Is the honeymoon finally over for Apple?
Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:31PM EDT
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Hey, it's been a good, long run. The stock is way up. The customers love the company. Every product (well, almost) is a smash hit. Apple has long been able to do no wrong.
But the times they are a changin'. Apple is now finding itself beseiged, on a nearly daily basis, with bad press and one case of customer outrage after another. In the last few days, the initially-loved iPhone 3G has been the subject of numerous complaints (and now lawsuits) about its service quality and had a huge security flaw revealed that lets anyone who picks up an iPhone bypass the password prompt. MobileMe is now a full-on disaster. You've got the Psystar countersuit. And in Britain, the company had a TV commercial banned for being misleading (since you can't run Flash or Java on an iPhone).
Most recently, Apple even faced a small customer backlash when it banned an independent comic strip from the iPhone App store because it felt the animations were too violent. (You are welcome, however, to buy a copy of the ultra-gory Saw or Saw II from the iTunes Store.) Even mega-fan Michael Arrington has called the company to the carpet for what he has deemed an "unacceptable" rate of failure of a variety of Apple products.
Why, even the news media can't be pleased any more: In an obvious "accident," Bloomberg reported that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had died.
What's going on here? Growing pains, for starters. As any company grows, its attention to detail and its level of customer service almost always falters to some degree. It can't help that Apple is so distracted: The company has suddenly gotten its hands in so many industries and so many countries with its iPhone 3G launch that it's clearly struggling to keep up with the intricacies of a worldwide telco presence. But maybe there's more to it: Customers really seem to be tiring of Apple's strongarm, radio-silence tactics, and what was once seen as a maverick alternative to the establishment is rapidly becoming a mainstream monster itself. The same guys who used to chime in with "buy a Mac" in message boards are now the ones who say "buy Linux." (Don't let me down, fellas!)
Other theories are welcome, of course. In light of all the chaos and wringing of hands, I find it difficult to explain Apple's glowing report in the latest version of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which gave Apple its greatest gain ever in overall satisfaction and puts it 10 points ahead of its nearest rival in the computer industry. Is it a love-hate relationship or what? One explanation: People just really hate Windows Vista that much.
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67 Posted by rustypipes12 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:57PM EDT Report Abuse
Ooops, a little correction : Jobs started this crap when he made an exclusive OS, PC combination
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68 Posted by dde108@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:39PM EDT Report Abuse
Apple has made my life so much easier. I spend more time accomplishing and less time trouble shooting. Then I bought the stock and gained on that front too. As long as they focus on quality and service they should continue to do well. The service was the big selling point for me. I hope that Apple strengthens and broadens its base so it doesn't falter.
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69 Posted by joerichardson@prodigy.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:38PM EDT Report Abuse
Funny thing... I've been using Apple/Mac for the last 10 years and am extremely happy with their products, but I have always had a general rule: Wait till the fixes are in before making a purchase. I waited for months before getting the first iphone and haven't thought about getting the 3G until issues are solved, or until Flash is enabled, or both. The reason they are getting bad press on fix-it problems is because they have gotten much bigger, no more, no less. They are making more headlines... I didn't see this kind of fuss when the last O----- the market and had troubles. There is always a window with technology. I rarely ever see software hit the market that is 100%. I'm still with em'.
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70 Posted by jbarbera3@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:30PM EDT Report Abuse
Opinions are like elbows..... Everybody has two of them.
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71 Posted by justin_coan on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:45PM EDT Report Abuse
I have the apple airport extreme router and apple released an update about 2 months ago that shut off the wireless capability of the router, still waiting for an update to fix it. It's all over the apple forums in the support portion but yet no answer from apple or a fix to reenable the router. Good Job APPLE!!!! Too busy with the iphone and not all of their other products.
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72 Posted by goldn1_99 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:11PM EDT Report Abuse
Apple has been close to annihilation several times in its roller-coaster history. They always manage to work out the kinks. I believe that because Steve Jobs is trying to have his hand in too many cookie jars at once, he now finds himself crashing a bit from the sugar rush. Don't count Apple out just yet, though. They always manage to bounce back. Maybe a little nap and a little coffee with cream &sugar and they'll be good to go again. Sit tight, Apple is still way ahead of the pack on many levels.
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73 Posted by arhat563 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:57PM EDT Report Abuse
I tried Vista then I wiped it out and restored the old XP, for the usual reasons. I wish Microsoft to do the same.
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74 Posted by lindaskully on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:52PM EDT Report Abuse
Apple wanted to charge me $300 to fix my laptop.( It needed a $40 cable ). They wanted to charge $200 to fix my iPod ( I only needed to upgrade to current OSX to get it to work again). I won't buy another apple product again. Their customer service is terrible. I'm done being ripped off.
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75 Posted by lukinsc on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:00PM EDT Report Abuse
Yes, they hate Vista that much and Microsoft doesn't care, they still stand on top of the market share. The media turns the few complaints into huge deal. m_knopp had it right, Jobs is taking his engineers for granted and that will be Apple's undoing if he doesn't change his attitude.
