Why Apple’s Distortion Field Works
When Steve Jobs recently made an appearance on Apple’s earnings call, he – to put it mildly – caused quite a stir. He said 7″ tablets like RIM’s Playbook and the Samsung Galaxy Tab will be DOA. He argued that the fragmented nature of Android is “a nightmare”.
Put in a more straightforward fashion, he smacked a lot of people down.
Yet, many rushed to smack him in return. RIM CEO Jim Balsillie suggested that people will soon tire of Apple telling them what to think. A Tweetdeck developer, whom Jobs referenced when talking about Android’s fragmentation, responded with bewilderment, saying that they have two developers working on their Android app and that it was fine. And good on them all. Jobs’ comments were, if nothing else, pretty arrogant.
But Jobs’ incendiary statements were also evidence of how the man thinks: my way may not be for everyone, but it’s the best way. And with Apple reporting an incredible $20 billion of revenue, it seems many agree.
So why is that that Steve Jobs and Apple in general command so much attention? And more to the point, why does this Apple “reality distortion field exist”?
What Is The Distortion Field?
Obviously, the Apple Reality Distortion field is not a real thing. But it is a useful term to describe a couple of interesting phenomena that surround Apple products:
- Apple the company seems to set the terms of debate in the tech world. Once the touch-screen arrived, it was touch-screen vs. keyboards. Closed vs. open debates are now about Apple vs. Google. Form vs. function arguments frequently reference Apple’s design. Apple is the company who have become a lightning rod for contemporary discussion about technology.
- Apple is perceived to be first to the market, even when it is not. Take something like Airplay. It, at least in theory, differs little from the DLNA wireless standard, but many blogs are calling it a gamechanger. Similarly, Steve Jobs called Facetime “the first video calling on a mobile device”, which it clearly isn’t.
- Users of Apple products fervently defend them against criticism.
So this is something we tech nerds know. But why does this happen?
Apple Has Become a Symbol
Nerds on the web (like us) often look at products in terms sheer functionality. I know I for one was pretty amazed when, on my Android phone, I could directly upload photos to Dropbox or simply install a new media player because I didn’t like the stock one. You can’t do this with Apple products, we claim.
But when people use examples like that as an example of why Apple ‘ain’t all that great’, what they miss is that Apple is not simply a tech company, but a cultural symbol. It isn’t necessarily about ‘sheeple’ or Apple’s marketing successes as much as much as it is that Apple, the media and the public have positioned Apple as a sign of the cultural importance and potential of technology.
For at least the last hundred years, technology has become the thing in our culture that is symbolic of how we’re moving into the future. And Apple has become the company many in our culture look to to determine the direction of that movement: what the trends will be, what technology will dominate etc.
How Apple Got There
So how is it that Apple became this symbol? Well first, it is not the only one. Google are there too, as are RIM, Sony and, even though people don’t realize it, Microsoft too.
But Apple seem to be the most prominent because of a simple, overlooked fact: its products are really obvious. You don’t have to be a tech-nerd to understand that touch screens are neat. You don’t have to be a geek to know that carrying around your music collection and scrolling through it quickly is useful. You don’t have to care about software to know that the way the App Store manages updates is really plain and clear. The benefits of Facetime are clear; no-one cares that you could do it on a Nokia phone years ago.
The point is that Apple’s grand sweeping statements (“we think this is the future of everything!”) connect with people quite easily. And because its products impact culture and not just tech – in things like the mobile web, the iPod, or the iPad – Apple can say what it wants because they are the ones setting the tone of the discussion. It is Apple who is showing everyone, rather than tech geeks, what technology is capable of and how it makes your life better.
What’s more, love them or hate them, Apple has innovated in creative, exciting ways. Whether touch-screens, iTunes, the App Store, the Macbook Air or the iPad, Apple is doing things before others. That’s key. It means that Steve Jobs can be an arrogant jerk because he can actually back it up.
So sure, the ‘reality distortion field’ can be annoying. Sometimes Apple will claim slightly crazy things – like open is bad, or that Android is terrible. Sometimes people forget that other companies are doing things that are just as exciting and innovative. But without understanding the reason for it – that Apple has become our culture’s symbol for how technology is supposed to work – it will never change, and we’ll be in Steve’s thrall for as long as he’s around.
Funny to hear things like “Apple is and always will be at the top of technology” said in an apparently serious tone. Rome will never fall.. The unsinkable Titanic.. and Apple, the perpetual leader of technology.
