Of all hardware and software manufacturers, I hate Apple the most. That has to do with the fact that everything from Apple is always more expensive, but also that it’s always different: more beautiful and smarter, sprinkled with the spirit of the late genius Leonardo da Jobs, from the rites at logging in to the plugs at the to upload. With this, Apple succeeds in creating a feeling among users that they are part of a superior society. Much has been written in the US about the sense of community that Apple provides, and how this digital cult is costing average people. And so I said, I can’t stop this digital revolution, but I can keep Apple out of our house.
Then my daughter went to high school and we were instructed by the school board to buy an iPad from the Apple store. I protested. I already disagree with screens in class, but don’t cost parents and put that digital homework in a tablet for a few tens. No sir, our digital splendor education can only flourish on an original iPad of 400 euros.
Then my daughter got all friends with iPhones. After two years, she was the only one in the oh-so-close teenage group who still had to tap into what’s called a ‘skere Samsung’. I said: you just do it with that skere Samsung. Then that skere Samsung fell apart this summer and my daughter said: I’m going to use all the money I get for my birthday for an iPhone. I said: not in my lifetime. My wife said: if she wants to, when you’re 14 that’s important. The Leonardo da Jobs phone came with a cable, but no charger. That cult cable did not fit in the charger of the skere Samsung. My daughter said: ‘Dad, we have to go to the Mediamarkt.’