How many times must Apple shoot itself in the foot?
Apple loyalists have always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the company, but lately it seems there’s been a lot more hate than love.
Recently we’ve seen users irate over a software update “bricking” their hacked iPhones. Early buyers of iPhones said they felt betrayed and cheated when Apple dropped the price of the device $200 just 10 weeks after many of them stood in line hours to be among the first to own one. Many iPhone owners are unhappy they have to pay Apple twice to use a song from the iTunes Store as a ringtone. They resent being locked in to using AT&T as their cellular service provider. Many have criticized Apple for not allowing third-party software to run on the iPhone. And they fume over the inability to change the device’s battery themselves.
That’s just the iPhone issues. The iTunes-iPod ecosystem has long been criticized as “locking” in customers because the DRM-encoded songs play only on iPods and computers running iTunes software. Class action lawsuits over a wide assortment of alleged Apple transgressions – from all of iPhone issues above to dissatisfaction with laptop screen quality – are filed almost daily.
What happened to the company that induces swooning from both the media and consumers alike? Why so much negativity all of the sudden? What has become of Apple’s reputation as the most consumer-friendly tech company?
To some degree, it’s the “squeaky wheel” syndrome. Not all Apple customers are disgruntled, but a significant number are and they have been very loudly -- and publicly -- making their feelings known.
But Apple’s reputation for arrogance, particularly in dealing with customer complaints, appears to have caught up to it lately. Some of the problems are difficult for Apple to control; for example, the iPhone lock-in with AT&T has more to do with how the cellular industry operates than any desire on Apple’s part to prevent iPhone owners from using other carriers.
Yet as many of these mini-crises have unfolded over the past several months, even the staunchest Apple loyalists must feel that the company could have done more to mitigate or avoid them. Why can’t the iPhone (and iPods) have a user-replaceable battery? Why is Apple so adamant in preventing third-party apps from running on the iPhone? (Although recent speculation theorizes that because the iPhone runs Mac OS X 10.5, Apple is waiting until after Leopard’s official release to open the iPhone up to developers. Fingers crossed.)
Apple does get points for addressing the iPhone price drop controversy quickly with the $100 coupon, though even that failed to satisfy everyone. But in other areas, it seems to turns a deaf ear, often telling customers that their problem isn’t real and even deleting threads discussing controversial complaints from the company’s online forums. For Apple, it’s about trying to control perceptions of the company, but stonewalling and censorship don’t score PR points.
Yet another sticky PR issue lurks around the corner with the impending release of Mac OS X Leopard. Just yesterday I had a colleague in the Sun newsroom express his anger to me over Apple’s lack of a upgrade discount policy for people like him who bought one of the new iMac models introduced in August. Historically, Apple has offered a discount on a new version of OS X only to customers who buy a Mac after an official release date has been announced. (As of today, no date has been announced, though the rumor sites suspect we’ll see Leopard go on sale Friday, Oct. 26.)
While this has been Apple’s policy on OS upgrades for recent Mac buyers for a long time, I can see where people new to the Mac platform would be annoyed, particularly since Leopard was originally slated for a spring release. Were it not for the delay, those new iMacs would have had Leopard pre-installed.
Microsoft, when faced with a similar problem last October – Vista’s release, at one point promised for the fall, was delayed until January – offered buyers of Windows PCs a coupon to upgrade to Vista later. The least Apple could do is extend its $19.95 OS upgrade policy back further than the announce date. Do I hear 90 days? 60? Even 30 days would be an improvement.
On top of that, the until-now free Boot Camp software that allows Windows to boot on an Intel-based Mac will expire with the release of Leopard. The only way to get a working copy will be to buy Leopard for its expected $129.95 selling price. Expect another wave of complaints about Apple’s greed from both long-time Mac users and recently converted “switchers.” Why would Apple not continue to make Boot Camp a free download even after it’s included in OS X? Is the extra money worth alienating even more customers?
