So Apple is 'flailing,' eh? (re: TechCrunch story)
daringfireball.net
daringfireball.net
The attitude that "we're doing better than our competitors so we don't need to improve" is toxic, and usually fatal for a company in the long run (... the others aren't going to be content with sitting in second place forever).
My earlier-gen MBP, iPhone, iPods etc are all rock solid (I'm delighted with them all), but I could easily see a situation where quality could go south on new products in the rush to cut costs and get to market faster.
I hope that's not the case. It would be little comfort to me as a new buyer if my machine bricked for no reason, and some smug fanboy pointed out that other people who bought Macs in the past had no problems (making me the problem?)
Who exactly has this attitude?
(I have had no problems with the new intel macbooks and pros)
Everyone likes news about their tools - ever seen a mechanics shop when the snap-on van pulls in?
OSX + the great community of developers creating apps like 1password and Textmate, is what sold me. Looking back at my experience using windows for over a decade I have a lot of negative memories.
At the same time I don't like 90% of Hollywood (CGI-fest) movies but it does a good enough job to satisfy most people. So I don't bother convincing people otherwise in the same way I don't push Apple on other people. I just support it when the topic comes up.
Only if you paid extra for that service option. The default phone-support and ship-it-back-for-service warranties that you get with most Dell machines by default is likely no better than Apple.
However, I must say that if you get the upgraded support from Dell, especially the type that comes with their XPS line, they certainly have the best support service in the consumer PC industry. And turnaround time is fantastic; they paid to ship my XPS laptop to the service center and back, and I literally had it fixed and back in my hands in less than a week.
I had an iBook 13" I got in 2002. Stayed with me for three years before the logic board start to go out on me; freeze ups, bad video, etc. It seems like it was either asleep or on, and always with me so I kind of expected it.
Another person I was acquainted with seemed to have this same problem but every few months or so. He got a few free Ti and iBooks out of them. Better to ask forgiveness, I guess.
How does that statement even have a basis? How else can you benchmark anything? You need SOMETHING to base your placement on.
Past performance even, which was considered in that article. How can we award gold medals if there is no competition to base that award upon?
You can say that company A's product is 10x better. But, it doesn't mean that company A's product is good. It just isn't the worst.
No.
I mean, technically you are right, but the a priori interpretation of the survey results is that Apple does a better job of satisfying it's customers than do the competitors. That interpretation should stand unless someone comes up with a survey providing more detailed results that indeed shows a selection bias amongst Apple customers...
You do indeed seem to be reacting based on a prejudice against the conclusion of the first survey, without having any other data to back you up. As I said, if you have any other evidence to support your point of view, you have never presented it. Of course, if you do have other evidence to bring to the table, I for one would be fascinated to see it. As far as I'm aware, every recent measure of customer satisfaction with Apple that has been reported in the press shows them well in advance of the competition. The latest survey quoted by Gruber just confirms previous surveys done by many different organisations.
Do you have any evidence to contradict these findings?
You say that I reject survey results. I don't. I say that the survey isn't enough evidence to prove that Apple's customer support is better. So I don't need to give data to disprove something that hasn't been sufficiently proved. In fact, I'm not trying to prove anything at all. Someone else is and I'm simply not convinced. You asked how could the data be interpreted otherwise and I answered. But that doesn't put me in the obligation of demonstrating anything.
Moreover, you're using a fallacious argument: since the survey establishes that Apple offers better customer support, I have to bring data to disprove it. The problem is that the survey falls short to demonstrate what you want. The fact of the better support is not established so there's no need to disprove it.
That doesn't mean that the survey is incorrect or its results false. Just that the conclusion DF extracts from it is not what the survey says.
One survey of "satisfaction" measures a subjetive factor. To say "it's better" is an absolute affirmation. What's really "better"? Who is it better for? Have those customer experience with other customer support services? Or is the support comparing... Apple with oranges? Excuse the bad joke.
I wouldn't have any problem with a wording like "of course there will be cases of bad support, but current data suggests that it's actually pretty good in average", But the post in DF said bluntly that "the survey demonstrate that Apple's support is better". Period. I try to imagine what a customer that had had a bad experience with Apple would think about such a reasoning.
It is not inconceivable that those types of product - oversold underdeliverers - are the ones that bump up the PC numbers.
Are they sponsored by microsoft?
Clearly, Arrington hates Apple.
If that is true then I think Microsoft is pretty happy with Techcrunch's coverage of it, which is almost universally negative:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Atechcrunch.com+microso...