I love Apple. I use multiple Apple products every day. I get excited to walk into Apple’s candy colored immaculate stores. I walk through the different sections enamored with each product. I could spend hours exploring each product’s nuances. Surprisingly enough though, my love of all things Apple wasn’t love at first sight; it was more like a seed planted that slowly grew.
My Mom purchased an iPod shuffle for me in December 2005 as a Christmas gift. I remember opening the gift and not getting particularly excited. I think my lack of excitement came more from not understanding exactly what I was looking at. It was a small white rectangle with my name engraved on the side of it. I didn’t even open the box for a few months. I clearly remember when I finally decided to open my new toy becoming all consumed with finding the coolest music to add on to the little guy. I would spend hour after hour listening to thirty second clips of songs trying to decide if a certain song was worthy of my super cool iPod. I am happy to say that I still use this very same first generation iPod shuffle today. The fact that I continue to use an iPod shuffle that was made nearly five years ago is impressive to say the least. This is a testament to the quality of Apple products.
The next Apple love of my life was my 3G iPhone. It was given to me as a gift since my other phone decided to die on me out of no where. Once again I wasn’t particularly excited about my new toy. I didn’t think I needed a phone with so many bells and whistles. My iPhone quickly became (and still is) my most prized possession. My iPhone is always by my side. My iPhone is the first thing I reach for when I wake up and the last thing I tinker with before I go to bed. To be honest, I actually sleep with it under my pillow. My iPhone has helped me pass times of extreme boredom and it keeps me in touch with those that I hold dear to my heart. If my house as burning down and I only had time to grab one possession, my iPhone would be spared. I never knew I could love a piece of technology so much.
My iPhone is clearly my favorite Apple product that I own, hands down. Coming in at a close second though is my Apple TV. I like to think of my Apple TV as my own personal television channel. I can access iTunes, movies, and pictures through my television. Of all the cutting edge features that the Apple TV has to offer my favorite feature is the screen saver. The screen saver runs a slide show of all of my photos. I can sit on my couch watching the screen saver shuffle through my photos for hours. I have even tailored the slide show for certain events. For example for my friend’s birthday I had a small party at my house. Along with creating the perfect party playlist through iTunes, I also ran a slide show on my Apple TV of the birthday girl. It added a special touch to the event.
I recently saw a story on the local news that warmed my heart. The story touched on how the iPad was a hit with those slightly technology challenged. The story was about how an elderly woman was reading again for the first time in years because of the iPad’s ability to enlarge text. The woman raved about how easy the iPad’s touch screen was to use and how it was giving her back the gift of reading. The story made me think of a very special 80 year old bingo loving lady named Lee. I used to run bingo at an assisted living community and Lee was my partner in crime. Lee had a computer in her room and next to her computer were several large bold faced instructions on how to use the computer. Lee often complained about how complicated and confusing using the computer was. It made me wish Lee was still here today. She would have loved an iPad and having an iPad would have also freed up quite a bit of wall space in her room. An iPad is next on my wish list for sure!
My love of all things Apple will continue to grow. I know this because the company is always reinventing its products in a way that makes the coolest thing you own even cooler! I look forward to seeing what Apple comes up with next and how my love will grow!