Apple’s stellar image as a “hip” company that makes cool products and prides itself on high levels of customer satisfaction is just as vital an asset as its superbly engineered hardware and software. The greatest threat to Apple right now is not its competitors, but its own stubborn, customer-maddening policies. What’s frustrating is that in most cases, Apple could easily rectify matters. More sensitivity to customer concerns and less paternalism would go a long way.
By and large, most Apple loyalists have not yet lost their faith in the company. But from what I’m reading every day on the Web, that faith is wavering.
Comments
This column is truly retarded. First, iPhone "bricks". Why don't you buy a new Lexus and, in the name of being creative, put maple syrup in the gas tank? You will have a brick. The bricks are the direct result of idiots purposefully violating their contract and product instructions. Fortunately, the percentage of these idiots is infinitesimal versus the vast majority of users who love their iPhone. Complaints about a price cut, then followed by a voluntary rebate of half of the price cut - more stupidity. Name me one other major company that compensated prior buyers for buying before a price cut. Third, DRM. It was created to make a legal download industry. Period. Do you know anything about Napster and the lawsuits by the industry against peer to peer sharing? Apple created legal downloads and I believe DRM was the industry requirement. Boot Camp. I have it. I am not worried at all. Every Apple product I have has worked flawlessly and I love them. Best value I have gotten from any company. Period. Have you seen Apple's stock price versus its competitors who do a better job in your estimation? Now that you have thought about that, you can pull the gun you just discharged away from your foot.
Posted by: kent ramsay | October 5, 2007 10:46 PM
I agree, apple needs to take a good hard look at the way they are doing things at the moment or they will lose a lot of business.
Posted by: JS | October 5, 2007 10:47 PM
For the vast and overwhelming majority of normal users of Apple's products (Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, etc.) there is none of this overblown idea of a love-hate relationship. What you are reading -- mostly -- are "geeks" who are mainly locked in small rooms, toiling over lines of code, fuming over imaginary slights, perceived only in the geek's mind, which is dramatically divorced from normal society. And then you have those "scalper/hackers" who have alterior motives about selling iPhones for inflated profits, after they hack and crack them open, taking advantage of security-risk "holes" in the system, that Apple is obligated to seal up and patch, so that the ordinary consumer is not taken advantage of by malicious hackers gaining access to their iPhone systems. These "scalper/hackers" are no better than the people you see "in the shadows" at major events, looking to make the same kind of inflated profits as people want to get into the events. Likewise, with the iPhone, they hang out in the shadows of the Internet (no one can find these hackers, can they??!!), cracking open the iPhone through security holes that must be patched immediately when found!
All they do is fulminate and foam at the mouth at these self-perceived slights that they view as directed at themselves -- because they are so isolated from real society and life in general. Actual "real people" are pleased that Apple seals up security risks and holes in the operating system of the iPhone. These "scalper/hackers" can only see that their ill-gained profits are taken away and their supposed newly-found "business model" has been shot down in the dust.
And, anyone who is fully aware of how the operating system of the iPhone is set up, knows very well that opening the iPhone up to applications made by shadowy figures on the Internet, while that iPhone is running in root-mode (super-user mode) is asking for a disaster to happen to hundreds of thousands of ordinary and common users. That's absolutely crazy to open it up with the operating system the way it is. Obviously these "scalper/hackers" are either very ignorant of this fact or (more likely) they are very disingenuously pretending that all is okay, as long as they get to perpetrate their hacking trade upon unsuspecting normal users.
And, as far as this supposed "lock-in" by Apple by their DRM is concerned, it's obvious that the writer of this column has no earthly idea that it's the music companies that initially required it, while Apple has been strongly arguing for the *opening* of these music files *without* any DRM at all. Obviously there is a bit of disingenuous writing going on there (or else total ignorance).
