“With “Bendgate” and a faulty software update, Apple certainly endured a couple of difficult days this week. But you can’t ignore the speed and efficiency with which it responded to these unexpected challenges,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld. “The speed of its response sets the company apart from competitors. You see, within around 48-hours the Tim Cook company had acted and responded to the problems.”
“I think it is telling that some Apple competitors moved so fast to publish ads that mocked Apple’s problems. In being so cheap they exposed their own moral weakness — have they never had a problem?” Evans writes. “These cheap shots shows discerning customers what they can expect when using competing products. That’s something that shows when you try to contact customer support — where Apple is number one.”
“Apple responded quickly, calmly and effectively to handle the problems as they were identified. While its responses won’t attract as much attention as its stumbles (such is the nature of modern media), Apple’s customers won’t be surprised. They know Apple usually tries to help them,” Evans writes. “That’s why Apple is such a powerful brand in consumer electronics.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
A Tale Of Two Apples – September 26, 2014
After hemorrhaging $23 billion in market value, Apple plays defense – September 26, 2014
Apple opens testing facility to reporters, details exhaustive iPhone 6 Plus durability tests – September 25, 2014
Apple’s so-called ‘quality assurance’ manager responsible for iOS 8.0.1, was also responsible for Apple Maps – September 25, 2014
Apple releases iOS 8.0.2 – September 25, 2014
Apple’s gauntlet of five durability tests that iPhone 6 Plus passed with flying colors – September 25, 2014
Samsung, HTC, BlackBerry, and others mock ‘bendability’ of Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus – September 25, 2014
Apple: Only nine customers have complained about bent iPhone 6 Plus units – September 25, 2014
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s banana skins: U2, ‘Bendygate’ and iOS 8.0.1 – September 25, 2014
iOS 8.0.1 fiasco: Apple exec responsible for catching bugs before release has a ferocious door-slamming temper – September 24, 2014
Apple pulls iOS 8.0.1 after users report major problems – September 24, 2014
If ‘bending’ is all Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus rivals have left, they’re roadkill – September 24, 2014
SquareTrade Breakability Tests: Apple iPhone 6 earns best score ever, iPhone 6 Plus not far behind – September 24, 2014
Inside Apple’s special event live stream’s epic meltdown – September 10, 2014
If that’s the “minus” side he can come up with, the competition better get out of the way – the steamroller’s coming.
It’s already here. Desperate cries of anguish are hidden behind the silly anti-Apple advertising. (;_;) 😥 (;_;)
Should read
On the minus side:
• Absolutely nothing
Everything he listed there was bullshit.
Actually the failed iOS 8.1 was a MAJOR technical and PR disaster. Many people, including myself, were adversely affected. Apple was slow to post a fix online and, without the iMore website, many of us would have been left hanging in the wind. Apple Support was friendly, but ultimately unhelpful, for those of us who contacted them directly.
Interesting that the same blogutlessers always have problems.
Slow to post a fix online. Obviously, your expertise has yet to be identified. I wonder why. NOT.
Be interesting to compare to the speed of others repo cues wouldn’t it, but of course they are rarely reported or too insignificantly to notice. All I know is that i ha a practically unusable 2 year old HP printer that the company has clearly given up on upgrading its driver software which was a clod of earth to start with. Hey try contacting them about the problem mind. At least with Apple you know because of the magnifying glass they work under things will get done even if a tad longer than ideal.
As for 8.02 just upgraded from 7 and what a beautiful piece of work it is, no wonder the sad opposition and its lackies and trolls want to try to demean it. Ultimately as the writer says their efforts are ultimately like using a pea shooter against a tank. And guys worse still a tank headed in your direction rather rapidly. Be scared very scared, but then the scare stories reveal that don’t they.
IF you are going to bitch, get it right, 8.0.1, not 8.1
I wouldn’t exactly call making a fix in a little over a days time “slow”. The fast reaction on Apple’s end had a net positive effect. Saying that, the fact that the 8.01 update happened at all left me speechless, quite honestly. I doubt we’ll experience such a snafu in the future.
