Macs before iMac tended to be boring, sandboxed and under-specced machines when compared to the same priced IBM compatible.
The iMac (and later the iPhone) turned it into a fashion statement, but Apple devices have never been cheap or “value for money” when compared to competitors, it has always been an expensive “luxury” brand.
The combination of Jony Ive and a returned Steve Jobs managed to spin it up into a fashionable brand to own.
What everyone forgets is that Nokia basically ruled the international cellphone market before that.
That is, until Microsoft was able to buy enough shares and then fifth-column it with their man Stephen Elop, who forced its engineers to adopt Windows Mobile in preference to their own Symbian OS.
That turned out very badly, basically crashing Nokia in a few short years.
Maybe Phil knows that his kicks can’t mine his data personal data or track his movements.
In terms of relative wealth it’s always been very familiar to “old money” people, who for a long time eschewed the designer labels and flashy fashions of the nouveau riche in favour of high quality traditional items. What we’re seeing now in highly unequal societies are desperate attempts by unusually large numbers of people to “demonstrate value”* to employers, potential mates, government officials, and others they know via conspicuous consumption of branded commodity goods. That’s why we’re seeing weird effects like this.
[* this is a disgusting term popularised by PUAs that’s sadly and not co-incidentally applicable here]
Burberry springs immediately to mind.
Edit: @L0ki got there first, with the same wording oddly enough.
Anything displaying the brand’s logo.
There’s a line in “Gangnam Style” that roughly translates as “Starbucks girls skipping supper” which refers to the phenomenon of young women in Korea who spend all their money on starbucks, makeup, and nice clothes only to live in a dingy apartment and have zero disposable income left over. (The joke being they skipped dinner to pay for that iced coffee)
Perhaps, for some values of “nerds”.
Sounds like “Buy Chinese!” propaganda to me. Huawei needs to boost sales at home to make up for their shortfall in the US.
Tommy Hilfiger.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