The only negativity that exists is from these "scalper/hackers" and also from the music company quarter. The music companies are probably gritting and grinding their collective teeth, as they see that Apple has the ability to force them to "open up" their music sales *without* DRM. They try to play both sides of the street, complaining on the one hand that Apple won't let them raise prices and have "variable pricing" while, on the other hand, they try to set up other online music stores to undersell and undercut Apple -- until they can break the hold that Apple has on forcing them to "open up" the DRM sales, and thus, allowing them (once again) to "clamp down" and lock-down their music sales with even stronger DRM than they ever had before (and one that charges the listener *every time* they listen to the songs). That's how the RIAA (and the associated music trade) would have listeners paying for their music. Apple, on the other hand, wants to "bust it wide open" and remove all the DRM from music. Who is the real villain in this case?
And, talk about the "squeaky wheel" -- that's about all these scalper/hackers (and the RIAA) know how to do with any competency (besides the RIAA knowing how to threaten thousands of lawsuits, too).
The only arrogant ones I see around in this business (and especially in Apple's business) happens to be the scalper/hackers and their whiny voices, squeaking away, along with the RIAA and their lame excuses for DRM.
As far as the price drop is concerned, if one is an early adopter, one is very well aware of the fact that features and prices change radically, quickly and "in abundance" once a model of electronics is first introduced on the market. Obviously, there are "Johnny-come-lately" first adopters, who are just now getting their feet wet with being a "fist adopter" and they are obviously not familiar with the well-worn territory of "first adopters". Ask any "well-seasoned first adopter" and they will tell you that prices quickly drop and features are quickly added and bug fixes are quickly put out. It's all in the process of being a "real" first-adopter, rather than simply "playing" like one.
Then we come to columnists who are obviously, also, first-adopters, when it comes to writing columns about Apple, in that they are "Johnny-come-latelies" to the game of writing intelligent articles about high-tech companies and gadgets. Obviously this writer has a ways to go before he actually becomes a real writer or can write an article with a semblance of reality and not simply singing the song of scalper/hacker geeks and their failed business model they were hoping to impose upon the public, along with singing the praises of the RIAA, in place of Apple who is really fighting to "open up" the music industry to the 21st century and the realities of the new marketplace, therein.
It's a good thing that the vast and overwhelming majority of the Apple users totally ignore and don't even bother reading articles like this, because they are so pleased with the products that they are using.
Posted by: Eliakim | October 5, 2007 11:34 PM
David:
I am still a very happy Apple loyalist, both as a user and as a stockholder. It seems to me that there are a lot of vocal whiners in the blogosphere whose complaints are getting endlessly repeated.
Why are they surprised when their "hacked" iPhones no longer work? Apple has a contract with AT&T that makes it the exclusive carrier - inaction against hacks that unlock the phone would probably not sit well with their partners. If I am not mistaken, software install hacks have been less of a problem.
I am sure that Apple would have preferred a different arrangement, but they are new to the cell industry and did not yet have the power to do things their own way.
When it comes to system upgrades, my advice is simple - wait. As you said, Apple has established a precedent - if a release date is announced you can upgrade your system for a very low cost. If you need to buy earlier, you can get a full system upgrade later at a very reasonable (compared to a Windows upgrade) price of $129.
When it comes to the iPhone price drop, I guess that the company could have handled it better, but why were so many people upset by the great new deal? They had made their purchase and agreed to the price that they paid. I presume they thought that the device was worth it.
I love Apple's tight integration and exceptional engineering. It is the reason that Apple devices simply work - and work well. They play well in a Windows centric world without many of the Windows related headaches.
Yep - sign me as a true fanboy.
Actually, since I purchased my first Mac right after grad school in 1987, I guess I really no longer qualify as a "boy".
Posted by: Rod Adams | October 6, 2007 2:25 AM
"I am so clever; I hacked/unlocked my iPhone so I could show everyone how clever I am." (read as) I have very little integrity, I entered into an agreement when I bought an iPhone and immediatly broke that agreement...now those nasty people I bought it from have gone and protected themselves and broke my iPhone.
"I enjoy new technology and being able to have access to the newest tools." (Read as) I love to be the first one to show off the my new gadget that has been hyped so much before it hit the market that they will be soooo envious.
