A recent article by my friend Jonathan on the proper time to upgrade your Apple products got me thinking; sure, Apple likes to release new goodies to the market every time you blink, but how often do Apple consumers really need to upgrade?

We all have faced the grim news at one time or another that our new Apple product was just outdated by the latest Steve Jobs’ announcement; one of the more particularly painful stories I have heard was from a friend who saved all his meager earnings to buy a color iPod, and the day after his purchase, the video iPod released. Ouch.

What may not surprise those who love Apple is that my friend didn’t mind that his iPod was just “outdated.” He still had a great product, and he never complained once.

You see, the beauty of Apple is that the standard of excellence found in every one of their products doesn’t leave buyers needing to upgrade to the latest and greatest. Though the rest of the consumer technology market demands a steady budget for “necessary” upgrades due to planned obsolescence, Apple creates quality that has enormous longevity.

The two key factors that make Apple products last are quality and support, both of which don’t buy into “planned obsolescence.” I’m willing to bet all of you that are Mac users have friends or know of someone (or are the person) that still uses that Powerbook G4, or the older iPod Mini?

If you search for the classic iPod Mini on Ebay, you’ll find them still selling for over $50. Why? Because it is a fantastic product, regardless of newer models.

Similarly, I know plenty of Mac users who run OS-X Tiger on older G4-based systems. How many PC users are running Vista on Pentium 3’s?

The reason Apple users are able to use products that have been around for longer than the industry standard of 1-2 years is because Apple dedicates many resources to maintaining quality support for each product they release.

I keep coming back to iPods, because I feel the success of the iPod has been instrumental in the overall rejuvenation of Apple’s public image; Apple has maintained updates and support for all iPods that have hit the market.

Though usage and wear do eventually tire out some of the older models, Apple has never orchestrated the demise of any iPod model, or any product of theirs, for that matter. Much less can be said about other technology giants; poor customer support, infrequent support updates, and planned obsolescence are all demonstrative of what has become the face of the technology industry.

The perception of Apple and their products has been steadily on the upswing, especially since the turn of 2007; though, much of the public still perceive Apple as expensive and flashy. This, obviously, is because they don’t know what Apple is about.

When it really comes down to it, you can spend much less as an Apple consumer in the long run, in comparison to the competition. Not only that, you get the sexy chic and superior quality that Apple is known for. I suppose if the entire public knew that, Apple’s marketing team would be out of a job. Better to break it to them slowly, right?