[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Journyman16:
A guy named John Pirsig (sp?) wrote a book titled, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' a couple of decades back. In it he proposes there are 'Romantic' and 'Classical' people. He and a friend rode across the US (in the book & maybe in real life) on bikes. He had a Harley and the friend a BMW. (patience, it's coming... :)) When they rode up the Rockies, the bikes started playing up and while he stopped and worked on his bike, and finally realised it was the reduction in atmospheric pressure needing just a tweak to fix, his mate went and paid a small fortune in a town garage to get his BMW fixed.

Pirsig talked for a bit about those who want an end-result experience and those who wanted to enjoy the journey. Some people forever focus on the end result and miss all the learning and fun along the way, 'big picture' people for whom the nuts and bolts are a horror to be avoided at all costs - literally in the case of his BMW mate. :D

At the time, as a Helpdesk person, I realised most Mac users are Romantics, people for whom computers are very much NOT fun and who use them solely to get a result and because they have to. Windows users were often some of the same sort, using Windows simply because their work said they had to, but far more of them would, if the subject was explained in terms they understood, become interested in the process and learn to fix their own printer/Word/Excel issues etc.

Apple have polarised the world again with their same-old, same-old tactics. The recent court case against Samsung proves Apple have not lost their litigious attitude towards protecting things they stole in the first place. (WIMP from Rank Xerox) And again we are shown the division between the Romantics and the Classicals - these forums are full of Classicals - look around and you will see lots of people who post about how wonderful this or that version of a ROM is, only to upgrade instantly a new version or even a different ROM comes along.

For most XDA'ers, I think the journey IS the end result - we tend to be travelling along with no particular goal in mind apart from a nebulous 'perfect phone' concept, and if all the developers stopped producing new ROMs to try we'd be heartbroken.

The Apple is good enough for most Apple users, be it Mac, iPad or iPhone. We will never convince them otherwise because they have sipped at the Kool-Aid fountain and like most religious people, they cannot even SEE the contrary information. It doesn't matter if the new iPhone has an A5, A6, A15 or quad or dual, it will be better in their eyes because it powers an Apple. They don't MIND buying expensive corsds ands connectors of all kinds because it is for Apple.

And they definitely don't see an ongoing development process as being a thing of benefit - Apple has spent far too many dollars convincing their world that you don't ever upgrade your device software, you just buy a new device. It is the proud boast of many Apple users that their product is far more stable than Windows, but my old enemy Microsoft constantly produced product that would work (most of the time) on any PC made across a spread of about 10 years, while Apple only ever made software for a very specific hardware platform - if you like, MS made an OS while Apple made glorified Firmware.

The same scenario is happening right now with Android. Android is being made to support all kinds of devices, with a legion of eager supporters providing updates and fixes. (on more of a Linux model than a MS one) Apple will not produce an iOS6 for their old phones, just for the brand new one you have to pay a small fortune for. Samsung (and other Android vendors) are producing updates so you get more life from your phone, providing a level of support to their clients Apple has never tried to match.

And eventually, the numbers will tell - just as in the PC/Mac wars, Apple had to compromise in both hardware and software, (Intel chips and running Windows on Macs) they will find eventually their tactics fail them. In my opinion, Android is the up-and-coming world of phones and pads, and Apple is the dinosaur relying desperately on massive programming... sorry, I mean advertising to keep their victims... I mean customers, loyal.

I think there will be a swing away from Apple as the actuality of the new phone falls far short of expectations and even the glitz Apple will give things will not hide the fact that all they have done is copy what is already being sold for hundreds less. But don't go expecting those weaned on the Kool-Aid to be coming over any time soon - the religious always resist the encroaching reality checks of the real world.

And on a personal note? I LIKE Apple for their litigiousness and mean spirit. If they had been sensible back in the late 80's/early 90's, we'd all be using Macs and locked down so tight I wouldn't have had a 25 year computer career helping others. For more than 2 decades I've had a job description of, 'I'm a bloke, and I fix stuff' that would never have been possible if Apple had treated their customers as anything other than sheeple to be fleeced to the maximum. Their greed allowed PC's to develop and become what we see, and now Apple's greed and contempt will allow Android the space to grow and become the new ubiquitous OS for mobile devices.