Captivated by Apple

I have written before about the psychological analysis of the incorporated company as psychopath in the book and film The Corporation. In conversation at the weekend another similar parallel can be drawn between loyal customers and the psychological phenomenon known as Stockholm Syndrome, which is the well documented state where people held captive in, for example, a hostage scenario start to show illogical positive feelings towards their captors.

If you think about it, despite what companies may proclaim, you don't get very much for loyalty in this day and age. In most cases of services where there is a standing relationship between supplier and customer, the economics are such that new customers get a much better deal than existing ones, but customers don't switch because the effort involved isn't worth the savings to be made. Make the price differential too great, and people begin to switch in droves.

Apple customers, however, seem to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

In 2011 nobody eulogizes about operating systems because, well, they just aren't very interesting to a normal person (yes, new colleagues, I did just say that). Nobody, that is, apart from Mac users, who go on endlessly about the wonderful end user experience that you only get on a Mac as if the rest of the world is still struggling with a CP/M command prompt.

Only iPhone users could respond to a fundamental design flaw in the iPhone 4 with glee that they are to be sent a new accessory (a glorified rubber band) to fix the issue.

Only 14 million iPad users could react to the obsolescence of their expensive toy within 12 months by signing up in droves (is it 500k? is it a million?) within hours of the announcement of iPad 2.

Only the Apple-obsessed publishing industry could react to a 30% cut of sales revenue on iTunes with claims that the iPad is the saviour of the print industry…

Now obviously I'm being more than a touch sarcastic with all of this, but do you see my point? Lock-in to the Apple way does seem to leave otherwise sane people making utterly illogical decisions.

I'm jealous. There is remarkable skill and talent involved in getting a brand to this level of customer loyalty. One thing I'm sure of, though. It is not just the quality of the product that is at the core of Apple's success… no matter what its captivated audience might tell you.