Your thoughts on Apple Corp

[forsooth]

I think Apple has problems and customers know this

Reason: very super defensive customers

Somone say your Lenovo not so good. I say why and listen.
Someone say your Lenovo cost too much. I say give me other prices maybe I do better

I don't fear anti lenovo conspiracy
I don't accuse people of hating me and lenovo of being jealous

I only luagh.

does anyone at forum use lenovo?
I don't care

[Jessica Lares]

I don't really care either. What really urks me is the people that complain about their cheap tablets though.

[Faterson]

The most astonishing paradox and irony regarding corporations, to me, is that it seems that the bigger a corporation is, the worse is their customer service. One might expect the opposite, no?

I feel completely helpless and powerless when dealing with Apple, Microsoft, Google, or Amazon. No difference between them, in my experience. I feel I have no one to turn to. Each of them has thousands of employees, but seemingly no one to really take care of their customers.

What these corporations call "customer service", is typically a parody of it. A bad joke. I can't tell you how many times, after I requested something from one of these corporations, I received a canned text in reply, seemingly written by an outsourced half-robot, so that any real communication or resolving the issue was impossible.

For example, take these MobileRead forums. They are probably the world's no. 1 message boards for the subject they cover. I'm asking myself: where is the Apple representative on these boards? Where is the Google representative? Where is the Amazon representative? And where is the Microsoft representative? Someone to whom we could address our wishes and concerns, and receive competent replies on behalf of the makers of e-reader software?

Answer: there is no one like that here. Corporations just don't give a damn, do they? They're just too big to care about individual customers any longer. It's all about the great, anonymous, indistinguishable mass of users. That's where the big money is, after all, right?

You can see the creators of alternative e-reader apps participating here on MobileRead, lovingly and patiently responding to user requests. Isn't that the kind of approach that one might more reasonably expect from mega-corporations, with thousands of people on their staff?

Yeah, you might, but it's just not happening. Corporations would have to hire real people, real experts, not outsourced half-robots with a database of canned responses at their fingertips, in order for those people to usefully participate in discussions on the MobileRead boards.

[Jessica Lares]

It's easier said than done.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

It's easier said than done.

Not sure what you mean. If the corporations really wanted to appoint a "contact person" for MobileRead (and other online) discussions, they'd be easily able to do so. Because they are not doing it, the obvious conclusion is that they prefer the status quo.

Why? Because it's easier to stifle and "contain" any dissatisfied customers via those private pseudo-communications with canned-reply-churning half-robots, than having to deal with customer feedback in independent, open space like here on the MobileRead boards.

Just redirect any dissatisfied customer to a half-robot instead of a real person, and that will discourage them from voicing any complaints in future. They will get the idea that it's useless to complain. That strategy has certainly worked with me. I now fully realize that when it comes to Apple, Microsoft, Google or Amazon, I need to put up and shut up. No improvements are in sight, and no one from those corporations is interested in my feedback. They only pretend to be, to maintain their PR image.

Take iBooks. Why is it that practically all independent e-reader apps include an item such as "Send Us Your Feedback!" or "Submit a Bug Report!" or "Contact the Developer!" in their menus, but there is no such menu item in iBooks?

Answer: because we're not really interested in user feedback. Please, please, don't bother us with your wishes and requests. God knows we have more than we can handle even now, despite the army of outsourced half-robots in our employ.

And so it happens, that you get inferior products from mega-corporations, and superior products from small-time companies or even individuals.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Faterson

..
Why? Because it's easier to stifle and "contain" any dissatisfied customers via those private pseudo-communications with canned-reply-churning half-robots, than having to deal with customer feedback in independent, open space like here on the MobileRead boards.

Where Apple is concerned, they (as in, representatives of Apple itself) don't even participate in the actual Apple discussion forums.

If you are beta testing, you get canned responses when you report a bug. Sometimes they ask for more information relating to the bug, but that too comes via a canned response. There are beta tester discussion forums, and even those have no direct representation from Apple.

