Concept in Definition ABC

Have you noticed that there are people who have everything from Apple? The iPhone, a MacBook laptop, a desktop also from the company of the bitten apple, as well as the Apple TV as set-top box for his television, just as they defend tooth and nail the philosophy of the company, to the point of being offended even if someone review the memory of Steve Jobs, as if he were a god.

These characters are called

fanboys, a term resulting from the contraction of fanatic (fanatic) and boy (guy).

Initially, the term referred to an unconditional admirer of Apple products, and not only of these, but of the entire philosophy that they themselves fanboys They have been creating based on these, and that the multinational founded by Steve Jobs has been feeding for its own benefit.

And it is not that the apple company did not have, before the explosion of the phenomenon, a certain “life philosophy”Around his products, based on the way of seeing life and the creations of the company founder Steve Jobs himself, but as in all fan phenomena, they have been feeding the beast.

Jobs's own cult of personality also enters into the creed of a good fanboy,

obviously idealized, and no biographies that highlight the most negative aspects of his personality like the official one written by Walter Isaacson with the acquiescence of Jobs himself, they have been able to change this vision on the part of a great mass of users of the products of the bitten apple.

It is difficult - I would dare say impossible - to establish a starting date for the phenomenon fanboy, a kind of "founding" date, but I would dare to say that

This phenomenon began with the launch of the first iPhone in 2007, although this does not mean that previously there were no people who unconditionally followed the company's products,

although its scope of action was limited only to computers.

Almost from the beginning of the Mac-PC duality in the market, this had become a rivalry, in which each one of the platforms had its supporters and detractors, although I don't recall ever being used finished fanboy to designate the Mac.

The launchIn 2007, the iPhone changed everything; all of a sudden, we could go with a bitten apple device in our pocket without any problem, which, Furthermore, it was radically innovative, standing light years ahead of existing terminals in the epoch. The other manufacturers and the remaining platforms took a long time to catch up with Apple.

Over time, the phenomenon fanboy it evolved, we could almost say that it "radicalized", and spread to different platforms.

Thus, and although the original meaning of fanboy As a follower of Apple in all aspects as if it were a radical fan of a football team, he continues to maintain all his meaning, we also talk about fanboys from Android.

Interestingly, and although I'm sure we could talk about fanboys from other companies and platforms, such as Microsoft /Windows, or Linux, the term is usually used in the field of mobile operating systems and devices (especially smartphones, although also tablets) that run them, and more specifically those of Apple that originated it, and Android.

The fanboy It is characterized by an unconditional praise of the technology that he likes, and a constant attack on others, especially that of his most direct rival,

highlighting the negative points of this, even to risk of falling into clichés and stereotypes.

Also, and as in the case of religious fanatics, this new technological fanaticism of the 21st century is characterized by proselytism, singing the virtues of the technology that is believed better to evangelize the "unbelievers", that is, those who still do not share the ideas of the fanboy.

Photos: Fotolia - bystudio / babylonsticks

Themes in Fanboy