The article talks about the design choices as the reason for success but I think the expense of the chair and need to perceive some related value caused the, in my opinion, over-rated reputation, coders attributing their 14hr marathons and their 10x factors to some chair, in some instances their new physical posture, tone and health all due to the magic of a $1000+ chair.

In my experience having worked in an office which was all Aeron chairs for several months I feel no different now on this $100 office mate chair or any of similar priced chair at the various co-working places I visit. I should note too Im not exactly in great shape.

tl;dr - price and talk made the Aeron chair an icon