As Steve Wozniak proclaims, the Macintosh is more than a computer—it's a way of life. After all, are there other products whose users will volunteer to work in retail stores to sell them? Are there other products whose arrival in the mail is cause for a big party and ritualistic opening ceremony? Or that inspire someone like New York resident Andrew Dusing to design furniture for his flat out of the company's packing materials?
Welcome to the world portrayed in The Cult of Mac, which openly celebrates the lives of Apple's evangelistic, obsessive, demanding, and, most of all, loyal fans, who would just as soon shave an Apple logo on their head as look at you.
Given the rather large Apple canon that exists already, it's important to define what this book is not. This is not a tell-all about Steve Jobs, nor an intriguing historical account of the Spindler versus Amelio years, nor a piercing analysis of the company and its prospects. Instead, Wired News journalist Leander Kahney, an admitted Mac junkie, spells out in highly entertaining text and photos how Apple and the Mac have seeped into our culture far beyond the company's impact in the marketplace.
One chapter explores Mac tinkerers who transform their computers into everything from digital sound studios to aquariums. Another looks at the world of Mac collectors, one of whom sold an empty box that once held a 128K Mac for $500 on eBay. Marketers may want to pay close attention to chapter 17, which poses the question, "What makes Mac fans so loyal?" Is it the machine? The brand? The community? Is it the presence of Microsoft? Is it a cult?
In the end, there are no clear Apple recipes for tapping into the consumer psyche that other companies can duplicate. Looking at his own Apple addiction, author Kahney believes "a big part of it is unconscious. Somehow, Apple's products stimulate desire. Perhaps the machines tap into some primeval, magpie-like attraction to bright shiny objects, a universal, timeless urge to own nice things."—Sean Silverthorne