????經驗豐富的科技記者丹?萊昂斯成為了美國知名科技博客ReadWrite的新任主編。或許是為了吸引眼球，他于周二發表了一篇文章，抨擊蘋果（Apple）在美國移動產品市場的領先地位只是階級偏見所致。他說，蘋果之所以保持領先，是因為其購買者希望自己能比使用谷歌安卓（Google Android）的下層民眾更有優越感。

????這有點像是用來增加點擊率的幌子，但是也不意味著萊昂斯僅僅是在故意激起爭議（“鏈接誘餌”和“毫無價值”并不總是能劃上等號）。看起來他真的相信自己的理論：

????……蘋果和它在美國的追隨者不單單批評安卓手機，還批評安卓用戶，把他們描繪成沒受過教育、貧窮小氣、“品味”庸俗的（“品味”這個詞是果粉們的最愛）社會下層人士。他們買不起蘋果產品，因此愿意接受低價的仿冒產品。

????萊昂斯以撰寫蘋果相關文章著稱。為了證明自己的觀點，他從網上到處搜尋那些對安卓用戶出言不遜的博客和Twitter用戶。當然，如果上網仔細搜索，可以找到對任何事都出言不遜的人。不過，他幾乎所有的例證都來自大多數人從沒聽過的Twitter用戶和博客作家。其中一些人把安卓用戶稱作“貧民”，萊昂斯明確表示，這就是蘋果在美國保持領先的原因（而安卓在全球市場都保持著領先）。

????萊昂斯的言論中倒是有那么一點事實：安卓系統的質量在很大程度上已經趕上了蘋果的iOS系統，許多安卓手機足以和iPhone匹敵，甚至更出色。除了技術規格這類純粹的客觀標準，顧客經常更多根據自己的想法做出購買決定。通常情況下，他們會購買與自身世界觀和個性相符合的產品，盡管這些購買決定并不是最理性的。梅賽德斯-奔馳（Mercedes-Benz）、勞力士（Rolex）和無數其他產品都是利用這種現象發的家。

????但如果拔高這種現象，把蘋果產品的用戶稱作一群懷有階級偏見的人，那就是歪曲事實了。此外，大多數人選擇蘋果確實是依據純粹的客觀標準。許多人僅僅是不愿意花費大量時間比較同類產品，而他們知道蘋果產品質量很好，于是就買了。萊昂斯自己也說，許多安卓產品不好，另一些則很好。而買蘋果呢，至少你清楚你買的是什么。

????許多情況下，顧客已經擁有蘋果電腦一類的產品，所以希望繼續使用這個生態體系。蘋果迷經常被稱為“果粉”——萊昂斯也在文中提到了三次。但是大多數蘋果迷并不是妄想癥患者，也沒有教條主義——他們意識到了使用蘋果產品帶來的問題和麻煩，但是他們做出的理性決策是：所有科技產品都有問題，他們寧愿選擇蘋果，而不是并不熟悉的其他同類產品。大多數購買蘋果產品的人也不是“男果粉”（或“女果粉”——看看男性是如何主宰了這些令人厭煩的科技文化的爭論）。“果粉”只占蘋果購買群體的很小一部分，卻吸引了太多的關注。

????最后，不難發現，維護那些貧困、受壓迫的智能手機用戶的尊嚴這種行為充滿了諷刺意味。套用一句陳詞濫調，如果這真是個什么問題的話，那也是發達國家才有的問題。

????譯者：嚴匡正

????Veteran tech journalist Dan Lyons is the newly installed editor-in-chief of ReadWrite. Perhaps as a way of drawing new attention to the site, he published a diatribe on Tuesday in which he explained away Apple's (AAPL) leadership of the U.S. mobile-device market as being a result of class bigotry. Apple leads because people buy its products to feel superior to the unwashed masses who use Android (GOOG), he says.

????It's an obvious bit of linkbait, but that doesn't mean Lyons is merely trolling ("linkbait" isn't tantamount to "worthless" -- not always). He seems to truly believe his thesis:

????...Apple and its cheerleaders in the States don't just criticize Android phones; they also criticize Android users, depicting them as low-class people who are uneducated, poor, cheap and too lacking in "taste" (a favorite Apple fanboy word) to pay for an Apple product and instead willing to settle for a low-price knockoff.

????Lyons is well known as a reliable Apple-slapper. To prove his argument, he scoured the Internet to find bloggers and tweeters who have said dumb, insulting things about Android users. Of course, if you scour the Internet, you can find people saying dumb, insulting things aboutanything. But nearly all his examples are from random people on Twitter and bloggers most people have never heard of. Some of them referred to Android users as "ghetto," which Lyons explicitly says is the reason for Apple's leadership of the U.S. market (whereas Android is the leader worldwide).

????There is a tiny nugget of truth to what Lyons is saying: Android has largely caught up to iOS in quality, and many Android phones are as good as, or better than, the iPhone. Consumers often make choices based on considerations other than pure, objective criteria like technical specifications. Often, they buy things that they feel mesh with their worldviews or their personalities, even if those things don't represent the most rational buying decision. Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, and countless other products have counted on this phenomenon for their very existence.

????But to leap from that to basically calling owners of Apple products a bunch of class bigots is to distort reality. Further, plenty of people do choose Apple products based on pure, objective criteria. Many of them simply don't want to spend a ton of time comparing, and they know Apple's products are high quality, so that's what they buy. Lyons himself notes that many Android products are inferior, others are better. But with Apple, at least you know what you are getting.

????In many cases, consumers already own Apple computers, and like them, so they want to stay in the ecosystem. Apple fans are often referred to as "fanboys" -- and Lyons does that here, three times. But most Apple fans aren't delusional and dogmatic -- they recognize the problems and hassles that come with owning Apple products, but have made the rational decision that, since all tech products have problems, they'd rather deal with Apple's than with those of competing products with which they are not as familiar. Most Apple buyers are not "fanboys" (or "fangirls" -- note how male-dominated all these nerdy, technocultural arguments are). "Fanboys" make up a tiny segment of the Apple-buying population, and they get way too much attention.

????Finally, it's hard not to recognize the irony of standing up for the dignity of poor, downtrodden smartphone owners. To apply the cliche, this is a First World problem if there ever was one.