I couldn’t let Apple’s 50th anniversary pass by without sharing a few reflections on the company. Lots of better writers than me have already talked extensively about the history of the company, the most impactful products, the issues they face today, and what the future of the company may look like. What I want to talk about is what Apple means to me and the impact it has had on my life.
I was a computer enthusiast from an early age, but I grew up in a Microsoft world. Everyone in my life owned a PC and every computer at school ran DOS or an early version of Windows. When I thought about computers, I was thinking Dell vs. Compaq or Gateway 2000 vs. IBM. I was barely aware there was a whole other world out there of Amigas and Macs or BeOS and PS/2 systems. Apple was just a name I’d vaguely heard of.
Until I saw my first iMac G3.
It was the only Apple computer in my entire school, and it stood out from the sea of beige boxes surrounding it like nothing I had ever seen. I fell in love instantly. I loved the colorful, translucent exterior, the early OS X Aqua design with its pinstripes and beautiful buttons and progress bars, and even the quirky puck mouse. That was the moment I realized there was a company out there that cared about computers the same way I did.
It would still be several years before I owned my first Apple product: an iPod video. I loved it. Coming from a portable DVD player as my primary way of watching video on the go, it felt like a leap into the future. I was constantly browsing iTunes for new songs, movies, and podcasts to load onto it.
And then the iPhone came out, and I tipped over the edge into full superfan territory. I watched all the keynotes for every product. (To this day, my work colleagues jokingly call keynote days my “religious holidays” because I always take time off to watch them live.) I camped out overnight for new iPhones. I started a YouTube channel just to talk about Apple products. I even dressed like Steve Jobs and wrote him letters.
I also started to become interested in the company’s history. That is when I learned Steve Wozniak’s story. His genius and his joy for life inspired me all over again – enough to pursue an electrical engineering degree in college. It also lit a spark for collecting. I wanted to hold and use the Apple IIs I was reading about and experience what computing felt like at the very beginning of the personal computing era. So I got one. Then another. Then another.. And with every addition to my collection came new friendships with fellow Apple enthusiasts and vintage computer collectors. I even got to meet Woz himself, which remains one of the highlights of my life as an Apple fan.
Those friendships and connections kept expanding in unexpected ways, including a chance Reddit encounter with a fellow Apple enthusiast on the opposite side of the world. That conversation turned into an Apple podcast that we ran together for over five years. That show became another way to connect with people who were as interested in Apple as me.
Then one day, on a whim, I entered a contest from a company called SellCell looking for “The World’s Ultimate Apple Superfan“. I never expected to win, but it seemed like a fun thing to participate in. The first round was timed trivia, which I was able to breeze through. Another round of trivia, a brief essay, and an interview later, I came out on top. SellCell published an article about me and several other outlets picked it up.
What I didn’t realize was how much that article would change my life. Alexis, a fellow Apple enthusiast, happened to come across it and reached out. We talked online for several weeks and felt a real connection, so we decided to meet in person. Our first date was a trip to California to visit Apple Park. As it turns out, Alexis had been running her own Apple YouTube channel at the same time I was running mine back in high school – two fans who never crossed paths until a random article connected us.
CNN also found the article and reached out to have me participate in their coverage of Apple’s 50th anniversary. Bill Weir came to my house for a sit-down interview and a tour of my collection, and Alexis was part of it too. That coverage is airing now as a three-part series on CNN’s streaming app, with all three parts coming together this Saturday on The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper.
Apple is so much more to me than a technology company. It’s the inspiration behind my career path, a worldwide community of friends, the tools I use every day to do my work and pursue my hobbies, and how I met my girlfriend. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it.
I’m proud to wear the title of Apple Superfan.
