Apple Hivemind
Someone came up to me the other day and we couldn’t remember each other’s name but he remembered what I had mentioned last time we met. He said I had talked about the “Apple Hivemind”, and it got me laughing. This individual didn’t remember my name but remembered what I said; it was hilarious to me! I said he must’ve remembered because I’m sure I said it so emphatically.
Alas, something I’ve thought about for a while. The Apple Hivemind. It’s not that I hate Apple (I promise), it’s just when their objective is to scream at everyone through their captivating marketing campaigns that they’re the best, well — you might want to question their need to do that.
If you recall, back when Steve Jobs was alive (Rest In Peace), I truly believe they were — the best. The best consumer technology company. They had the best phone, tablet, personal laptops, and computers. It was AMAZING! I remember how excited I’d get for every Steve Jobs launch. Not that I actually watched it (lol), but I knew, this man was about to pull back the curtain on the latest and greatest piece of technology — it was mesmerizing! I mean, how could you not get so excited as a teenager to know that the iPod was now going to be in color! Yes, folks remember that?! Long gone were the days of those unlively black and grey pixels before Kindle made it cool, now we could use the full RGB spectrum! Amazing! Or remember when the MacBook went from the pasty white to the cool, metallic grey?! Holy shit! It was like something from the future.
You know what really blew everyone’s minds? Back in 2007, there was chatter about a touch-screen phone. First off, what the f*** is touchscreen?! This ain’t no Tom Cruise in Minority Report (if you get the joke, it means your past your prime). But seriously, touchscreen?! I remember we were all talking about it in Mr. Mata’s Music Class. I remember my boy from back in the day, Nick was really leading this convo (or maybe it was Cam? Okay whatever it was one of them). I remember sitting there completely spellbound wondering “I can’t even imagine this?” Then we had it, the unveiling of the brand, new iPHONE!
It was everything we had imagined and MORE! Jobs had done it again! He had us guessing and delivered like… honestly, I can’t even make a comparison because it would be an insult. He had mesmerized us — we were completely captivated! This, ladies and gentlemen, WAS IT! This was the pinnacle of personal, handheld technology and we all needed to have one! Syke! My brown parents ain’t buying me that. My white T-Mobile flip phone was good enough. Iykyk. Those were truly the glory, no, golden days of Apple.
But with everything, nothing is beyond the boundaries of nature — whatever goes up must come down (Yeah, yeah cheesy but true). Eventually he passed and I noticed a shift in the releases and products. I think it carried on for a little bit but I don’t recall that same magic as before. Tim Cook seemed like he did his best or honestly lack there of but eventually once apple became a trillion dollar company it was pretty obvious — Apple just wanted the cash. Not that they weren’t like that before but at least the cash I used to buy their products with felt worth the value or at least Jobs made me believe it was. Now, to me at least, it’s obvious there’s a lack of innovation.
Every time an iPhone is released I’m wondering “Alright, what’s so special about this one besides the price tag?” Even the brand new MacBook I’m typing on right now has a lot of similarity to my MacBook — from 2011! When Jobs was around there was none of that. You never thought of the past because he was literally leading us into the future. No, seriously he was. I looked up to everything he did in the ladder half of his career. I even have his saying on my childhood bedroom door “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do” Yeah, I actually believe that. And that’s what I mean, that desire for innovation, how he made us believe is gone …
Now Apple is left with clinging to their iMessage and FaceTime apps and gaslighting Android users that their inferior (Oh yeah, now it’s going to get personal). That individual up above mentioned how they’ve been left out of group chats because of their Green Bubbles. Yes! Left out. Do you know how many memories and connections are created in group chats? We literally laughed about our shared trauma over this and I know if you’re reading this some of you have felt the same. How is it that a cool, tech company now forces you to use their product or else you’re not relevant…to your own community. Bruh.
Honestly, it kinda sense why Apple is so exclusive. In Jobs’ biography, which I only read the first 160 pages of (lol), he mentions multiple times that essentially you’re either with Apple or against them. You’re either with us or against! That was his younger self but it seems that transcended onto the later years of Apple. I’ve always wondered why that was the case? Maybe because he has trauma from his adoption from when he was initially returned. Yes, his first adopted parents returned him as a baby before being eventually adopted by his loving parents. Maybe he did everything to hold onto what he had or considered family. Who knows but alas, I don’t want to speculate too much over someone that’s passed.
Certain tech in Android, specifically my Samsung, have been around for years before Apple even had that twinkle in their eye. For example something my brother showed me is if I hook up a monitor to my Samsung S21 (from almost 4 years ago), it operates as a fully, functional PC. Yes, it literally turns into a computer. Then you connect a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and you have a fully-functioning work station. You know widgets? They have been around on Android for as long as I can remember. Same goes for the fingerprint reader, better cameras, so on and so forth. See, if Apple were to lead the charge on these and actually introduce them, then we’d have that magic and innovation back. But they don’t and it’s just sad.
Overall, I’m sad about Apple’s current state. It’s sad because this was once the company that literally led us to innovation and now, they cling onto the past and force their users (including myself as a MacBook user) to believe that what they create is amazing. It’s not … it’s just seeing what’s the most popular feature out there, implementing it years later, bumping up the price, and creating an illusion that if you don’t buy this you’re a loser. It’s elite capitalism. And you know what, we’ll all do it because we don’t know any better …
I wish companies created to create and not just to make money. I understand we live in a capitalist society and money is a huge part of it but creativity is important. You don’t want to look back on life and show how much you had in your 401k but rather what you were able to create from your own unique thoughts.
At the end of the day, I’ll remind myself Apple may be a shell of its former self but at least we were able to witness it — that grandeur, those captivating moments. People think I’m angry at Apple, no, I’m just sad. Sad that we saw it at its peak and now we’re watching it come down. Steve Jobs was that guy for us that really made us believe we could do anything because we were literally watching him do it. At least we had someone to show us it was possible. Thanks for being just enough crazy and being our Tony Stark.