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76 Posted by mattielcook on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:11PM EDT Report Abuse
You NAILED it! I'm a forty something non-techie. I bought a PC (Vista) last year for me and the kids. Nothing but trouble. I hate the darn thing. Crashes all the time. So, having no money to spend on more computers, I bought an old iMac (but not THAT old) on ebay. Runs like a charm. Never crashes. I don't worry about viruses. Knows what I want before I do. I love my iPod and my iPhone. The reason? I didn't have to read the instructions. I just used them. My old iPhone is acting up a bit. But you know what? I still like it more than all my other phones combined. Its not that Apple is perfect. They just understand me a heck of a lot better than the other guys.
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77 Posted by bud777444 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:15PM EDT Report Abuse
As John Dvorak once said, the easiest way to get a lot of eyes on your column is to attack Apple with generalities, wait for the response, then explain how you were misunderstood. These articles are all about how many people read them and thus how many people see the ads. So we get fluff about a mistaken obituary and other accusations, with no context to evaluate the impact. The only piece of actual information here was that Apple hd outstanding customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, Apple is preparing for a major product announcement and this reporter has nothing to report. I think we deserve better. How about an article on how a stock that is consistently the best in the industry can have record quarters and go down? How about an investigative report into stock manipulation? How about some actual reporting? Christopher, you should be ashamed
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78 Posted by jescali on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:33PM EDT Report Abuse
Or just wait for google to come out with an OS and phone...
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79 Posted by macdrew2003 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:02PM EDT Report Abuse
yeah, Apple is going through some growing pains, but people need to keep in mind the sheer numbers Apple is dealing with. Apple has sold over 3,600,000 iPhones in the last 60 days and while most of the early issues are resolved, no matter what you do, there are going to be .05% of people with problems. That's the number you hear about, you rarely consider that 99.95% are perfectly happy, even ecstatic about how well Apple products work. Apple remains the strongest pillar of customer satisfaction for a reason, so sure, a few recent bumps stick out, but overall if you have an Apple product you are pretty darn happy, if you don't yet own Apple stuff, you want to pull Apple down to your level to make yourself feel better, and thus is the theme of this blog posting. -
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80 Posted by cmgreenone on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:27PM EDT Report Abuse
i love vista...my samsung blackjack has been 3g for almost a year now. Apple sucks. Its trendy. My hp I bought for 500 is a beast. Anything that you can do on a mac I can do better on my hp.
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81 Posted by sheyrieskip on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:19PM EDT Report Abuse
Just call them MS Apple and, YES, people DO hate Vista that much!
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82 Posted by astrakux on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:58PM EDT Report Abuse
My dell had vista installed when i got it... tried it out for a while, then installed xp on dual boot. Finally, wiped Vista and just stuck to xp because it was screwing up the laptop. People who say they like vista don't know anything about computers. Also tried a mac... but the software selection was so limited, i decided to sell the thing..wasn't impressed by it at all... I'll just stick to xp until something better comes along...definitely not Vista though Didn't get an iPhone either because there are better phones out there... not jumping onto that bandwagon...
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83 Posted by zfwade on Thu Sep 3, 2009 11:00PM EDT Report Abuse
You are exactly right.... the only people that would scream "BUY linux" are those that had enough money and were weak minded enough to "buy mac".
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84 Posted by macdrew2003 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:02PM EDT Report Abuse
@ astrakux ah, the Mac actually has a larger quality software library than Windows, you just didn't know where to look to find them. Mac software is mostly "downloaded" not bought in old fashioned stores since it's a more modern operating system than Windows. OSX has a bit more than 17,400 Apps and every one of them is better built than equivalents in the Windows world. Yes, if you are still playing Games, Windows has more... but the FACT Macs now run ALL software, Windows, Linux, Solaris, OSX, etc make the point that a Mac is really what you want, but you didn't realize where to get software. Google: made4mac or versiontracker, osx and you'll find everything you need ---
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85 Posted by klinksk8 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:52PM EDT Report Abuse
I am tiring of all the "Sky is falling" doomsday reporting on Apple. It seems the media has taken it upon themselves to disparage the company at every turn. There are still plenty of us Mac users who are delighted with their computers and who can't imagine life without the iPhone. With its high customer satisfaction ratings and amazing earning records, I can't understand how anyone could infer that the company isn't flourishing.
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66 Posted by greekgodfromireland on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:12PM EDT Report Abuse
I know I am no computer wiz or anything, but to say Apple is having a hard time adjusting is a bit unrealistic. If I am not mistaken, Apple is on of the first computer companies to go mainstream. Does everyone forget the multi-color apple on the 200lb monitors. Apple has been an innovative company for a long time; however, they have clearly been trying to come out with more products then they are capable of producing. That is not a company reaching its growing point, that is a company putting to much focus on making money instead of sticking to its old method of developing each product properly.