the tablet war is heating up

And to call that fanbase short-sighted, slavish or anything else is also too easy when talking about why the iPad is still king of the tablets. Not to mention untrue more often than not.
Sorry, I must not have been clear enough. I meant that it is short-sighted (trying to be pun-ny) to ignore the fact that some of the Apple-base is myopic. I didn't mean that the Apple-base was short-sighted.

And yes, they have haters, but the haters are directed more at the fans' attitude and not necessarily with the products themselves.

Me personally? I am a tweener. I will use what I find best serves my needs. I have owned an iPhone and an Android phone. I was thiiiiiis close to getting an iPad2 a couple of months ago, but I decided to wait for the new ASUS TF700 in June. I'll just use my laptop, my smartphone and my PC until then. :)
 

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Apple has their fans and they also have their haters. And everything in between.

Yup- I know people who won't buy anything except Apple, and know others who will buy anything but. I know one guy who loathes that he- like me- has to use an iPhone for business purposes; he wants his electronic world to beApple free.

Personally, while I prefer Apple, I always look at the options before buying. This has resulted in some- but not many- non-Apple purchases. Hell, I've even recommended non-Apple products.
 

Do you disagree that there are a LOT more Apple fans devoted to Apple than there are Android fans dedicated to Android?
No, I agree that there are more Apple fans than Android. However, there are maybe 3 million Apple fanatics, people who just buy whatever Apple makes, and that's a high-end estimate. Such "fanboys" have very, very little effect on the overall market. First to market, perception that the product is better, and, bizarrely, the fact that the product probably actually is better for most of those people, all have a much, much bigger effect.

I haven't held my reasons out at all for you to inspect, so your own impartial judgment on the subject is pretty much worth nil.
It doesn't matter what your reasons are: your personal opinion that 90 million people are making a stupid decision buying an iPad tells me that you have a much higher estimation of your opinion that, at a bare minimum, 10 million smart people.

Let's bottom-line this: you saw me use the phrase "stupidly high", and that one utterly innocuous phrasage appeared on your HUD as some incendiary slander against that could not go unchallenged. To that end you feigned innocent curiosity about the word "stupidly" with dogmatic interest, at the same time I was trying to play it down for the sake of civility.
I didn't feign innocent curiosity: like you, I downplayed my response for the sake of civility. My first internal iteration had the word :):):):):):):) in it. Your reasoning turned out to be as personal and envy-based as I suspected, but I figured it was more polite to give you a chance to come up with something besides "they're stupid". You did not.
 

I didn't feign innocent curiosity: like you, I downplayed my response for the sake of civility. My first internal iteration had the word :):):):):):):) in it. Your reasoning turned out to be as personal and envy-based as I suspected, but I figured it was more polite to give you a chance to come up with something besides "they're stupid". You did not.
You continue to serve as Exhibit A. Predicting that iPad 3 sales would be "stupidly high" didn't warrant an indignant response of any kind, vulgar or otherwise. Your dispostion that it was a red flag being waved in front of your face, followed by your bitter and angry vituperations, are all over-the-top and irrational. You're in denial of that even as it's explained to you. Some dire button is getting pushed. Some sensitive nerve is getting pricked. Some chip getting knocked off your shoulder.

Case in point: you say "envy-based". From which of my various glib statements do infer envy? Because obviously jealousy must motivate someone who says anything remotely critical of Apple consumers? Because it's such an exclusive and elite bunch? "Man, I wish I was cool enough to be one of them!"
 
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Personally, while I prefer Apple, I always look at the options before buying. This has resulted in some- but not many- non-Apple purchases. Hell, I've even recommended non-Apple products.
I owned an iPhone for a couple years myself. They were the phone to beat for a while, so I made a two-year investment. At work, they gave a handful of techs an Apple laptop to work with. It's very attractive, and a lot lighter than the HP laptops they usually assign, but it's mostly been sitting in a desk drawer until I can get around to setting it up with Boot Camp.
 
