Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: Star Traveler

Wow, that reads like a 15 year old posted it.

A lot of apple products are built on hype. Usually you can buy superior products for less, they just don’t have the hipster factor that makes apple “cool” to buy and own. And buy and buy and buy whenever the latest apple version comes out.

Now, some things are good. The mac mini was perfect for a ‘home use’ computer, which is why when my non computer savvy parents needed a new computer, I helped them buy one. It’s good for what it was designed for and it was priced right.

I won’t even go into the problems apple has had with product design and reliability, and their relatively crappy customer service record when responding to their problems. But people keep lapping it up because it’s “cool to own them”.

I’ll admit Apple is pretty clever - they’ve figured out a way to charge people a premium to be beta testers for their products.


31 posted on 06/30/2007 1:03:41 PM PDT by flashbunny (<--- Free Anti-Rino graphics! See Rudy the Rino get exposed as a liberal with his own words!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies ]


To: flashbunny

Just 15 going on 60... LOL...

I conveniently used your terminology and went with it. It was fun talking like you... :-)

Waaah..., waaah.., waaaah... that’s all I can say about those people who like to spout off “sour grapes” about such great successes that Apple has had...

Regards,
Star Traveler


34 posted on 06/30/2007 2:29:44 PM PDT by Star Traveler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies ]

To: flashbunny
I’ll admit Apple is pretty clever - they’ve figured out a way to charge people a premium to be beta testers for their products.

Sorry Flash, but that domain reside in Micro$oft land. How many new versions of Windows 95/98 XP were required to make it work, and you paid for them. Vista is so buggy enterprise is not adopting it, most of the sales for Vista are through new machines.

Mac OS 10.1 through 10 were all free downloads.

45 posted on 06/30/2007 3:32:55 PM PDT by itsahoot (The GOP did nothing about immigration, immigration did something about the GOP (As Predicted))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies ]

To: flashbunny
&

Hmmmm. Apple is at the top of both reliability and customer service satisfaction lists. I think you are merely attempting to spread FUD... and really don't know what you are talking about.

Computer Reliability

PC Magazine - "Last year (2005), Apple's score on units needing repair was an impressive 11 percent—well below that of any other company in the survey. But according to readers, the company has managed to cut repair rates even further over the past 12 months. This year (2006), Apple's score on units needing repair drops to 8 percent. Among first-year systems, it's only 5 percent. That's nothing less than astonishing." Source.

Rescue.com - "A new report out by computer repair and support company RESCUECOM suggests that Apple is maintaining its overall high reliability scores. In the report's rating system (where a larger number is better) Apple scored a 201, second only to IBM/Lenovo which scored 243. The next-best was HP/Compaq with a score of 12, and market leader Dell only had a score of 4. Negative scores were possible, as Gateway (-12) and other manufacturers (-16) demonstrated." Source.

Customer Satisfaction

OSNews - "Newly published data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index show that Apple leads other personal computer manufacturers, beating out Dell, HP and others. On a 100 point scale, Apple merited a score of 83, according to the ACSI, a 2.5 percent year-over-year increase and a 7.8 percent increase from 1995, the first year the ACSI measured the PC industry. The annual ACSI is sponsored by the American Society for Quality and University of Michigan's M. Ross School of Business. It's derived from phone interviews with customers contacted by using digital-dial telephone samples. More than 70000 consumers are identified and interviewed annually." Source.

Technical Support Rating

BusinessWeek - "Apple is ranked No. 18 (of ALL US BUSINESSES) on BusinessWeek's The Customer Service Elite, but led the PC industry in customer satisfaction in part to due to the service offered at the company's Genius Bars. "Despite frustration about iPod battery replacements, Apple's customer service phone support ranks tops among electronics providers. In particular, customers rate its automated phone system as easy to navigate and good at resolving questions," according to the report. The report also noted that "Apple's customer service shows its bruises--device problems frequently erupt just after warranties expire," but said that the support offered at the "Genius Bars" at its retail stores set it apart from its peers. . .

"No other PC vendors were among the top 25 . . ." Source

Laptop Magazine - Tech Support Showdown 2007 - Rating A "All computer vendors have become quite strict about providing tech support only to registered owners during the first year of service. Apple is decidedly different: Free tech support is available for just the first 90 days from the date of provable purchase. On our first call, answered within 30 seconds, Val in Ontario, Canada, told us that based on our serial number the system was manufactured in November 2006, so unless we had a receipt we could fax in, no support could be provided. But she answered our questions anyway as a courtesy, and delivered a perfect solution in a minute.

"Apple's Web support is excellent, and we found the answer to our second question on the site with a simple search. The site's search engine is one of the best PC support sites we've seen.

"Our second call was answered with an automated warning that the estimated wait time was eight minutes or less. Apple stands alone with this helpful phone support feature. John in Ontario picked up in 7.5 minutes and had us off the phone a minute later with the right answer. And like Val, he gave us a pass on the 90-day limit." Source.

Design

The Chicago Athenium - "The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design announces the Museum's annual GOOD DESIGN™ Awards for 2006 won by the world's most prestigious industrial design firms and manufacturers in over 25 countries." Of the 57 awards in Electronics, Apple Inc. won 10 of them. Source.

Care to retract your FUD, Flashbunny?

53 posted on 06/30/2007 4:42:26 PM PDT by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies ]

To: flashbunny
I believe that the iPhone will go down in history of one of the greatest consumer products of all time.

I am forecasting 20 million iPhones sold by Christmas and 400 million sold by the end of 2009 and one billion by end of 2012. By then, the iPod will have sold 500 million units and Apple Mac OS will have achieved parity with Microsoft Vista with respect to current sales.

56 posted on 06/30/2007 4:51:44 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (I am 72 days away from outliving Marvin Gaye)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson