This stage was marked on January 27th with the announcement of the iPad. While everyone was intrigued by it, filling the gap between smartphone and laptop, many said it was unnecessary and pointless. Apple fanboys will first make remarks like, "I don't need to fill that gap, my iPhone does all of that just as well." or "Why bother buying an iPad when my MBP can do all of that and more?" While these are valid arguments, they don't hold up in the psyche of an Apple lover for very long. The appeal of an Apple tablet starts to eat at them, and then they give into the next stage. This lasts a month or two at maximum, and a few days is generally considered the minimum.
Stage 2 - Anger
This stage is marked with the fan's inability to accept the iPad for various reasons. It doesn't have flash, it isn't as powerful as my MBP, or even the idea that it's an oversized iTouch are all seen examples of reasons why any given fanatic wouldn't want it. This stage may last from anywhere between one week to one month. Testing groups made specifically for this stage have yeilded many results, and shown that reasons for not wanting one may vary wildly between fanboy to fangirl, but of course they are almost never gender-related.
Stage 3 - Bargaining
After Anger comes Bargaining; looking for a way out of buying an iPad. The consumer looks for iPad alternatives, like the ThinkTech Crunch Pad, the Notion Ink Adam Android Tablet, or the Dell Mini 5. All plausible, viable solutions to your tablet-fix you never knew you needed, but, as the Apple fan will eventually realize, none of them have such clean ID, or none of them have such a large number of apps already, and none of them have.... This list, the list of why any given Apple fanatic wouldn't pick up the competition's tablet, while filled with long excuses and incomplete logic and reasoning, comes down to exclusivity. The iPad is exclusively what Apple is supporting, and that's what s/he's come to love.
Stage 4 - Depression
At this point, usually a week or two before the iPad launch, the fan realizes that they want a tablet, and adding on that want an Apple tablet, so the iPad is the only solution for him or her. Why is this Depression then? Well, the fan has doubts, and is worried about various things that the iPad has to offer, or can't offer. But, at this point the consumer has already made up his or her mind and has realized the inevitable: S/He needs to get an iPad. Whether or not the user works out the worry-some thoughts may change how they view their iPad. It has been proven that if an iPad buyer sorts out these feelings before hand, then they can buy an iPad guilt-free, with no worry about certain aspects of it and whether or not it'll be useful at certain times/for certain tasks. It is not only healthier for a given fan, but suggested that they wait until their uncertainties are vanquished before they buy one, sadly this is almost never the case because people with such worries usually cave in and buy one anyways.
Stage 5 - Acceptance
After a lengthy process, most Apple fans have decided by April 3rd that the iPad is right for them. After finally coming to terms with their new love, they can be happy with what is the iPad. This stage is the final one, and as such, is the culmination of a few months of hard deliberation between many sides; one's family, friends, significant others, brand loyalties, and other such sources of usually mixed positive and negative viewpoints on what is the iPad. In the line may not be the most fun, but the time spent after with their iPad is generally considered well spent.
While this is not what always happens, as anomalies will always take place in a society as large as ours, and especially internationally, this is the norm for an Apple fanboy. I hope you enjoy your iPad(assuming you have one), and also hope you enjoy writing comments to this on your iPad.
-Palindromatic
Name no one maN
-Sent from my iPad
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