“During a series of store-wide meetings on Sunday, Apple prepped its retail employees for a March 2 launch of Joint Venture, a new technical support plan targeted at small businesses,” AppleInsider reports.
“Sources have told AppleInsider that the plan will cost around $500 a year and will be made available to businesses when purchasing a new Mac,” AppleInsider reports. “Up to 5 systems will be covered by the plan, though additional systems may be added for $99 a year.”
AppleInsider reports, “The tagline for the service will reportedly be: ‘Get Setup. Get Trained. Keep Running.'”
Read more in the full article here.
Sweet
AppleCare for business. Very sweet.
More like Apple Remote Genius — your genius bar support on the phone.
I believe that will also cover repair/replacement on site. Apple offered to come to my home recently, to replace my speakers on my iMac, which TOTALLY blew me away, as i live in the boonies. After the appt was set up, i found that I had a short in one of my iPod/usb connections, and thanked Apple, and then cancelled the appt. They told me if there are any more issues, just call and they will take care of them. EXCELLENT SERVICE in home, no less!
BS. Apple wouldn’t say “Get Setup.” They’d say “Get Set Up.” Their grammatical variances are intentional, not incompetent. (“Think Different,” for example.)
The article incorrectly eludes to OnForce as a change in policy in conjunction with this new service strategy. OnForce was way before this was ever on the radar for Apple. OnForce streamlined the referral process to certified consultants. They basically were a broker/database that customers got referred to. The customer used OnForce to find the right consultant. The reason the consultants got mad is because a lot of them sucked. The business reps in the stores got to get rid of the idiots and the good ones were put into the OnForce system. That will still exist because there are still idiot consumers who need a person to go to there house to configure a router and set up other shit. The new service will target people who started a business, remain small, and need a priority service without paying hundreds of dollars per hour every time something happens. On the flip-side, if you were important enough this Joint Venture already existed for you (celebrities, board members, etc).