Time of reflection for Apple devotees

When Stefan Harris arrived at work in Westborough yesterday morning, he replaced the picture of his wife on his desk with a photo of Apple Inc. cofounder Steve Jobs.

Harris is a self-described Apple fanboy, one of the legions of hardcore devotees to the computer maker that Jobs helped elevate from a mere tech company to an object of worship. He has waited in line at 3 a.m. for an iPhone, owns at least 15 Apple products – everything from battery chargers to computers – and will argue against any PC naysayer to defend his beloved Mac.

“It’s not just a computer. It’s art,’’ said Harris, a 26-year-old Web developer at Chitika, an online advertising company. “And I think that’s a quote from Steve Jobs himself.’’

For Apple fanatics – those who camp out in front of stores to snatch up the first iPods, iPhones, or iPads – Jobs helped give birth to a string of products that transcend function.These loyalists have given Apple a fan base that has helped make it the second-biggest company in the world, valued at $350 billion. They were the ones who were in collective mourning following Jobs’s death on Wednesday night after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

“They generate interest and they mobilize and they vigorously defend the product,’’ said James McQuivey, principal analyst at Forrester Research .

These are the loyalists that Apple could rely on for most of its new product launches, he said. They were the ones who first bought the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. They championed the iMac and hailed the Powerbook.

“even early on, Jobs managed to stir passions for the benefit of technology, not just the rational belief in the benefits of technology,’’ said McQuivey.

Part of building that base of groupies has been Apple’s meticulous attention to how consumers feel about using their products, he said. When everyone else was selling MP3 players with black headphones, iPods came out with white earbuds. Apple wanted its customers to stand out and – as the ads said – “Think different.’’

“That kind of small touch is not only brilliant marketing but portrays a knowledge about the human need to be noticed,’’ he said. “That’s just a stroke of genius.’’

It was the iPhone that lured George Haranis, 26, to become an Apple fan in 2007. it was the device’s combination of a music player and phone that sold him. “it was a commute killer,’’ he said.

The brand’s legendary ease of use kept him returning. “They say the iPhone is the gateway drug to Apple,’’ he said.

Now Haranis, who works for a market research firm in Boston, and his wife have Apple TV, two iPhones, a Macbook Pro, and an iPad 2. When the iPhone 3G came out in 2008, he waited at the Apple Store on Boylston Street for three hours.