I’m sorry but I just had to comment on some people’s attitude to Apple’s “12 Days of Christmas”.
Apple, out of the goodness of Steve’s or the company’s collective heart, or perhaps a desire for a little soft-edged PR, have made an item on the iTunes store free for a day over each of the 12 days of Christmas. I came a little late to the party, but some of the things available for free download were:
- Broken Sword for iPad (I’d already bought it and really enjoyed it)
- Charlie Chaplin’s classic film “Modern Times”
- Mirror’s Edge game by Electronic Arts
- An EP by Michael Bublé
- A song and video by the Kings of Leon
- … and seven more.
Who could complain about 12 free items from iTunes? Well, apparently quite a lot of people (all of the comments below are from actual reviews – atrocious spelling is original – of items available for free in the 12 Days of Christmas):
“My iPhone 3GS cost me £400. My iPhone 4 cost me £500. My iPod touch cost me £200. My MacBook Pro cost me £1200. So if Charlie Chaplin is the best present you can reward me with for my loyalty then I’d rather you didn’t bother.”
“Who wants to watch this bull?!”
“Give us a decent app tht we want, give us 1 of the top grossing not 1 of the prices of crap tht u can’t sell so u give it away for free give us something like backbreaker2 or other games or movies ect….,tht we actually want !! (were is ur christmas spirt) so plzz give us wht we want and by tht I don’t mean a dam holy book tht I’ve never seen before like on day 4 I think :).” (A strange mix of appalling spelling and yet getting the apostrophes in the correct place!)
“How about giving a descent film ituns”
“What the hell is wrong with u? Why the hell would i want this? Cater 2 us young ppl! Not the sadults…happy new year!!!”
“Better gifts please Apple”
“On the sixth day iTunes gave me this Sh*t.”
“All of the stuff on the 12 days of Christmas is really rubbish the only thing that wasn’t to bad was the Cheryl cole single. The stuff really needs to improve.”
and finally
“OMFG ITUNES WE PAY YOU FOR SONGS, VIDEOS, RINGTONES etc AND UR FANX IS THIS CRAP 12 DAYS OF XMAS.. APPLE USE CHEAP SCATES”
What is extraordinary, apart from the deplorable state of the grammar and spelling, in these ‘reviews’ is the sheer nastiness of some people. Some, especially the person listing their expenditure on Apple products, feel a sense that they are entitled to something that they want. The idea that Apple, or any company, offers a product for sale and you decide to complete the transaction by choosing to buy at the stated price is clearly not enough. These people feel that they must have more of just what they want and for free.
I’m sure if next year Apple decided that they would no longer run the 12 Days promotion, then these same ungrateful people would be saying that now Apple were really “CHEAP SCATES”.
The bigger issue of course is that these people probably have a desperate sense of entitlement to whatever they want in other areas of their life too …
Happy New Year.