“Apple Computer is planning to set up a technical support center in Karnataka on the lines of the one which Dell has in India. Director of Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore, B V Naidu gave no details on investment and hiring plans noting that it’s for the company to make an announcement in this regard,” The Press Trust of India reports.
Karnataka is a state in Southern India. Bangalore is a city within Karnataka which is best known for its tech industry.
Full article here.
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AlanAudio, by the time they announce it it will be
to late to stop. It has nothing to do with imagining
everything revovlves around us, it is jobs, it is that
Apple has bilions of dollars in the bank. Companies
outsource because of cheap labor. Key word, cheap.
Apple is first and foremost an american company.
You buy it, you love it.
is anyone else noticing MDN’s pages taking forever to load today?
/Safari
Oh great, Apple is moving to a place that puts cows on a higher pedestal that my Mac…
I would hate to have to work in tight cubicle with those people, anybody there ever heard up deodorant?
And before anybody flames me, whoever said that either worshipping cows was defensible and that body odor was racist?
Hey, Edward, your English ain’t working so well, either…
Thank God I live in a major city where we have a local Apple Store. I won’t ever bother calling for customer service if this happens, that’s for sure. I’ll just have to carry my Mac/iPod in to the Genius Bar at the retail store for service.
Great. Now I won’t be able to understand them. Well, I’m glad I have an Apple store in my city. I’ll just rely on them.
Re: edward
It is not a Racist thing. But the purpose for the move is likely to save money, and you often get what you pay for. The language issue is significant – A large portion of Apple customers are in english speaking countries and so native speakers are a plus. But i have worked with Indian support centers before and i always leave with a lower opinion of the support. If they have the same quality service then my complaint is only that it is a loss of US tech jobs.
US tech workers, again are marginalized. Sad, very sad. (going out to get a slurpee, brb)
I hate this although I never call Apple for support (too expensive)
Having been in the software industry and having experience with offshore services I can tell you that the savings are pretty significant (not just a few bucks).
I’m sure this will be to help customers world wide. With such low per capita income I doubt India is that big of market for Apple.
little by little It appears that Apple is turning into what it once opposed.
All of a sudden I dont feel they no longer want to think different
I think this may have already happened in some way. I called Apple Care just last week and “Nimi” answered the phone. She had a very heavy Indian accent and was obviously just reading from a list of questions instead of actualy listening to and understanding what I was saying. I had a hard time understanding her, and she had a hard time understanding me.
Repitition may be the seat of learning but is sure begets frustration as well.
After 10 misunderstood minutes with Nimi, I was transferred to a “product specialist” who was in California. This guy was a native English speaker, and we got to the heart of the matter without any trouble, or frustration at all.
If Apple does open a customer support center in India, I hope it is not to be used for outsourcing United States customer support phone calls. I certainly understand the need or desire to use labor that is less expensive, I have a team of programmers stationed in Mumbai and am in the process of hiring another in Bangalor. I have to do this to keep my product price competitive in the U.S. market but I don’t have my customers speaking with anyone in India. I don’t want them to be as frustrated with my company as I was when I called Apple last week.
mw= stage It could be set for customer support disaster.
As a longtime Mac owner and Apple shareholder let me make a few comments. Tech support should be LOCAL– so if it is for India fine, but only for India. The same would apple if it were Canada or anywhere else. It’s not about race or culture– it’s about MY home country.
When the last decent paying American job has been moved or outsourced, just exactly what will 300 million people do for a living? Not everyone can be a lawyer/doctor/teacher/policeman. It seems like just about every other job in this country is subject to export. That leaves pimp/prostitute/drug dealer/fry cook/Prison Guard/Dell Online Sales Counselor.
If you are an American, the trend is not pleasant to consider. The US is being invaded by tens of millions of illegal aliens, which force down wages while burdening our public services. At the same time ‘US’ companies are dropping benefits for what US workers they still have and are exporting jobs to any number of countries as hard as they can.
Apple has already long ago shuttered it’s US plants and shipped the jobs to contractors overseas. Steve Jobs is famous for saying that stealing (relative to music) is bad karma. Maybe so
The systemic theft of jobs by China, Mexico and India is bad karma. The practice of highly profitable companies abandoning workers in search of ever cheaper wages and no environmental laws is bad karma. The use of slave wage labor is bad karma. Enriching a country that has nuclear missiles pointed at you may be bad karma, but is galactic stupidity for sure. What goes around will ultimately come around.
Bottom line-If tech support moves offshore, Apple will have sold me it’s last AppleCare, etc. I’m really tired of this kind of sh*t. It’s not polite to say it, but it’s the truth.
Please, no. American Express (imagine the irony) has already done this … and I’m one of the weirdos who refuses to talk with anyone about my account unless they’re in the US. I can’t see how my calling 5 times and tying up 5 different people just to handle a simple issue can be cost-effective for them.
doesn’t mean they can’t hire people fluent in English and easy to understand. It doesn’t have to be just like Dell.
Yesterday I had questions on my .Mac account, (ever try
calling Apple about .Mac?) so I called Apple Support and
talked with a very nice gentleman in OHIO. I apologized
several times for bothering him, but he helped me solve
my problem. It was great and one reason we use Apple.
“Nimi” will absolutely not do what they man in OHIO did.
I know there are Indian Apple users, and Irish and…. But
if a call to Apple is placed in India it should be routed to
an Indian call center. If ones is placed in Ireland it should
be…
Using Indian call centers for american customers concerning
an american company with a “Think Different” motto, in
my mind, is wrong.
India for Indians,
Exactly right.
Anyone who has called up would probably notice that lots of AppleCare calls are already sent to Bangalore. Outsourced, rather than Apple employees.
DB:
“and does not have an accent that could kill a cow.”
I hope you realize the irony of that statement.
Oh no! Not sure how much more indian support i can handle! Sure they print humans like postage stamps in that country so i realize that it’s compelling…but it really cheapens the support “experience.”
NOOOOOO!
Where are the nameless weasels and their “take” on this? They are quick to sing Apple’s praises whenever Jobs breaks wind, but when it appears that there is a potential for Apple to do something very unpopular, and monumentally stupid, like this we don’t hear a peep from the hack jobs in charge here?
Nothing?
Wow, ballsy!
Maybe they are busy finding another 6 or 7 pixels on the page to stick up another ad.
Great idea! if this can keep just one indian family from moving to the US then it will be absolutely worth every penny!
Most Americans complain about accents.
Most Americans have never been outside the country.
Most Americans do not even have a passport.
It’s hard to take seriously complaints from people who are so sheltered and parochial.
Come on people. The secret to talking with people who come from different backgrounds than you? Practice! It’s not that hard, really, once you try.
There’s a whole world out there to explore, discover, and understand. (Apologies to NASA…)
Having spent literally countless hours on the phone to the Indian subcontinent trying to sort out problems with Netgear equipment, I do not want to do the same for Apple. I prefer the genial Irish accents I’m (so occasionally) have to deal with.
Why does Apple hate America?
I called AppleCare support the other day (from the UK) and got through to an Indian gentlemen. In India. So I think it’s already happening, although maybe not on every call.
Six months ago it was a Dutchman in Ireland. Couldn’t understand a word he said either.