From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

On Oct 31, 2025 at 11:56:12 AM MST, "Marion" wrote <10e30od$2skr$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>:

Some people are claiming they were the xth person in line to buy an iPhone.

I've rarely met any person who actually knew what their phone was, technically, but what I find extremely telling is the iPhone buyers exclaim in glee that they're number 500 in a line of people lining up to buy it.

Do you see why that's extremely interesting?
a. They know nothing about the device
b. SO they're using herd affirmation instead of intelligence

Essentially, when someone claims that they're number 500 in a line buying
an Apple device, they're telling us their decisions are of a herd-animal.

Notice Android owners also are technically incompetent, like iPhone owners. But... And this is big....

You never see them using herd-animal mentality to affirm their choice.
Just iPhone owners do that.

It's one reason I say most iPhone owners are ignorant uneducated sheep.

Because anyone claiming they made the best choice because everyone else
made that same choice, is not thinking like intelligent people think.

They're influenced 100% by (admittedly brilliant) marketing propaganda.
Just like most people in Russia are.

They lost the ability to think for themselves (or, they never had it).

Claim: iPhone buyers “don’t know what their phone is, technically.” Reality: That’s not supported by any real data. Studies like CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, 2024) and Statista show that iPhone owners
tend to use more of their device’s features and keep their phones longer than Android users on average — suggesting they’re plenty familiar with what they
have. Apple’s user satisfaction and brand loyalty rates are consistently above
90%, the highest in the industry. That doesn’t happen if the user base is “technically incompetent.”


Claim: Lining up to buy a product is “herd behavior” and a sign of ignorance.
Reality: Behavioral economists and psychologists (see: Cialdini’s Influence or
Ariely’s Predictably Irrational) would tell you that lining up for a launch is
about scarcity, shared excitement, and social experience, not stupidity. The same happens with PlayStations, sneakers, or even book signings. It’s a human thing — not an Apple-only thing.


Claim: “Android owners never show herd behavior.”
Reality: False. Every major tech launch with devoted fans shows similar patterns — Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, even OnePlus events have people camping out or live-posting their “first in line” status. This is just selective perception — noticing the Apple examples because they’re more visible and popular.


Claim: “iPhone owners are ignorant, uneducated sheep.”
Reality: That’s just elitist name-calling. iPhone buyers come from all demographics — globally, they skew slightly more educated and higher income than Android users in most markets (Pew Research, 2021; CIRP, 2023). You can dislike Apple’s marketing, but calling 1.5 billion people “uneducated” is statistically absurd.


Claim: “They’re influenced 100% by marketing.”
Reality: Apple’s marketing is great, but people also buy iPhones because of reliability, support, ecosystem, resale value, and accessibility. There’s no credible evidence that iPhone purchases are driven purely by ads.


Bonus note:
Comparing Apple customers to “people in Russia” — implying propaganda-level
brainwashing — is not just an overreach, it’s borderline xenophobic. It doesn’t add to the argument; it just makes the writer sound bitter.


In short:
Almost every point in that rant is either exaggerated, flat-out wrong, or
based on bias instead of evidence. People lining up for iPhones aren’t “sheep”
— they’re fans doing what fans of every popular product do. The only “herd”
here is the one repeating that same tired insult.
--
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