We just got back from a two-week vacation on the mainland. Along with the incredible traffic (driving 80 miles per hour in the slow lane with 10 feet between you and the car in front of you), I noticed one other thing: it seems like every shopping center in Southern California has an Apple Store in it, and every store has a giant 6-foot iPhone hanging in the window. Of course, our kids had to go inside every one of them to try out the Dora games and AppleTV’s. Not that Daddy was complaining at all. I had to check out the latest MacBook Pro’s.
According to this article by David Kuo, it looks like my family has converted to the Apple religion:
Apple isn’t a cult anymore, it has become a full blown religion with scores of millions of followers. The frenzy around the iPhone brings to mind the clamoring throngs that greeted Jesus at the height of his ministry.
There are many, many different tests for what makes something a religion. They range from belief in a higher power to sacred rituals to moral codes to sacred places. In every instance Appleism passes the test.
Religions are based on some belief in a higher or supernatural power. Meet Steve Jobs whose story is supernatural. He started Apple with a friend in his parent’s garage and by the time he was 30 was running a multibillion company that had revolutionized computing. Then he was tossed aside, sent to the desert abandoned and despised. Apple slowly sank. At a moment when the company, er, faith, was near its end Jobs returned – the Second Coming – and brought salvation also known as the iMac, iBook, and iPod. With the introduction of iPhone, however, Appleism may be outgrowing even Jobs with a belief in the power of Apple in and of itself. Apple has become its own deity.
Sacred v. profane objects, places, and times. This one is easy. Sacred: Apple. Profane: Microsoft. Sacred times? MacWorld, Appleism’s equivalent of the annual return to Mecca. Then there is this coming Friday where millions will be standing in line to pay homage to the most sacred Apple of all – the iPhone. However, it is unclear whether some will one day move to make June 29th, the date of iPhone’s introduction, a national holiday.