Apple

About

Apple Inc. is an American consumer electronics company^[1] known for pioneering the Macintosh personal computer in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as the portable MP3 player in the early 2000s. It is perhaps best known for its “iProducts,” such as the iPod and iPhone, which have become so ubiquitous within the Western culture that the company has developed an enormous following referred to as the Cult of Mac by some observers.^[3] With the commercial success of iProducts, the company quickly grew into the largest publicly-traded corporation in the world and the largest technology company in the world, both by profit and revenue^[2]. Despite this, the corporation has been criticized for unethical labor, business, legal, and environmental practices.^[2]

Online History

Apple was established on April 1st, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne to sell the Apple I personal computer kit and the company was formally incorporated on January 3rd, 1977. In the following years, Apple released its second and third generation of the personal computer, although they were met by lukewarm reception. Beginning in the early 1980s, Apple’s personal computer line was succeeded by Lisa and the Macintosh products.

iProducts

On August 15th, 1998, Apple charted a new era in the company’s history with the release of iMac, a new line of personal computers. Apple declared the “i” in iMac to stand for “Internet” and also representative of the product’s focus as a personal device (‘i’ for “individual”). In the following years, Apple purchased a number of software companies to build its consumer-oriented digital production applications, including iMovie, Final Cut Pro and iPhoto among others. On October 23rd, 2001, Apple unveiled the portable digital audio player known as iPod, which became the company’s most commercially successful product with over 100 million units sold within six years.

Apple WWDC 2013

On June 10th, 2013, Apple held its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where it unveiled a new Mac Pro desktop computer encased in a 6.6’’ x 9.9’’ black cylindrical aluminum case (shown below), a drastic departure in design from previous models.

Shortly after the product’s debut, many Twitter users compared the computer’s design to various cylindrical objects found in popular films or households, including a prop from the science fiction film series Star Trek, a can of deodorant^[16] and a futuristic roll of toilet paper.^[17] Later that day, the tech news blog Mashable^[12] published a post highlighting several notable tweets about the product.

Also on June 10th, Redditor codemaster submitted an image macro to the /r/funny^[13] subreddit, which featured a promotional photograph for the new Mac Pro with the character Professor Farnsworth from the animated television series Futurama identifying the computer as a rectal suppository (shown below, left).^[13] Several hours later, Redditor AbrahamAshley posted a photoshopped image of a cat sleeping on top of the product to the /r/apple^[14] subreddit (shown below right). In the first 24 hours, the posts gained upwards of 7,200 and 660 up votes respectively.

Many Internet users pointed out that the product’s design looks similar to the iconic helmet worn by the antagonist Darth Vader from the science fiction franchise Star Wars. On June 11th, German artist Hilmar Stehr posted a photoshopped image of the new Mac Pro combined with Vader’s helmet titled “Darth Pro” (shown below).^[15]

iPhone 5S & 5C Unveiled

On September 10th, 2013, Apple unveiled two new iPhone products 5S, the successor to iPhone 5 with a faster processor and other new features, and 5C, a lower-cost model that comes in a plastic case with several new color options.

As per usual, Apple’s announcement of new phones was preceded by high anticipations and speculations surrounding its features like fingerprint-scanning technology, as well as a few parody ads mockingly introducing iPhone 5S as more of the “Same” and iPhone 5C as the “Cheapass” product (shown below).

iPhone 6 Unveiled

On September 9th, 2014, Apple unveiled two new iPhones: the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 plus. The new models^[18] will be larger and stronger than the model that proceeded them.

Much of the online attention after the annoucement was focused on an out of style infinety scarf^[20] worn by a keynote speaker during the livestream announcement of the new models. Within hours of the announcement the parody Twitter account Keynotescarf^[19] was created, in less than a day the account gained over 200 followers. The scarf and the online reaction was covered the same day by several sites including Buzzfeed^[21] and Mashable.^[22]

Apple Smartwatch

On September 9th, 2014, Apple unveiled its first smart watch,^[23] which features a health tracker and allows users to sync their iPhone to it.

Twitter users posted many mocking images of “smart watches” under the corresponding tag #iWatch which poked fun at the new device. With 24 hours the hashtag^[24] was tweeted out over 54,000 times.

U2 Album Promotion Backlash

On September 9th, 2014, during Apple’s press conference for the unveiling of the iPhone 6, Tim Cook was joined by Bono, the frontman of U2, to make an announcement that the Irish rock band’s latest album Songs of Innocents would be available free of charge for for all iTunes store^[25] users.