"I resent Apple's price reduction on the iPhone after I waited in line for 3 hours to get one." (Read as) I paid $900 for mine on eBay because the Apple store in my town ran out.
"I am sick of Apple locking up all the iTunes music." (Read as) I wish I could give away all of my play lists to my friends, neghbors, relatives, classmates and be really popular.
I think my point is made. What a lot of people tend to forget is that Apple has been an innovator in the technology market place for many years. A lot of money goes into R&D and they surely have the right to get it back and to protect their investments. I am not an early adopter. My new SE in 87, was my only "first." Since then I have found that I can afford to wait for close-out, used or refurbished. I am waiting for my iPhone until it is pretty clear that the bugs have been worked out, Apple adds features, a direction for development is clear, and the price drops come in close-outs, used or refurbished iPhones.
Complaining is tiresome. If you want your life to be different change your own attitudes and behavior. It will be different.
Posted by: Jerry Jesch | October 6, 2007 11:08 AM
There are plenty of reasons to dislike Apple's policies, but the hacked iPhone and non-replaceable battery issues aren't among them. As someone has already pointed out, people who bought the iTem knew, or should have known what they were getting into. It was no secret you had to sign up with AT&T. If you don't like it, don't buy it. People who did buy an iPhone with the intent of finding a way around that restriction AND did not think that Apple could -- and chances are, would -- eventually subvert their plan by slipstreaming some disabling upgrade code that would thwart those efforts, are simply not as smart as they thought they were. Even the niggardly OS-X upgrade and Boot Camp policies are defensible: did Apple promise this thing would be free forever, or that thing would be upgradable for a small service charge? Noooo. People would have a case if the company went back on their word, but "nothing promised" equals "nothing given", and by extension should also mean "nothing expected". I was stunned when they instituted the $100 "adjustment" to early iPhone adopters, and somewhat less stunned when I read the conditions and restrictions. All this said, Apple's customer service is laughingly, stunningly, superbly, even sublimely, bad. They won't discuss issues with you over the phone, won't escalate e-mailed complaints ("we consider the matter closed") and will not provide a name, phone number or address to a corporate position responsible for customer service policy. What more is there to say? Real good hardware, pretty damn decent and sometimes outright delightful software, but absolutely toxic customer relations. Be prepared to abandon all hope if you are the poor schmuck that picks the lemon from the Apple tree. I'm a good customer of the company, but I am now serene in my knowledge of what to expect if things go wrong.
Posted by: scp | October 6, 2007 3:03 PM
I do not yet own an iMac (waiting for Leopard's release) but what Apple and this forum is hearing and seeing is the result of becoming more mainstream in the PC marketplace.
This is the kind of noise that MS has bowed down too for years and you see the result. A lot of the problems MS has is "us the consumers". We want something at the cheapest price, have ultimate capability, free support, allow us to do anything to it we want and then force the company to fix it for free when we break it. If MS had not bowed down to maintaining compatibility with years and multiple genereations old software, Windows might not be in the shape it is today.
Long time Apple enthusiasts get use to the noise, that's the price of success and a growing market.
Posted by: JEF | October 6, 2007 9:28 PM
Apple is acting very much like the Microsoft used to 10 years ago when Apple was all but dead. That allowed Apple, the customer-friendly alternative to gain fanbase. Now it seems the tables have turned and its Microsoft that 'cares'. I used to hate Microsoft, now I find myself loving them for no other reason than to display my contempt for Apple. And Microsoft's handling of the Zune 2 firmware update to older Zune's won me over - I will buy a zune when they are available and throw away my ipod.
Posted by: Gary | October 6, 2007 11:10 PM
Yeah, that's right. They just keep screwing up, like they always do.
This company is at the top of a hierarchy shared by less than a dozen American companies. Both from a shareholder, and a customer satisfaction stand-point. They are one of the greatest innovators of our time.
They just can't get it right. Poor clueless idiots. (wonder who I'm talking about here?)
