Why? Did jobs show off his Ferrari, did he wear $10,000 bespoke suits? Did he buy anything at all that demonstrates status and wealth?
Jobs was NOT a conspicuous consumer. At all. All of his purchases were justified based on utility - albeit as someone who appreciates art, he considered beauty to be a utility. Psychologists like Maslow would agree with that.
Beauty leads to good feelings as surely as food and shelter do. He bought stuff for himself, not to show off.
If Apple products were a conspicuous consumption item, they'd have diamonds embedded, and gold plating. And they'd cost enough in order to not be owned by practically everybody, because conspicuous consumption loses its appeal when you have the same phone as the fourteen-year-old ghetto kid on the bus.
A statement that may have some degree of truth to it (disclaimer: I own at least 4 of these products and indirectly worked on them), but strange to rant about it on HN of all places.
"Another aspect of Jobs' character revealed was his disdain for conspicuous consumption."
I definitely see some incongruency there!