However, as Apple device users began noticing that the album had been automatically downloaded without their consent, many took their irritation to the social media outlets and Apple’s support forum,^[26] including Apple user AMSayer who submitted the following post:

“How do I remove the free U2 album from my iTunes library? So we all have a free U2 album in our iTunes library now. I don’t like U2 and don’t want it. I get an option to ‘hide’ it in iTunes, but not to delete it. How can I remove it entirely from my library in iCloud? I have just been to iCloud.com, but can’t see anything there.”

The same day, Buzzfeed^[29] posted a round-up of people reacting to the release in a post titled “People Were Less Than Psyched About U2 At The Apple Event.” On September 10th, The Washington Post ^[27] published an article titled “U2, Apple and rock-and-roll as dystopian junk mail," which criticized Apple and U2’s method of delivery in the promotional event:

“On Tuesday afternoon, U2’s new album was just there, waiting for you. Like an Ikea catalogue. Or a jury summons. Or streptococcus. The latest inescapable unpleasantry for anyone who’s chosen to participate in our great digital society -- more specifically, the 500 million human beings on this planet who use iTunes.”

On September 15th, iTunes began to offer a tool^[28] which allows users to remove the album from their library.

Click through to visit the SOI Removal page on Apple’s website

#Bendgate

On September 21st, Macrumors Forum^[30] user hanzoh published a new thread titled “iPhone 6 Plus slightly bent after 2 days” which explained their experience with the new iPhone 6, saying:

“I received my iPhone 6 Plus 64GB spacegray at about 3pm on Friday and set it up, but haven’t worn it out that day, so it wasn’t in my pocket.

Yesterday, I left at 10am with the iPhone in my left FRONT pocket of my suit pants. I drove 4 hours to a wedding, which also involved a lot of sitting during dinner etc but also 2-3 hours of dancing. I left at 2am and went to bed, driving home 4 hours back.

So in total, the 6 Plus was about 18 hours in my pocket while sitting mostly.

As I lay it on the coffee table and sat down on the couch to relax from the drive (yes, sitting again ), I saw the reflection of the window in the iPhones slightly distorted. Now I lay it flat with the display side on the table, take a look."

The same day Twitter user Wario64^[31] tweeted out a link to the thread, with Twitter user SeanPincombe^[32] responding by introducing the Twitter hashtag #bendgate. Within a week the hashtag was tweeted^[33] out over 37,000 times.

On September 23rd, The Daily Dot^[34] published an article titled “Apple fans’ tight pants are bending the iPhone 6 Plus,” which highlighted the problem and the hashtag. The following day the hashtag and problem were covered by Mashable^[35] and Newsday.^[36]

Fandom

Throughout the 2000s, Apple engaged in a series of highly successful marketing campaigns for their new lines of iMac personal computers and iPod MP3 players. That, plus the widespread popularity of the products, provided Apple with a devoted consumer base who jump at the opportunity to buy the next in the line of products. Over the years, this following has become extremely widespread, and the fans have become increasingly virulent in their quest for the latest Apple products. This has resulted in very long lines at Apple stores during product launches, as well as general hype and hysteria surrounding the company’s announcements of new products. The following has been likened to a religion or a cult by outside observers. BBC journalist Alex Riley, reporting on the opening of a new Apple Store in Covent Garden, London wrote the following:

"The scenes I witnessed at the opening of the new Apple store […] were more like an evangelical prayer meeting than a chance to buy a phone or a laptop.

[…]

“And what did those customers – some who’d travelled from as far away as the US and China and slept on the pavement for the privilege – find when they finally got inside?

“Well, all the same stuff as in the Apple store half a mile away on Regent Street. No special offers, no free gifts (a few t-shirts were handed out), no exclusive products. Now that’s devotion.”^[4]

The Reality Distortion Field

Apple’s method of announcing and presenting their new products to the general public through keynote speeches has been instrumental in the development of its following. The presentations were characterized by the charisma of the late CEO Steve Jobs, along with Apple’s aggressive marketing, and were extremely successful about building hype for the next new product. This has been termed a “reality distortion field,”^[5] referring to how, during the presentation, the Jobs’ charisma was so forceful that the audience was essentially mesmerized, and would follow his every word. Thus, Jobs became the idol of the ‘cult’^[6]. This term has since been applied to other charismatic speakers, such as Bill Clinton.^[5]

The Mac vs. PC Debate

A frequent debate amongst internet users, some of whom may align themselves with the Apple fandom, is which is the better platform: Mac or PC/Windows. Arguments often get heated, and Linux proponents are often excluded entirely. PC proponents point to the limited customizability of both Apple’s software and hardware, and the lack of major gaming platforms (although this is beginning to change), while Mac proponents point out frequent unreliability of PCs, as well as their proclivity for attracting computer viruses.