Posted by: Anonymous | October 6, 2007 11:42 PM
Has Apple really lost the confidence of its fans during the past few weeks? I doubt it! How many early iPhone buyers really feel that the company "did them wrong" by reducing the price of the iPhone less than 3 months after releasing the device? I'm one of those early adopters -- I stood in a thunderstorm outside an AT&T store in Spokane for 4 hours prior to the release of the iPhone on June 29, 2007. I'm glad I spent $599 for the sheer pleasure of having an iPhone from day one, and I think I've already gotten at least $1200 worth of fabulous technology from the device; I use the iPhone at least three hours per day for videos, recorded-books, music, internet research, weather reports, news, navigation, stock reports, clock functions, calculations, note-taking, photography, and phone calls; I am positively glad that the price was reduced so that the iPhone becomes more widely available; I am stunned and grateful that the company is giving me a $100 refund for having been an early purchaser; and if it were possible I would gladly join in a class action lawsuit against the whining jerks who want to sue Apple for reducing the price of the phone. Moreover, I'll bet there are many more contented early purchasers than there are -- well, call it like it is -- the whiners!
Posted by: Bill Youngs | October 7, 2007 3:52 AM
I am an Apple user from almost day one and only agree partially with the article's premise. I have a Love-Hate relationship, regarding Apple. I Love Apple computers and I Hate Windows computers.
Thank you for reminding me.
Posted by: Gyula Bognar, Jr. | October 7, 2007 8:23 AM
I bought a BMW. I replaced one of the CAMS with a racing CAM! The engine exploded!! And now I'm going to claim its BMW's fault!!!
Sound familiar? Oh ya, and if the world hated Apple so, why is there stock at an all time high of 160 something and targeted into the 180's?
Posted by: CShult | October 7, 2007 10:27 AM
iBricks are the product of cheese-doodle fingered hackers revealed as not so clever. The iPhone is clever. I like mine and am not at all tempted to open it up. A complex system SHOULD be a closed system BECAUSE it is complex. Introducing a new and untested variable, such as a hack into a system can have unpredictable consequences. Apple didn't pooch anyone's phone. The hackers did. Blame them. Didn't they know this could happen? All iBricked users should sue hacker or shut up and get some string and two cups. That is afterall the sort of flexible open system they seek.
Posted by: D MacFarlane | October 7, 2007 1:13 PM
Just be a NORMAL consumer, and you'll be just fine. What do I mean by that? Don't hack your iPhone, don't unlock it so it works on T-mobile, don't buy a product (iMac with Tiger) and expect to get a free or upgraded version of it 6 months later (Leopard). Don't buy music on iTunes if you have a Zune. Don't buy a product and expect to get money back when the price drops. All you complainers are just being petty. This is TECH, and here in Silicon Valley we have a saying: WYSIWYG.
Posted by: Vu Nguyen | October 7, 2007 1:38 PM
I suspect the reason that iPhone and iPod batteries are soldered in rather than replaceable is because lithium-based rechargeables are notoriously prone to catastrophic failure. Soldering provides some benefits. Users can't replace the factory battery with a knockoff and then have an iNova experience; and the improved heat dissipation from soldered contacts may also be helpful for iNova prevention. I personally doubt that Apple closed out user-replaceable batteries for marketing reasons.
Posted by: evan1138 | October 7, 2007 4:32 PM
The reason Apples have been the best at being reliable and not having compatibility issues is that Apple doesn't have such open policies. I am so happy to be back using a Mac - and in IPhone and I got the $100 back but wouldn't have minded it I didn't. I wanted one early and AT&T was not my original provider but I'm willing to change to have my IPhone. I can't believe all the complaining...
