battery life and implementing new features, for example the Santa Rosa platform. Fanboy’s seem to think the questions I asked were too specific. I’d like to get the most bang for my buck. Features such as improved video, better battery life, wireless-N networking, and faster computing mean something to me. Are you telling me that these are “questions that no one else in the world gives a shit about ?” Fanboy’s believe that you do not need to know about these details, except that it is “brand spanking new.” When you go beyond “checking your e-mail” and uploading photos at a coffee shop, this simple marketing strategy will not cut it for those expecting premium service from a premium brand.
5. Not all Apple users are fanboys
I received one intelligent comment from an Apple user and he provided me with good resources to help me find my answer. No hostility, no evangelism, just the pure truth. This is how the community should behave, and is one of the reasons why the open-source world is so powerful – they embrace new-comers with open arms.
For those Apple users who are modest and have not succumbed to fanboyism, I salute you.
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