Posts Tagged ‘apple’
iPhone 6, Apple Watch and us
iPhone 6, Apple Watch. These two names have been trending since morning.
A number of people remain lined up 24X7 outside Apple Stores since last week. Places in those lines are being traded for serious dough. What is it that makes us so crazy?
We can find analogy in the cinematic world. Salman’s movie releases in the North or Rajnikant’s movie releases in the South. People tend to go one over other. They rejoice, enjoy and try to outshine the ever opulent neighbor. Why?
There are two sides to it. One is the devotion to the brand and the personality. People believe in Apple. They want to celebrate it. They want to rejoice. It’s a festival as I have stated sometime before.
Next aspect is jealousy. With the ever expanding world and ever spreading wealth, there is a certain desire to better the other person. People like me follow the set trends and gloat in the possession of the marquee. Why people in a country like India would save money for months to get their hands on the Holy Grail, is not that difficult to understand.
I guess what lies underneath is the satisfaction it provides. I don’t agree that iPhone 6 will provide substantially better services than other market leaders. Then again it has never been about real performance. Why would we love to dine in a 5 star regardless of the taste? It’s about feeling special.
Splashing money is considered an age old reflection of social status. That’s why one goes beyond means to buy an Audi. That’s why one despises Nano. It’s about getting societal acknowledgment. I remember a colleague who looked crestfallen when no one acknowledged his new iPad that he so obviously was trying to flaunt.
For those who disagree, Have you ever seen someone spending beyond his/her means and not flashing the iPhone in front of his peers and not gloating in self glory?
2012: The year that wasn’t
Topmost could have been headlines of year 2012.
1. India demolishes Eng 3-0 in the home Test Match Series. Tendulkar hit his first triple ton. Gambhir is vindicated of “see you at home” remark. BCCI decides to scrap away Tests from ICC Future Tours Program. BCCI chief Srinivasan said and I quote “All Tests played in Chennai will be Home Tests and those played elsewhere in the country will be Away Tests”.
2. World not able to witness 21st Dec 2012. Just as predicted by the great “Ronald Emmerich” in his movie 2012, owing to Earth Crust Displacement and massive Earthquakes, 90% of human civilization is wiped off. This news is telecasted from US Space Station. John Cusack is among the survivors.
3. London Olympics 2012, turned out to be a disaster, overshadowing Delhi Common Wealth Games. Kalmadi was grinning from ear to ear with, “I told ya sa” expression. Anacondas and Godzilla’s were cited around athletes’ village. Organizers are blaming it on different perceptions of security standards across the world.
4. US Presidential elections were marred by an act of shooting when a heated argument between Obama and Romney got out of hand. Both took out their M16’s and started shooting at each other and the audience. The audience were already dead of boredom so no harm done.
5. 2012 was landmark year in India as far as women safety was concerned. Women Safety Bill 2012 was passed in the parliament, which led to Women only Police stations and death penalty for rapists. Country saw ZERO rape cases and only handful of eve-teasing incidents this year.
6. AK series phone have made Nokia the market leader in Smart Phones. Foldable screens and Phones which could shoot better than AK47 have done the trick. “We don’t need to buy a gun for Mass Shootings, We buy Nokia instead”, said a consumer. Apple will be filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy during March next year. Samsung is in talk with Yahoo for a possible sellout.
7. United Nations Security Council intervens in the Julian Assange’s case. US/UK could face UN sanctions owing to gross human right violations. Wikileaks brings to light more facts that no one was aware of. “Sun rises in the East”, “Earth is round” and “Blueberry cheese cake is awesome”.
Among other news.
Chuck Norris was not able to kill two birds with one stone. Rajnikant was cited asleep. Superman wore underwear under his pants. Batman finally played cricket. Vivek Oberoi became superstar. Chacha Choudhary got beaten by new Ipad in chess. Manmohan Singh saw movie of his choice.
iPhone 5: A mystic affair
The hype and frenzy every time a new iPhone is launched, seem to be a mystic affair. The zeal surpasses the age groups, the income groups and the continents. What is it that creates this craziness? Is it the new technology? Is it the media built-up? Is it the status symbol?
To a large extent it can be attributed to the herd mentality. “I want it coz if I don’t I won’t be cool”. But that herd comes in later. What drives the early buyers? And it’s not just limited to the buyers. Even the people who can’t afford it are ever more interested. Why so?
We can try and find an analogy in “Who wants to be a millionaire” TV show. What has the TV viewers got to win? Nothing! Still millions sit in front of their TV sets to witness someone else becoming millionaire.
The answer lies in human psychology of “Collective Ownership”. When a new iPhone is launched, it’s not Apple who owns it. The people own it. It is their own. And here is where publicity comes in. Company like Apple would never publicize it as a product by Apple rather it would be an “Apple iPhone”.
Another thing can be the story behind the invention. Would gravity be equally amazing without the back story of the apple that fell? The mysticism surrounding Jobs has flown down to his coveted baby. Do we hear any such story behind say Lumia or Galaxy? No, all we see is a product. But with iPhone it’s much more.
