Apple has undergone a significant transformation over the past two decades. Once considered a rebel in the technology industry, it’s now grown into a corporate powerhouse. This change has also impacted the dynamic between the company and its most devoted customers. While this evolution was inevitable, it also signifies the end of an era characterized by an almost religious allegiance to the brand.
During its early years, Apple symbolized an alternative to established authority, challenging the status quo embodied first by IBM and later by Microsoft. Today, it’s become the very giant it once contested. Purchasing products from the world’s most valuable company no longer carries the revolutionary connotation it once did.
In fact, using Apple’s products was once a declaration of principles, a means of differentiation, and a form of signaling. This positioning cultivated an exceptionally loyal user base of brand evangelists.
Apple’s tremendous success has diminished the feeling of being exclusive. People used to see the iPhone as cutting-edge, but now it’s become mainstream. The widespread use of Apple devices has taken away the feeling of being part of a special group or “tribe” that used to define the “Apple culture” up to the early 2000s.
In addition to becoming popular, some of Apple’s recent moves have also cooled the enthusiasm of devoted fans. Certain App Store policies, resistance to adopting open standards, prioritizing commissions over user benefits, and limitations on repairability for many years have contributed to this.
All this has sowed some doubt among those who staunchly defend every Apple decision. Devoted Apple fans still exist, but their numbers are becoming smaller and smaller.
This evolution doesn’t imply the end of loyalty to Apple but rather its maturation. Its enthusiastic users are no longer uncritical devotees but critical consumers who appreciate real product quality over mythology.
The challenge for Apple now is balancing business success and the innovative spirit that made it special.
The tech giant needs to continue to surprise the public from time to time with truly revolutionary products and make bold decisions that prioritize the user, even at the sacrifice of short-term profits.
In the meantime, this change is an opportunity for the fan community to develop a more mature relationship with the brand. It’s no longer a cult, but it’s still a community passionate about a way of understanding technology, capable of having more balanced conversations about Apple and recognizing its virtues and shortcomings.
The end of the “Apple cult” is the beginning of a new era–one with a more loyal company-user relationship based not so much on blind devotion but on a critical appreciation of the real innovation and value its products bring.
Image | Laurenz Heymann
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