*big words big words big words*…and now to the point: Apple is winning because of their marketing strategy. They sell “cool” to people and not just products. Currently no other company is doing that as hardcore as they are. Some try to compete (example: old spice commercials, HTC commercials etc), but none of them have been as good at it as when Apple essentially tells you you are not cool unless you buy their products.
Life is all about marketing and selling. Think about it, every time you talk to someone new, you are essentially selling “who you are” to that person. You don’t tell them what you can do to interest them, you lead them to be interested in you by talking about things that make them feel they want to be interested in you. Anywho…long diatribe cut short: Great Marketing wins.
bout time someone got it right. Marketing is what apple has over the competition. Not really anything else.
Great article, apple isnt a creator just an appropriator, and whats more they often pass the innovations of others off as their own. I however do not find apple products a joy to use, the laborious task of going through itunes to get media on my phone was one of the things that made me go back to Android. But you have a good point they established themselves with the public (mistakenly) as a technology leader when in face they have been behind other tech companies in almost every field except the digital download of media, they just shout and preen the loudest about how their technology is the leading edge, case in point watch how fast they start exclaiming that wifi synch for media is their invention and how it changes everything when their next OS comes out next summer…I can already do that with winamp and winamp mobile on my android. apples advertising likes to promote itself mistakenly as the leading edge sometimes whilst simultaneously putting down the competition (think I am a mac and I am a PC) where as the competition generally tends to promote itself on it’s now and inovative abilities (think I’m a Windows 7 PC or Droid does) and in a positive nature (rather than puytting down the competition. So perhaps thats part of the reason people still mistakenly believe apple is a leader…in anything technology related. While I applaud taking the high road and would hate to any of the competition (especially me favorite, Android) start putting apple in it’s place be deriding it for it’s back@ssward way of doing things and inferior os and devices maybe the competition needs to star speaking a little louder to be heard above the droning hypnotizing buzz that is the apple hype pervading the digital world.
@Zac and Savthecoder apples days are numbered they are neither a inovative or a particularly good technology company…what they are is a effective hype machine
@Rob
We can argue all day about which is better. I don’t disagree that Android and Windows are/have been innovative in multiple ways. Also, yes, Apple purchases companies that innovate and Apple purchases innovative products from other companies. When it then claims these innovations are Apple’s it is not a lie, Apple owns such innovations. I’m also guessing the “laborious task of going through itunes to get media on my phone” did not involve an iPhone. I agree that Apple’s products are not great for using with every device on the market, I cannot even connect my current phone to my Mac let alone to iTunes, but such is life. Apple designs products to be used together in a cohesive way. Take, for instance Mac hardware and Mac OS. Yes you can buy better hardware, but in the end it is the relationship between the two that is most important. I’m willing to bet you have never truly used an Apple computer seriously. I know there are limits with my MacBook, but there are far less troubles than my work Windows machines.
I would be remiss if I didn’t add this. Watch the rollout of “new” features in the Windows world, or Android as a whole, who are they imitating? What does Windows 7 look like (Mac OS maybe? hmm). What do updates to Android keep making better? (a lot of features Apple has in iOS, hmm). This one really gets me, look at all the Android tablets and Windows tablets coming to market. They are all imitating what Apple has already released! Hardware, software, and PACKAGING!
Yes, Apple does nothing but buy other peoples innovations, claim them as their own, and stupefy the masses. That must be why they are in a position to purchase nearly any other technology firm in the work right now, they should just give up and sell it all to Mr. Gates.
Great marketing, great design ( even if a minimalist style is, in the end, a matter of taste). Good quality, but overpriced. All their products work fine together, but the whole concept is built so once you chose an iThing you have to buy them all, you have no other choice. I’ve just read that once you have a mac you don’t go back. I guess that’s just because you can’t. It’s a good strategy for the company, because you should change all your hi tech items and that’s not very comfortable, at least financially speaking.
I personally think that buying an Apple product it’s a kind of trap, a nice looking one, I admit. And i see all this fuss more like a trend, and people pay the price for the feeling of being different and still belonging to a community. As a challenger, Apple can market that sense of being cool, and different and trend setter. I doubt that from a dominant market position the company would be able to sell its products at the price (and profit) they do today. Would you pay three times more just for a click less?
Apple is simply amazing. Plain and simple.