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Predicting that iPad 3 sales would be "stupidly high" didn't warrant an indignant response of any kind, vulgar or otherwise.
Your implication is that purchasers were being stupid, which you verified. Indicating that I and a dozen friends and family are stupid does, in fact, get my ire up.

Case in point: you say "envy-based". On which of my various glib statements do infer envy? Because obviously jealousy must motivate someone who says anything remotely critical of Apple consumers? Because it's such an exclusive and elite bunch? "Man, I wish I was cool enough to be one of them!"
No, envy that the product you believe is inferior is vastly, vastly outselling the one you like.
 

It's very attractive, and a lot lighter than the HP laptops they usually assign, but it's mostly been sitting in a desk drawer until I can get around to setting it up with Boot Camp.

Are you having an issue with Boot Camp itself, or are you- like me- a tad lethargic in installing software?
 

Are you having an issue with Boot Camp itself, or are you- like me- a tad lethargic in installing software?
I'm just busy...and lethargic :)

It's tempting to just pop the Windows 7 Ultimate DVD in and go for a clean start. I don't know of any productivity use I might have for Mac OS that would be more advantageous, but I'd hate to miss out on something.
 

That's very politic. First you assert that their are fans and detractors, and that nobody can say anything about anything with utmost accuracy (which is all fundamentally hard to disagree with), yet then you speak as the authority of what is true more often than not. Play fair.
To bring up that there are two sides to the fanbase argument that in your words has "slavish devotion" is playing fair. Your opinion on what constitutes a better product is dripping with a sense that yours is the one that is right and anyone who doesn't agree is essentially a sheep who doesn't research products before purchase and only listens to others when making buying choices.

You've made your own assertions about the iPad's success and its consumers. Don't dismiss others on the basis of their "unknowability".
Now who's projecting?

And I'll continue to dismiss any argument that makes only broad generalizations about who buys what and why they do it while being willingly ignorant of other factors. Especially when it has the distinct odor of condescension all over it.
 

Your implication is that purchasers were being stupid, which you verified. Indicating that I and a dozen friends and family are stupid does, in fact, get my ire up.

No, envy that the product you believe is inferior is vastly, vastly outselling the one you like.
If you are interested in being civil, then do not act the part of the grand inquisitor, trying to draw out the dire inner thoughts of others so that you can then be justifiably outraged at them. If you avoid starting fights, you don't have to get your ire up. You can just let things slide. Of course, I don't think you actually are all that interested in civility.

I certianly didn't call you or your family or any particular person stupid. And let me go ahead and head off your obligatory rebuttal: interpreting "consumers aren't savvy" or "people pay too much attention to branding" as an attack on you and your loved ones is not a sensible extrapolation.

As to a product outselling the one I like, I am fairly certain that I have not indicated a preference to date. Rather, what I have indicated is that lack of diversity in the market is not healthy. It's a monopoly of the consumers' making.

Your opinion on what constitutes a better product is dripping with a sense that yours is the one that is right and anyone who doesn't agree is essentially a sheep who doesn't research products before purchase and only listens to others when making buying choices.
OK, you've got it partially right. I didn't say "nobody should buy the iPad" or "everybody should buy this other product". What I said was we should see more diversity, and that branding is overvalued. In my workplace, for instance, I see it all the time. People are appropriating funds to buy iPads. When we sit down and try to inventory what they want to do with it, it's clear that an iPad is not a good fit. But they don't want to hear that we have alternative from Dell or HP that will work just as well. Those other options are instant non-starters.

So, anyway, the part you got right is that there are a lot of uneducated consuemrs out there. That you inferred I have a horse in the race is the part where you went off-message.

And I'll continue to dismiss any argument that makes only broad generalizations about who buys what and why they do it while being willingly ignorant of other factors. Especially when it has the distinct odor of condescension all over it.
Then by your own criteria, you dismiss your own previous assumptions about the reasons for the iPad's success, as they were no less general in nature. I doubt you will, however, as you don't feel your conclusions are anything less than matter-of-fact. That's human nature for you.

As to consumer trends, and their enamorization with brands, I can only reiterate that it is not my conclusion alone, but one drawn by companies who in greater numbers eschew the market I consuem in.
 
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