Brand-Related Memes

Apple / Mac Switch Spoofs

Apple / Mac Switch Spoofs are a series of spoof images and videos surrounding an advertising campaign by Apple (then Apple Computer) in 2002. The campaign showed ‘real people’ who had decided to switch from using a Windows-based computer to a Macintosh-based computer, listing their reasons. This was picked up upon by sites such as YTMND, and gained such popularity that some well-known actors such as Will Ferrell created their own spoof videos.

iPod Ad Spoofs / Parodies

iPod Ad Spoofs / Parodies refers to a series of parody images created about Apple’s distinctive marketing campaign for the iPod, showing black silhouettes with white iPods superimposed over colored backgrounds. The style of the ad is highly exploitable, and many examples have been posted across the internet.

Mac vs. PC Ad Campaign

Mac vs. PC is the name of another marketing campaign by Apple, begun in 2006. It compared a stereotypical, middle-aged, straight-edge businessman – the “average PC user” – with a young, hip, artist-type – the “average Mac user”. The ads detailed the supposed shortcomings of PCs, and why consumers should purchase Macs instead. The ad campaign further fuelled the heated Mac vs. PC debate, ever-present with contemporary youth. It has been parodied many times, usually with videos titled “X vs. Y” taking a similar format to the ads.

Steve Jobs / Bill Gates Comic

The Steve Jobs / Bill Gates Comic is an exploitable comic series that depicts a conversation between Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft’s chairman Bill Gates. The comics often depict the somewhat acrimonious relationship between the two and their companies, much in the same vein as the Mac vs. PC parodies (see above).

Product-Related Memes

Many of the internet memes related to the Apple products are centered around the iPhone and iPad.

iPad Spoofing

iPad Spoofing refers to the public reaction to the announcement of Apple’s first tablet, the iPad, in 2010. The reaction was particularly disdainful on 4chan’s /v/ board. Many focused on how the product appeared to be nothing more than a larger version of the already-released iPhone, except without the functionality of a telephone. Others focused on the name iPad itself (see above), in relating it to a feminine hygiene product. In fact, the comedy TV show MAD TV created a parody commercial for the ‘iPad’ feminine hygiene product three years before the tablet’s release^[7].

iPhone Whale

The iPhone Whale is the name given to an ad-hoc emoticon found within the iPhone’s iChat app. A screenshot of the whale was spread around Tumblr and Reddit, and has spawned many derivatives. It has become so widespread that a Chinese company is producing iPhone Whale pillows.

iPhone 4 Death Grip

The iPhone 4 Death Grip refers to a design fault within the iPhone 4, by which the phone’s antenna was blocked from receiving a signal as users held the phone in their hands. It was seen as a catastrophic mistake by tech experts, but it did not dampen the product’s explosive popularity. It has been the subject of many creative photoshoppings.

Shit That Siri Says

Shit That Siri Says is an expression that humorously refers to unusual responses made by Apple’s voice-activated command program, Siri, which was introduced with the iPhone 4S. Sometimes the responses can be due to glitches within the program, but more often or not, they are due to the fact that Siri was programmed to have an attitude.

iPhone 5’s Extended Height

While the release of iPhone 5 in September 2012 has been regarded as a commercial success (with more than two million units pre-ordered within the first 24 hours), the phone garnered mixed reviews from the tech news blogosphere, many of whom described the fifth generation model of the smartphone device as “boring.” Meanwhile, others on 4chan, Tumblr and Twitter began commentating on the slightly longer dimension of the device, who dubbed iPhone 5 with the nickname “LongPhone” through photoshopped images and single topic blogs.

iOS 6 Maps

Before the release of iOS 6, Apple’s updated mobile operating system released alongisde the iPhone 5, the company announced that it would be ditching Google Maps as its default map provider in favor of an in-house designed app. The new app, called Apple Maps, has faced widespread criticism across the internet for its large number of inaccuracies and errors.^[11] Screenshots of the new, error-filled maps are being spread around image-sharing sites.

iOS7 Waterproof Prank

As early as on September 21st, 2013, shortly after the release of Apple’s iOS7, a group of pranksters on 4chan launched a hoax campaign to sabotage the early adopters by creating a series of Apple-esque advertisements claiming that the latest software update will make iPhone devices waterproof.

The fake advertisements were complemented by a fabricated Facebook status update from Apple’s CEO Tim Cook confirming the false rumor that “the iOS7 can now survive 99% exposure to water accidents.”

In the following days, a variety of facetious messages praising iOS7’s waterproof feature emerged on Twitter, as well as several angry reactions from iPhone users who presumably fell victim to the prank.

Search Interest

External References