“Many people, including myself, were adversely affected.”
Actually, no. It was a tiny number of people. Not to say it wasn’t a serious mistake. But “many” and “slow” is just nonsense, leaving you with no credibility and me not believing your last point about “unhelpful”.
Two days isn;t slow at all. and you know if this were either Samsung or Microsoft- there would be no fix or it would be months
The time between 8.01 (which was immediately pulled) and 8.02 can be measured in hours.
Not sure how that qualifies as “slow to post a fix”.
Now whether 8.01 should ever have seen the light of day in the first place – that’s another discussion.
8.0.1 was pulled in an hour and 15 minutes to be exact.
from another article, upwards of 40k people downloaded the update during that time.
Now if you break it down to iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users.. that number drops to “not many”
Gotta say that Apple acted quickly, and did the right thing by pulling the update. Some companies would leave it up and do “testing”
Hey, cut him some slack, he’s Canadian.
Most of the points raised by Evans are bogus, but iOS8.01 was a real issue. Over 10,000,000 iPhone 6/6+ sold first weekend and more than 17 pages on the Apple support board – we are probably talking around less than 50,000 people left with a non-functioning phone, but it should not have occurred. Apple initially had NO solutions to the problems caused by the iOS8.01. The pulled iOS 8.01 update also took much away from the very positive press that Apple gained over the last two week.
Overblown, perhaps, but that is the way our society seems to function these days. Claiming that anybody who reported they had the iOS 8.01 problem is ‘lying’ is rather childish. Even MacDaily News ‘takes’ yesterday cited the failure on Apples part and many commenters state they were affected. If you need your phone (for many their iPhone is their only phone) loosing the cellular connection is a BIG deal.
On the minus side: Certain nagging trolls crowing “I told you so”
Antenna-gate, Bend-gate, Nude-gate… These FUD campaigns are manufactured as such:
1. FInd a perceived weakness in Apple product (it doesn’t have to be real)
2. Locate a pre-existing social media vehicle such as a video. This is not hard to do, because there’s always someone out there creating a vehicle that fits with the agenda. Should no vehicle preexist, then have someone legit create one — video is best but also blog, news articles and tweets can work.
3. Orchestrate a fast moving viral internet campaign that ultimately reaches the mainstream media.
4. Use the perception created by the campaign in paid advertising and legit PR to cement a negative perception of the Apple product in the public’s mind despite Apple denials or truth.
This is being done over and over. Favorite target: Apple. Who’s behind it? Just ask who doesn’t like Apple or who benefits from their demise… (hint: there are several candidates with the resources)
How to fight it: the truth. But Apple needs to respond fast, before the FUD moles create a public perception that is impossible to unravel. Apple is a big, shiny, target for those that believe that false campaigns are fair game to create the illusion of a public outcry, and thus actually create a public outcry over nothing at all.
When you have nothing to compete with against Apple except a some crap knock-off, you have to use whatever means you can to compete. What’s funny to me is that the competition is so obvious.
I’ll bet if you surveyed a representative sample of the 10,000,000 people who have purchased an iPhone 6 so far, most of them would be have never heard about this “issue.”
If Rush Limbaugh bends his iPhone, a lot of people will know about it. Most of the people who watch the iPhone video on YouTube already have their minds made up one way or the other.
Exactly. I call it Apple – Bad click bait. Anything where something bad can put in a headline with Apple gets clicks.
Any of us who’ve been watching Apple over the past decade knew exactly how this was all going to go . . . well, not the details, but the basic FUD-ish BS that ALWAYS follow Apple’s announcements and releases.
If you’re feeling at all like Apple is unraveling because of “bend gate” (and my God can we ever have a so-called negative thing happen that doesn’t have to have the word “gate” thrown behind as if it’s at all clever, but I digress) then I invite you all to go back in time on the Internet and find some blogs or articles from every major release Apple has had since 2005.
