“Look, I like a decaf venti latte with a splash of cinnamon as much as the next Fool. But I can also easily live without it. Don’t ask me what I’d do without my MacBook Pro,” Tim Beyers writes for The Motley Fool.
“And I’m hardly alone. Enter any of Apple’s beautifully designed retail stores, and you’ll see firsthand the crowds clamoring for gizmos. Teens camp out by the iPods. Dads inspect the video gear. And geeks like me are set up by the MacBooks, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the iPhone,” Beyers writes.
Beyers writes, “Indeed, if there’s anything that proves the Mac maker’s superiority in this contest, it’s the iPhone. Starbucks may be able to charge $3.50 for milk and coffee, but Apple has the audacity to charge $600 for a phone.”
“Why can’t others do the same? Because Apple is the only electronics maker that couples insanely great design with insanely great service,” Beyers writes. “No, really. When you buy from Dell, you’re buying a PC. Wait a few days, and it’ll be shipped to you. Have a problem? Call Geek Squad or the creepy neighbor who waters his lawn at midnight and who knows something about computers. Or, worse still, wait on hold for 30 minutes to get help by phone.”
“When you buy from Apple, chances are you’re doing it at one of more than 170 of its retail stores, which, at last count, are outperforming both Tiffany and Best Buy in sales per square foot,” Beyers writes. “And if you have a problem? Head back to the store to get personal service from one of Apple’s specialists, called Geniuses. Don’t underestimate this advantage, Fool.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “No Squirt For You” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: We pity the Fool that buys a Dell – or any OS-limited Windows PC, for that matter.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Survey shows Apple’s iPhone a tad too expensive? – February 23, 2007
Apple again leads Consumer Reports’ survey for notebook, desktop computer tech support, value, more – October 16, 2006
Apple Mac desktops, notebooks top PC Magazine’s Annual Reader Satisfaction survey – again – August 22, 2006
Apple far outscores all other PC makers in Consumer Reports Computer Tech Support Survey – May 05, 2006
Apple Mac desktops, portables top PC Magazine’s 2005 Reader Satisfaction survey – August 24, 2005
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Apple Computer products top PC Magazine’s annual ‘Best of the Year’ survey – December 16, 2004
Apple Macs top PC Magazine’s ’17th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey’ – August 10, 2004
Apple leads PC Magazine’s 16th annual Service and Reliability Survey – July 10, 2003
Only $3.50 for milk and coffee at Starbucks? Wow, the prices really have come down.
Starbucks blows.
I blowed once.
I’ll be buried in the cold cold ground before I give my money to Dell again. Stay away from Inspirons, they’re crap that will stop working a few weeks after the one year warranty was over.
Then, I bought an iMac and never looked back! We’ll see in 10 years what happens with the market but so far I believe Apple offers the best quality and interopatibility compared to Dell, HP and the like…
@Peterson
Only once? Was it a gasket or something else?
And Starbucks Coffee Company just confirmed their first musician to release an album under the chain’s new Hear Music record label is Paul McCartney. So much for Howard Schultz recently proclaiming that Starbucks needs to return to being more about the coffee and better service.
Peterson…
He blew a seal.
Hey, whatever you want to say about Starbucks, in New York City they can be counted on for 2 things:
a decent cup of coffee and a place to pee!
In NYC, that’s a BIG DEAL!
Insanely unique endorsement from an insane Fool
And did the seal enjoy it?
Starbucks does NOT blow. They are one of the more responsible companies in this day & age. I am not joking. They buy fair trade coffee, they treat their employees well, and they are a socially aware company.
DWJ
A baby seal? At a club?
It isn’t true that PCs can’t run OS X. They can. It isn’t true that PC manufactures don’t want to offer OS X. They do. PCs are not allowed to run OS X.
It just isn’t true when you criticize PCs for being OS limited. They can run Windows, any distro of Linux, and even Solaris, among others. The only reason they can’t run this one OS, OS X, is because Apple won’t let them.
Mind you, I don’t think Apple should let OS X run on any hardware that they don’t manufacture. It’s a package deal: hardware and OS, and the OS should not be allowed to run on any hardware, if only because that would be a support nightmare for Apple and it would adversely affect their corporate image, because PC hardware is inferior and more diverse than Apple hardware.
Nevertheless, it isn’t strictly true that PCs are OS-limited. But who cares that they aren’t?
Phil,
I know Starbucks catches a lot of crap for their prices, but they pay fair prices to third world countries for their beans, offer insurance to part time employees and pay pretty well. Those espresso machines cost thousands and thousands of dollars too, so I don’t mind the price. I just can’t afford to drink a triple-tall, decaf, breve Cappuccino every day.
Besides, I live in Chicago where we have Intelligentsia, best coffee I ever had.
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I thought it was a rear main seal…Hmmm
I recently discovered the posts on this site. I originally read the news for the news. Now I read the news for the posts. There are some funny funny people interested in computers. I flippin’ love this. The ‘seal’ thread has me in tears.
Thanks.
The Geniuses are nice to have at the Apple Stores, but they are often “over-booked” and sometimes not that much of a “genius.” Mac and iPod users should head on over the Apple Support forum online. Users helping other users. There are some incredibly knowledgeable people there, and they aren’t even Apple employees.
That’s one of Apple’s key advantages. The Apple user community. “Don’t underestimate this advantage, Fool.” (Welcome to the social, indeed.)
No. It was Seal. But in a club. Heidi is pretty steamed about it too.
I find the Windows community to be a pleasant, enlightened group of individuals. They’re always eager to help, and they are never condescending or anything. When I’m done with my toy computer I’m getting a Windows machine. They’re for big boys.
MacBill, I did some pro-bono work for Conservation International, and one thing I looked at was FairTrade coffee, and it did not get more money into the coffee farmer’s hands than non-FairTrade coffee.
Also, while Starbucks’ employees get some decent benefits, the other Starbucks’ employees, like the ones in Barnes&Noble;’s Starbucks coffee shops do not.
Hey, whatever you want to say about Starbucks, in New York City they can be counted on for 2 things:
a decent cup of coffee and a place to pee!
A perfect example of cause and effect.