i've never been an apple fan

not even the revolutionary ipod-- that harddrive-in-a-case that set the world on fire, changed the way we listen to music, and signaled the beginning of apple's current era of consumer electronics dominance-- had enough of a value proposition to win my dollar. cd's worked just fine for me at the time, so despite the flexibility offered by the ipod, i wasn't convinced. and yet i could tell that apple had something figured out.

fast forward to today: seventeen years later, the company made history by passing $1 Trillion in market capitalization. turns out all those overpriced silver laptops so many of my peers use to signal their class position are real money-makers for the slave drivers who manufacture them!

and for all those reasons combined-- the unrivaled money-making machine, the labor violations, the cult-like followers, and more-- that I've found myself following apple launch events for at least the past five years. maybe it's been my obsession with the smartphone and software industries that really drove me to watch. even though i knew i'd never buy one of their products, i also knew that the market would inevitably respond to their advances, sometimes by copying them, but usually by surpassing them (and at a more affordable price point, no less).

but for some reason, this year was different. i heard once or twice that the event was coming, but didn't even have enough interest to check out the invitations (in years past, i'd gobble up all the rumors about what may be coming, following leaks and forums and all sorts of red herrings in hopes of figuring out what might be coming). for once, the event didn't even make it onto my personal calendar. and so it wasn't until the end of the day, when i sat down to check the headlines, that i realized, "oh! i missed the apple event today. and i don't care...?"

what's different? for starters, i've been using the same smartphone for the past three years, with no intention of changing anytime soon. not only has hardware design stalled out in the smartphone area, but also software has become less radically transformative. a few years ago, a new OS update meant buying a new phone, and also meant drastic improvements to functionality and performance (especially with cameras, which were one of my most-used features on smart phones). i've got a pro-level camera now, and the app bubble has cratered to the point that i actually try to have as few apps as possible on my phone at a given time. plus i've got more going on in my life (especially professionally), so these things just don't matter as much to me as they used to.

so yes, there are tons of articles out there about what was announced and what it means for the world, but for once, i won't be reading them. i don't feel like i'm missing out, and i like that a lot. it's not that i don't care about technology and software anymore, because i really truly do. it's just that apple's no longer captivating me like it used to. what a relief.