[Penforhire]

afv, absolutely agree. That's why I pointed the Nexus 10 out in my post. On the other hand, hardware itself is not what sells to the public. It isn't what allowed Apple to completely dominate PMP's and it isn't what allowed them to dominate tablets, up until about now.

The user experience is what propelled them to the top. I'm not talking about the geek-user experience and how they gripe about the "walled garden." I'm talking about Joe Public, who does not care about being locked into a particular ecosystem as long as it has the content that makes them happy. Apple almost never had the best hardware and certainly not "for the dollar." That weakness doesn't seem to affect their market position, at least not until now.

Some day in the future we probably won't mention our hardware brands any more than we mention our toaster brands today. When hardware becomes so cheap, powerful, and ubiquitous we won't have these type of discussions. I expect we'll be debating more about software and 'skins' or other user customization.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

... When hardware becomes so cheap, powerful, and ubiquitous we won't have these type of discussions. I expect we'll be debating more about software and 'skins' or other user customization.

Except... many of us got over skinning anything about 15 years ago, so doing it to our phones or tablets just seems like... well... over it as some might say.

[mobillader]

The cover of the January 28 issue of The New Yorker features work by Jorge Colombo, an artist who creates his pieces exclusively on the iPad - thats pretty cool - if you ask me

[fbrII]

Because of Apple I turned first to Linux for computing and then Android for portable electronic media consumption products.

And now, my acquisition costs have declined appreciably while my satisfaction levels have increased measurably.

And that about sums up my concern for Apple and it's products.

[Jessica Lares]

Originally Posted by mobillader

The cover of the January 28 issue of The New Yorker features work by Jorge Colombo, an artist who creates his pieces exclusively on the iPad - thats pretty cool - if you ask me

Oh yeah, I do all of my art on the iPad now. For doodling, Paper by FiftyThree is great, but Sketchbook Ink is even better, you can export it to a 101,500,000 pixels file, which is huge. Like 4,000+ inches even.

[HistoryWes]

I've been a computer owner and user for about 31 years now, starting back when I bought my Commodore Vic-20 in 1982. I've been an ebook reader since I got my Sony 505. And I've been a teacher for 19 years.

I was never that fond of Apple products when we had to use them at school and I always prefered PCs, where I could tweak and customize them. At one point I built my PC from parts, just so I could have it just like I wanted it.

Then I saw the first iPad. When I held it in my hand, it was like magic. So I bought one. I used it every day. I had one problem and Apple Customer Service fixed it right away. When I saw the first ad for Siri, I thought "well, that's the phone for me." So I bought an iPhone 4S-- only my second Apple product and my first smart phone. One day after 6 months, the speaker cut out. Apple sent me a new one within three days. I'm still using that one. When the iPad 3 came out, I got one and passed my iPad 1 on to my daughter. I use my iPad 3 every day-- for reading, email, and games. My son has an Android tablet and he is always asking to use my iPad.

When I decided to replace my aging HP computer, I surprised myself and looked at Macs. It turned out that Apple was just introducing the new line of 2012 iMacs. I went to an Apple store (my first time there) and tried one out. I loved it. I ordered mine. It came last week. It's now on my desk and I love it. I especially love how I load Word and it opens so fast I can't read the splash screen.

I never expected to be an Apple fan. I'm not a person that needs the latest and coolest thing. I do like the fact that I turn my devices and they just work-- except as mentioned above.

I doubt Apples current troubles are more than a temporary thing. I expect them to come out with something nobody else has soon. But even if they don't. Even if they only improve their current products, I expect them to be around for quite a long time.

[David Munch]

Originally Posted by afv011

The "let's go thermonuclear" lawsuits disagree.

Not really. Those lawsuits were more of a personal matter (Jobs'), than a business matter when they started out. Now, I'm not sure.

[JSWolf]

I think Apple Corp produced a lot of great music. The Beatles are the best.

[frozennorth]

I think without Steve Jobs at the helm, Apple is now on a slow downward slide. I still use my iPhone 4 but didn't see anything worthwhile to upgrade to the 5.

My next phone will probably be android or blackberry. My oldest son already switched from a 4s to note2. But hearing rumors of Samsung developing their own OS gives me some doubts about android also.