There are always haters. Hell, when the iPhone was announced there were places like Engadget or pcmag where people wrote endlessly about how no physical keyboard or 3g was soooooo laughable. All of those twits now either have an iPhone or a ripoff device in their pockets (some of which are oversized and will bend easily if used stupidly, BTW). None of which have that oh-so-damn-vital plastic keyboard.
All this comes down to is history repeating itself as it has done over and over again . . . The good news? Apple has always, in every single circumstance, proven to grow its business by the billions of profit per quarter despite all of this negativity. Why? Because their products, despite the fact they must still adhere to the laws of physics, production failure rates and that human beings actually do the coding, are the best on the market for 99 percent of people who have enough cash to buy a premium product and enough sense not to get drawn into these completely predictable freak outs caused by hit hungry media sites and underwear stained competition.
nice post
Well stated, sir! Nuff said.
“… underwear stained competition.”
a tad graphic, but, i am persuaded, true, none-the-less.
Enough with the literary analogies. The French Revolution lynched hundreds of scientists, mathematicians, chemists and engineers, including Antoine Lavoisier.
Apple doesn’t need a “night of the long knives” and dumping on one individual who can’t defend himself? …meh
Godwins Law already?
I think you will find that they were not lynched.
It was off with their heads in merry old France.
The Guillotine was very efficient.
My iPhone 6 plus is on its way:)
What problem?!?
I have learned a valuable lessons in life, if we wanted to damage thing it will break, if wanted to protect what we love it will last, as simple as that. This guy intentionally wanted to break the Smartphone with all his mighty powers, enough said.
Mine arrived yesterday – 15 days ahead of supposed arrival..
Me very happy..=*^)
(and it fits perfectly in the leg pocket of my Wrangler Legacy Cargo Twill Pants..=*^)…)
Try to bend it, tells us what happens.
These folks advertising Apple’s woe’s are building up a sizeable backlog of bad karma.
Viral bendy videos are just the Mister Rogers entries in a popular ‘destruct’ genre, in which Apple products play a starring role, as reported by the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/09/25/behold-the-strange-expensive-world-of-iphone-destruction-videos/
Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood has brick chimneys, but the people who live there meow-meow don’t break things on purpose meow-meow.
Bend-gazi is funnier.
At least it’s a bit more current 😉
Jesus, I wonder if half the people know where the -gate thing came from, and that it happened over 40 years ago. Time to retire it.
It amazes me even more now because Apple has fixed issues faster than it took for people to create them. Bendgate took some time since launch to become a widespread lie but got clarified even quicker! 8.0.1 was indeed a slip off. Again just a day to fix it. Thats how good Apple is to their customers. If people are not happy with that. I challenge them and say confidently no other company in the world is going to offer them better than this. Firstly for other companies number of annoying difficulties will be more. Fixing would take even longer.
Shenanigans aka S**s**g should try to compete in market place at least in their usual method of licking Apple’s balls i.e copying Apple. Its a known fact they are not going to innovate so lets leave that aside. Now do not tell they innovated Phablet. That would be a ridiculous argument.
Note Edge again is an after thought, Many many Apple patents in the past 3 years have registered for curved displays and its UI utilities. So please! Just like the smart watch or nfc bringing things first to market does not mean invention. It does not mean anything actually.
Look back at Apple to know what is meaningful invention, hopefully look ahead at Apple to know what will be meaningful invention. At present Apple is the inventor rest are followers.
After few years compare two segments, year since Phablet was launched until this year. From this year to few more years. % of people using Phablet after few years are going to be far far more than what it was. Same with NFC Payments.
If anyone other company can transform like Apple does thats the day they could even start to think they are competing with Apple.
Now if he would just rise to the challenge of the #MBP2011 GPU disaster that is impacting thousands of his customers.