Today is Apple Day at Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai, and I'm going to a session on Aperture later today. Yesterday was Photo Friday and EmiratesMac was there giving out Shuffle, talking to people, and generally tried to capture as much interest for Apple as possible.

It always amazes me that, when we participate in events like this, we're usually the most organized and the most passionate about being there, among all participants. And the other participants are usually companies that have something to do with computing, media, etc. often with a focus on Apple things naturally.

When members of the EmiratesMac Apple User Group turn up, they're always ready to go and interact with people, stick a Shuffle in their hands and ask them "Are you a Mac user?" Regardless of whether the answer is no or yes, or "I'm thinking about it", we're there with a smile, ready to discuss whatever the other person wants to discuss.

I guess that comes from being a user and a member of a user group, and not a paid employee of a company. That sort of interest and passion is not easily achieved just by paying someone. It's achieved by believing in something and feeling like you're a part of a community of like-minded people.

But if that’s true, that the best sort of passion comes from being a part of something like a user group rather than being a paid employee, why don’t more companies take advantage of that and work together with groups like EmiratesMac?



As far as I’m concerned we at EmiratesMac, as a web site, user group, and newsletter, are the primary authority on Apple stuff in the UAE. We’re also the largest, if not only, Apple-focused community here that is organized in any way. So why is it that companies are not more interested and willing to work with us on different things, ranging from Shuffle to events, to other things?

Perhaps it’s that they don’t understand what we are and how we work. I think if we could only say that “our revenue is x Dirhams and we employe x number of people” they’d be more willing to collaborate. But we’re not like that. We don’t operate like that and when we describe what we are and what we do, we usually get a very glazed-over look from the other person. They simply don’t get it.

If that’s true, that they don’t get it, we have to work double-hard on spreading the message about us. And we do that through participating at events like Gulf Photo Plus, and we do that by publishing a monthly newsletter called Shuffle.

And ultimately we do this because we believe in what we do, and we believe that others who are not yet in the Apple family so to speak, deserve to know about the alternatives so they can make an informed decision. It’s not that we want to brainwash them, it’s that we want them to know that there is something better available to them, than the usual Windows stuff they know and use.

So if you were at Photo Friday yesterday and talked to any EmiratesMac member, or if you are there today, we appreciate your time, and we hope to be able to convince you to become a member. Because the more of us there are, organized in our user group, the better chance of influencing what they do (businesses) we have.