The other reason lies in the legacy. People loved iPhone coz of the technological advancements Jobs envisaged and brought to life. Similar was the case with a 4.8inch android phone recently. It was something novel. People thronged for it. Give the people something innovative and having high standards and they will make you a billionaire.
It won’t be long when people will ditch iPhone. Yes, we are that cruel. We are just waiting for the next messiah. Till then revel Apple in the limelight, as much as you can.
Checking the Trends
Who do we love more? Mom or Dad. Who do we think about more? Jesus or Satan. Do we Love more than we Hate? One would agree, these questions are quite vague to answer. Not any more. Thanks to Google’s insatiable desire to hold more and more dough over its users, we are now able to analyze the search pattern traffic over the years via Google Trends. As much as I hate Google for storing private data, I love the way they use it.
Mom vs Dad
Mom seems to be the favorite here. Time for Dad’s to buckle up or lose the battle.
IPad vs Kindle
Since IPad is quite new, let’s consider just the last year’s data. IPad beats Kindle quite easily. Despite being a new entrant, people prefer it over Kindle. It seems IPad will put out this Kindle soon.
Engineer vs Doctor
I have always taken pride in being an engineer. But my doctor friends can smile now. I concede. You win. You are more dear to people than me.
Apple vs Microsoft vs Google
No prizes for guessing. Google beats Apple and Microsoft by a margin. Microsoft seems to be on a decline and next year’s data might though some shocking statistics.
Twitter vs Orkut vs Myspace vs Facebook
Facebook is way ahead of its peers. For Twitter/Orkut/MySpace, seems a tough life ahead.
BJP vs Gandhi
I tried Advani, Vajpayee etc v/s Gandhi. They never stood a chance, anyways. I then decided to put the whole BJP against the Gandhi surname. BJP lost quite heavily. No wonder they lost the election. A surname seems mighty.
Cricket vs Football vs Basketball
Football dominates globally. Cricket and Basketball have a long way to go. As far as Indian subcontinent is concerned, it’s the other way round.
Beauty vs Brain
The age old question has been left in the deadlock again. It’s a virtual tie between beauty and the brain. It seems we still have not been able to make up our minds b/w Female beauty and Male brain.
Oil vs Blood
Oil and Blood go neck and neck showing their equal importance. Given that so much blood has been spilt because of oil, this seems hardly surprising.
War vs Peace
Man’s violent nature and urge for war is evident here. Peace seems to be the last thing on the mind.
Love vs Hate
Well there seems to be some hope left. Despite the urge for war, man has not forgotten the cardinal urge to love. We still haven’t learned to hate each other as much.
Religion, War and Inertia
I have always been told that Hinduism is a tolerant religion. Over the centuries various religions branched out of Hinduism as per the changing times and beliefs. Never was it considered a blasphemy towards classic Hinduism. I have always heard, contrary to the perception of the West, Islam is a peaceful religion. That jihad is not a war but ones struggle to better the self and the society, fighting injustice and oppression. I have always been taught how liberal Christianity is. Just look at liberal society of the West. It follows from the religion. Christianity has always worked for the betterment of the world at large. The missions around the world are a clear example of that.
But when I stop believing and start perceiving then the trouble begins.
I have seen Babri demolition, ’92 riots that left a long lasting fear of police in me (anti-riot). I was just six at that time and the impression left was huge. Terrorism in the name of Islam has been going on in Kashmir from as long as I remember. The ISI and its insidious ways and the backing of considerable chunk of the Islamic world to that (directly or indirectly). I have seen 9/11 by who they called a religious fanatic. I have seen Leaders of the West declaring their war on Afghanistan and Iraq as a war by God. I have seen images from Abu Ghraib and the twisted humanity.
I believe religion is nothing more than a set of beliefs formulated by people to give meaning to the life. It’s one of the conclusions that humans reached to the pressing question of “Why we are here?” Religion was never formulated to spread violence. But considering the bloodshed across religions, one begs to differ. So is it the religion or the inherent nature of Homo sapiens at fault? Quite huge a quest for me to begin.
One common trait I find across the paradigm is, “The older the religion gets, more rigid the followers become”. One simple solution would be to change the religion altogether before it gets too old to harm us. We all would agree it’s not so simple. Why? The answer lies in the Newton’s second law of motion. Inertia, the resistance to change. Inertia is inside all of us. Not only do we not want to change but create hurdles in the path of people who do.
Recently what we saw in the case of Nasreen and Hussain was resistance by Muslims and Hindus alike. Majority of Hindus felt offended by nude images of deities and same goes for Muslims by radical writings. What brings them together is inertia. We don’t like to deviate from the set of thinking that have been hardcoded into us.
Newton discovered inertia but he felt short of finding a cure to it. We have to find a cure. Till then we will see a lot more wars in the name of religion. An apple needs to fall on someone’s head soon!.
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