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Willard writes, “His words as to how Apple got so good: ‘You’ve got to go back ten years. Actually, just a bit longer, to when Steve Jobs came back to Apple. He’s been building customer trust as well as the content providers have been destroying it. As powerful as any band, Steve’s now got a tribe of early adopters who will buy anything Apple offers, and will tell everybody who doesn’t have it how great it is. Come on, if you haven’t been harangued by an Apple fan, you live in isolation in the Arctic.'”
You might begin to wonder if Google can get their product quality and customer support and overall customer experience standards up anywhere near Apple’s,” Willard writes. “The risk is that Google’s brand continues to lose momentum as less-than-stellar products with the Android operating system that Google’s forever going to be increasingly associated with.”
Full article here.
Google doesn’t know where they want to go. The company’s products make Google appear very disjointed. And now they are going to have Android AND Chrome “slate” devices? What’s up with that?
Google = Microsoft
“Come on, if you haven’t been harangued by an Apple fan, you live in isolation in the Arctic.”
That is a flat out lie. I have friends that live in the arctic and they use Macs, and I am sure they pester non-believers.
Now who knows someone with a Mac in Antarctica so we can do away with that myth too.
King haranguer right here.
Google knows that it has peaked in its search domination, and it needs new ways to get money. The problem is that all of Google’s other lines are designed to direct people to use Google’s search, so the problem has never really been addressed.
GoogleTV is going to suffer the same problems as the Nexus One because there will be no customer service and it won’t be easy to use. When problems come up, who ya gonna call? Don’t expect to call Google, and Sony certainly won’t be helpful (“Call Google, it’s their problem”).
Google, like Android, is fragmented.
I haven’t used Gurgle in months now. Eric T. Mole can go suck on a beet.
The difference between buying and asking questions about Apple products at the old CompUSA vs. an Apple Store are like night and day. Once Apple was able to be the face of the sales team, Apple won the customer for life. Yes, the quality and product has to be there. But, without knowing you have someone to go back to with questions that knows the product and services, you only get the first sale if you are lucky.
Remember how Dell tried this and fell on their face then shut those local stores down.
“tribe of early adopters”… What a brilliant expression! That reminds me, that Steve should evoke an amnesty to all jailbreakers of iPhones older than one year against a small fee if they will come home. Because that is exactly what it is: early adopters who cannot wait and eagerly spread the word – and not criminals
The Android system does have the same types of problems that “Plays for Sure” had. I think Google is less burdened by 1. a legacy of crap to integrate with and 2. the desire to be the bitch of any given industry, so it is not the complete clusterfuck that PFS was. Google also has the advantage of actually being innovative and thinking that user experience is valuable. That said, the support of multiple devices from different manufacturers, who can then overlay their crap on top of it, negatively affects customer satisfaction.
On the Google TV, I think they will suffer less from this since it is a much simpler system when embedded into the TV. Having to buy another box is a barrier for some consumers and the ability to be already on the TV or through a game system is a nice advantage (see: Netflix, which abandoned a set top box). I know, there are going to be dedicated Google TV set top boxes, which I think are going to be losers. It is the only way to compete with the integration that Apple will achieve with Apple TV (iPad/iPhone, photo/video, etc), but Google will be doing this with many different hardware manufacturers for the box, phone, and tablet. Good luck.
In principle the PS3 already has some of this integration, but it requires third party software to make compatible my my iTunes and iPhoto library. Also, from the previews, the Apple TV user interface looks much less wonky that the PS3 interface. The PS3 interface is not bad, but not really good either. Searching through the Sony online store is a something that actually dissuades me from using it, not to mention that fact that it leads to fractured media libraries (one on the PS3; one on our Macs).
It doesn’t matter that Android isn’t the best until iPhone can get on other carriers in the US. Windows wasn’t the best either and look at that.
Google, and especially Microsoft, are trying to imitate Apple, but they haven’t imitated the two principles that are the key to Apple’s success:
* The easiest market to dominate is the one you create yourself.
* Choose your battles. You don’t have to sell everything.
You just have to experience something as mundane as Apple’s everyday customer service to see how exceptional they are. The true test of a company can be seen when the product goes south and you need assistance to correct the problem. As good as Apple’s products are, they do malfunction sometimes and that is when the exceptional customer service kicks. That breeds customer loyalty.
Actually, Yahoo=Microsoft=Adobe.
Google is lost in google.
Phones are disposable items that we only expect to last for 2 years max and have one main aim (make phone calls!).
We expect NetBooks and PC to last much longer and have much higher expectations on usability and support for them. We expect to be able to move applications and documents around, reinstall the OS, program/extend them ourselves, tinker, etc. This is an area where Google needs 1:1 face time as PC stores will not do this for free, unlike Apple stores.
How many $’s is Google REALLY making with Android and Chrome OS? It must cost them a fortune, yet the incremental revenue from search ads are tiny.
“…As powerful as any band, Steve’s now got a tribe of early adopters who will buy anything Apple offers, and will tell everybody who doesn’t have it how great it is. Come on, if you haven’t been harangued by an Apple fan, you live in isolation in the Arctic.'”
Well, I live in the arctic (almost) and we are all Apple’s too if not more!…. so, is anyone left?
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Once you are an Apple user other people knows you and your passion
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How many times they ask or finally come around to Apple products? So many in my circle.
The Apple Store has been an extension to Apple Care technical phone support yet live in person!
This showcase retail brick presents Apple to the people all around the World.
BUY AAPL stocks! “2010 = $301” Oh yeah!!!
They have tons of cash and have not one clue as to how to invest it and have burned through gobs of it chasing every whim that shows up. Kinda like some rube that wins a truckload of money from the lottery.
NO!
It’s not a tribe that will buy anything that Apple makes.. Apple makes products that are usually years ahead of anything else out there. Yanou!
Google’s major issue is that Android is to fragmented on many different. platforms. Updates are problem on many of it’s phones. As much as people bitch and complain about Apple and it’s need for control it works on a software and hardware level. As a consumer, I like with Apple products is that with a software update applications and utilities are standardized and functions are stabilized. They make it clear for the get go what equipment can use the update and what ones can’t. With Android is a guessing game as which devices can utilize the updates. Google wants to be many things to many different people and that’s admirable…..however, in technology that can be a problem that creates more issues and headaches then one wants. Apple has a great Eco-system for it products that allows it to grow for a certain amount of time. Google is still trying to figure it out. The great thing about Google is that it forces other companies to innovate and not rest laurels.
I am unashamedly an ‘Apple Inc.’ fan boy the reason being that the company has never let me down. They have given me many years of great products so give me a reason to ‘Think Different’.
Google has a plan to get their platform on as many mobile devices as possible. To be honest it is working and they are collecting client data all the time.
This is their model and they make money out of it. Apple’s model is selling hardware and supporting it with state of the art software. They make money out of it too.
Both models work. I would say Apple’s is better because their revenue is more. It also has a lot of room for growth.
Google are like M$ – they already have their core business – now they are looking to expand it. Most attempts have been unsuccessful but Android is definitely working for them.
@ Karl Snow,
“Well, I live in the arctic (almost)”,
Karl, Karl, Karl, Edmonton is the ‘Gateway to the Arctic’ and it’s a damn miserable place to live in, but it’s not the Arctic.
This google thing used to be not too bad. Why it turns out to be a me too dumb company these days. What happened, google?
I harrange everyone to the point if alienating all who fail to switch to Apple products from wanting to have anything to do with me.