Have you ever talked to a "Mac Fan-boy"? Have you met one of those Mac users who has nothing but praise for their computer and other trendy devices? Have you ever wondered why there is a cult following that deems Steve Jobs as their god? Well, there are researchers out there with evidence behind the reasons for the phenomenon that I call the Apple Culture.

Scouring the Internet, I found plenty of sources for the claims I will make today. Thanks to them for doing all the hard work!

Is Apple Perfect?

From the way you might hear some people talk, you would think Apple has never made a mistake in its lifetime. That is definitely not true. Many have forgotten the days when Apple floundered trying to stay afloat. Often the technical innovations produced by the company put extra anchors on the profit margins.

Fortunately, pulling Steve Jobs back into the captain's chair has made a huge difference in their success. Jobs and his team have since successfully created award-winning marketing teams to reshape Apple into something grand. Attack ads against PCs has fueled the PC-vs-Mac war, and misleading advertising with viral marketing has resulted in a growing customer base. "Hold on!" you might say, "Where is the proof?" Here are just a few myths that Apple marketing has successfully propagated to the public:

1. Apple never crashes - The short response is this YouTube video. While it's true that strictly controlling the development of software and limiting the possible hardware configurations for a Mac will decrease overall crashes, I have found that Apple crashes are still abundant. For example, my article reviewing Apple hardware led me to see that the devices in a Mac are actually inferior to many PCs. You have to buy a warranty for a Mac because over 30% of users will need to utilize it within the first 6-12 months of owning the machine. Security leaks like the one in Safari that let Apple be "PWNed" in the latest hacking contest also show the imperfections of the software.
2. Vista is all about tight security - This is debunking a myth about Vista's User Access Control module. Little do most people know: Apple has the exact same module! You will also notice that Microsoft doesn't seem to be participating in this mud-slinging battle; however, they are not afraid to debunk the myths themselves.
   UPDATE: Microsoft has released a new campaign of ads that in some way make an attack against all the Apple attack ads themselves, so perhaps they are getting their hands dirty after all!
3. Apple is always more stable - First of all, the stability behind OS X is UNIX and FreeBSD, both of which have no direct relationship with Apple development. Second, take a look here at how they've done without their borrowed kernel.

It's all about the facts here.

Why Do Mac Users Think So

When I saw this research analysis, I must admit I wasn't very surprised to see the results. This was performed by Mindset Media.

The following is an excerpt from their analysis:

According to Mindset Media, Mac enthusiasts descending on San Francisco in droves this week to see the latest Apple innovations are apt to have a lot in common with the open-minded, liberal population they will find there. The study, with a robust sample of 7,500 respondents, revealed that people who are highly open-minded or, in Mindset Media parlance, "Openness 5's", are 60 percent more likely than people in the general population to have purchased a Mac. These purchasers are also more liberal, less modest, and more assured of their own superiority than the population at large.

Mindset Media defines Openness 5's as those who seek rich, varied and novel experiences, believing that imagination and intellectual curiosity contribute to a life well lived. They are receptive to their own inner feelings and may feel both happiness and unhappiness more intensely than others.

"In a competitive market, like the one for personal computers, many brands compete for the same demographic, and what separates the winners from the losers is often the ability to identify and reach the right psychographic," said Sarah Welch, COO and co-founder of Mindset Media. "For the first time, marketers with brands that have distinctive Mindset Profiles, like Apple, can directly reach the people with the personality and attitudes that love what they sell."

I think this section pretty much explains a lot of the behavior that we see in Mac Fan-boys.

More Psychology

There is also research that suggests "cute" devices are more forgivable for mistakes than the less aesthetically pleasing counter-parts. This means that people tend to forgive and forget past problems or errors occurring with these "cute" devices. On the other hand, if it looks and feels more like a machine, we actually have less patience than if it were a human.

Combined with the article from the link (see the header of this section), we come to find that Apple's real success lies in marketing to the human sub-conscious and so forth. There's something to chew on when you make your purchasing decisions.