Posted by: Pat Cotter | October 7, 2007 6:45 PM
David, excellent article and exactly what I have been thinking lately. I'm a recent apple convert having bought a MacBook Pro for my wife to replace her windows computer, and early adopters of the iPhone; (as excuse to leave Sprint). Now as for Kent Ramsey; either you are a complete idiot or you work for Apple's marketing dept. I don't hack my iphone or complain about the $200 price drop. One because I was an early adopter and paid the price. I don't hack the phone because I don't trust Apple to leave my expensive device intact. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. I hope some day our elected officials will make all this proprietary business practice crap illegal. But until then I have to live with it as-is. But I will never ever "buy" a ring-tone from them. And I seriously hope no one else does either. I will tell you this; if the next update to my phone is another way for Apple to get more money out of me (itunes or the ringtone thing), then I will not install it. I want updates that are useful, like transfering contacts and calendar info over bluetooth, and native applications. If they insist on these superflous features that take up space on my iphone, I'll stop updating. Oh, and I DO own Apple stock, but I'm weary of a growing animosity against Apple. I think it's time to sell.
Posted by: Sean | October 7, 2007 7:14 PM
To the guy that is complaining about buying an iPhone on eBay for $900: you moron.
Why would you spend $900 just because you couldn't wait an extra two days for more iPhones to come in? Everybody who knows anything about Apple knows that when they do a product offering, they make sure that the product is on hand, unlike Microsoft (remember the shortages of xBox and xBox 360?) and Sony (same goes for the PS2 AND the PS3).
I was in the Apple store the other day and they had just received their second shipment of the day of the new 16GB iPod touch. I had called before I came down there to see if they had any in stock. The lady on the phone said they did and I asked her to put one on hold for me and I'd be there in an hour. She replied: "no need". Brilliant.
So stop complaining about spending $900 - it was your choice and just like all the dummies who bought xBox 360's for $2000 on eBay, hope you enjoyed the fact that the iPhone was selling for $300 cheaper before the money was even debited out of your bank account to pay for your $900 purchase.
Posted by: Jeff | October 8, 2007 6:39 AM
How many times must the mainstream media shoot itself in the foot?
Posted by: LaTonja Jackson | October 8, 2007 3:13 PM
David,
Although I don't agree with some of your assertions and assumptions, I do tend to agree with the spirit of your article. Where Apple was once considered the "innovator" and user friendly choice, it is now becoming far more arrogant and unresponsive to the needs and wants of their customers.
Posted by: Wally_Mac | October 11, 2007 3:55 PM
I'm not an Apple fanboy and I know this type of hyperbole sells papers...but don't ya'll in the media get tired of writing it? I know I'm tired of reading it. 1 to 2% of the people does not a trend make my friend. Please find some real news. Thx -
Posted by: jim | October 11, 2007 6:47 PM
I agree alot of people just whine and moan about every little thing.
One thing that HAS annoyed me though is the recent release of the new keyboards. I am a pro user and I feel Apple has kicked us in the teeth.
I emailed Steve Jobs to ask why pro users who require a full keyboard and proper cursor keys (for graphics work) are being forced to downgrade to a wired keyboard.
He replied telling me there are plenty of third party vendors making full key boards, buy one of those.
In other words, they don't care anymore about the pro users who have spent £1,000's during the years before the ipod etc.
I am a loyal Apple user and still am, I just feel that it's all ipod, Apple Tv etc now, and just one simple thing like a full size wireless keyboard option cannot be done...
Posted by: dave | October 12, 2007 11:24 PM
To Jim,
You don't have to read this.
You complain yet you read it and even have time to send a comment.
Idiot.
Posted by: dave | October 12, 2007 11:27 PM
I agree that Apple's behavior with regards to upgrades for the new OS is beyond belief - I recently converted to Apple mac and bought my very first mac in September in time for the new school term at University - I couldn't afford the luxury of waiting for Apple to get their act together and decide to release a new OS when it suited them. If they hadn't stolen their own development team off the OSX Project to work onthe iPhone we'd have had Leopard by now.
I see there is an online petition asking Apple to extend the upgrade timeline to something a lot further back then 1st October
People should sign the petition if they believe that the upgrade date should go back at least until 1st September
http://www.petitiononline.com/leopard/petition.html
Posted by: Jack | October 16, 2007 7:43 PM