Why Apple is faultering

[Greg Henry]

Their plans don't always work. Here in Cobb County (Georgia) the board of education nearly got something like 150,000 ibook laptops for all the kids. It's the 2nd largest school district in Georgia (suburb of Atlanta).

The public fought against it because 1) Even with "discounts", the prices from Apple were higher than from two PC vendors. 2) The majority of home users in this are use WinPCs, and were concerned about compatibility issues. 3) Unrelated to Apple, but each family was to pay for extended warranties, which didn't fly well.

They were forced to ditch the idea, and the head of the board was ousted out of office for various things he did wrong dealing with Apple and not going through proper channels with other potential vendors or with public info on the project. Funny that during all of this, Apple never came to argue their point or try to convince people otherwise. They lost tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

 

[JohnJ80]

I'm sure $150/share is not at all out of the question, if you adjust for splits that would surely happen (and are probably getting close at $75/share). At the current rate at which they are going, they are definitely marching in that direction and I would not at all be surprised.

So, your point is what exactly?

J.

wow, imagine just how much that stock would rise if Apple only
included consumers like myself in their agenda! You should probably
be more concerned about why Apple isn't broadening their business
to these millions of potential customers. Screw $75, why not go for
double that amount?

Lets all write Apple a letter of explanation.

--



http://www.sublogic.net

--

'Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.' -
Mark Twain

(equip in profile)

 

[DigitalWolf]

--Sorry you had such a bad experience with Apple. I am a former Apple Developer and also former Store Manager at one of the Specialty Stores. You are off base with your remarks and your experience does not speak for Apples Policies no matter how HARD you rant. Fact iss Apple is innovative (Others always copy their products) Apple treats people well at the Stores and otherwise. Apple is NOT faltering. Thanks for sharing your bad experience but like the 20D posts here thaat talked about the awful banding and the bad focusing of the 20D, it ddid NOT mean that the majority were getting the same problems, in fact quite the opposite!

Keep Taking Photos,
Jeff
The Digital Wolf

 

[wrider]

Ranting, rudeness, lack of knowledge, "sub standard logic"...who needs it.
--
Wendell
http://www.wendellworld.com

 

[Greg Henry]

lack of knowledge, "sub standard logic"...who
needs it.
--
Wendell
http://www.wendellworld.com

----------

My eyes are open if you'd like to provide details of the story I mentioned that I missed.

 

[OlyOlyOxenFree]

Even if you're determined to make the switch for business purposes,
they could care less. They don't care about the little people, all
they care about is marketing this idea that Macs have the edge in
style and usability.
.sublogic.net

I would not make an assumption about them not caring about the little people myself. Personally, I purchased an iMac from an authorized Apple reseller. I wasn't pleased with the Geometry of the screen. The authorized reseller would not allow me to return the iMac to them unless Apple themselves authorized them to be allowed to accept the return so that they could then send it back to Apple without being penalized themselves. I called Apple support, explained why I wasn't pleased, and the next day I called the reseller back and Apple had already called them and authorized me to return the product.

I am a little person. I'm just a home user that doesn't even use my Mac for any business purpose. While you may have issues with their sales/shipping departments, once you get a Mac I believe you'll find Apple Support to be top notch. In fact, I don't have any links [perhaps someone does] but their Support is consistently ranked very high.

As far as the sales tax eating away any student/military/educational[etc.] discount. Apple does charge sales tax in many states if they have a brick & mortar store in that state. In fact, I rent DVD's from Netflix.com and they have to charge me sales tax because it has been ruled that, even though they aren't located or have a brick and mortar store in my state, it has been ruled in the courts that they have "physical property that is residing in the state" which forces them to tax the DVD rental - go figure.

Perhaps something that you don't know, or haven't considered, is that while they do charge sales tax, when it comes to student/educational (and probably all other discounts like military) they do NOT charge shipping if you fall under one of those discounts - and that more than makes up for the sales tax, believe me.

By the way, sorry for calling you a troll. It's obvious that you want a Mac that runs Unix os X. Have you considered ordering from an Apple authorized reseller [someone like macmall.com or maczone.com] who may just ship to you. The downside to this is that they probably wouldn't offer a student/military discount (but have you asked a reseller if they can offer that?). Actually, I believe they don't, but it's worth asking about - perhaps policies have changed.

--

 

[OlyOlyOxenFree]

I agree, and since I just posted in the last minute (keeping it alive before I just read your post), it's not going to change where this thread is [at the top] by me posting this in that same minute - which is let's just let it die.

Not that I condone technical ways to force it to die, but if this thread continues, it will probably die after 150 posts [I believe dpreview posts still have a 150 post/reply limit to one thread that is started]. Again, not that I condone technical ways to bring an end to a thread, but I have seen [on this forum] users quickly replying many many times to a thread just to get it to reach the 150 threshold. Now I don't want to give anyone any ideas that would would smother this thread - LOL!

Ranting, rudeness, lack of knowledge, "sub standard logic"...who
needs it.
--
Wendell
http://www.wendellworld.com

--

 

[sublogic]

I just purchased the Apple Powermac G5 2.5 QUAD with no BTO options through Powermax.com

The sales person was very nice with making sure my order was correct and kept me updated on the shipping status all the way to the day it was shipped.

Of course I lost the free shipping that they offered due to my APO address, but that never mattered to me, so long as they ship directly to me. He assured me that they do, and explained to me that someone must go to USPS personally to deliver the product to any APO/FPO address.

My shipment wont be due to arrive for at least 2 weeks. That's the average wait time from the states to Guam + APO.

In the meantime however, I noticed Apple has changed the status of their shipment for anyone looking to upgrade from the Nvidia 6600 to the Nvidia 7800 GT from 6-8 weeks to 5-7 business days.

Still no word whether the card will be available in the future as a kit, but I was assured that it will not become available as a CTO option, only BTO.. thus I will be forced to test Apple's services in the future to have the card built into my machine.

--



http://www.sublogic.net

 

[sublogic]

My rant is not concerning their products, it's the way they do business when it comes to individuals like myself who find themselves in these predicaments without a choice.

I have a 20D with a banding issue, but I never complained because I figured that's just how it was going to be, or that maybe Canon was going to update the firmware in the future, fixing this.

My frustration comes with Apple not making all their products ready available everywhere like they do with their iPods. In reality it has become a maze with figuring out how I'm going to get the machine with everything I need built-in.

You can find Apple iPods at any base, same with a Canon 20D (where I found mine)

But you can't find any powermac G5 Quads nowhere on the island, that's my beef.

--



http://www.sublogic.net

 

[Craig Blake]

Hey, I feel your pain... but the simple fact is that you are breaking the law if you purchase goods online and don't declare and pay your taxes locally. Only retailers within the same state are required to withhold sales tax for you; if they are out of state then the responsibilty to your state and locality is yours. Is it a pain? Yep. Are they fair? Maybe not, I figure there are better ways to fund the goverment. But it is the law, and just because out of state retailers don't hold the tax for you doesn't make the amount you are supposed to pay any less.

 

[mrfitz]

I'm no Apple basher by no means, i'm just a frustrated PC user
trying to make the "switch" with no luck whatsoever on Apple's end.

It's these factors that I would say is holding a consumer like
myself from making the "switch", and the fact that a PC can be
bought from almost every huge retail store, or the fact that one
can build their own PC to their own specifications without the same
kind of delay as Apple, that is holding Apple from capturing 95% of
the world.

Solid point. Macs do appeal, but for those of us who enjoy using customized hardware, or building our own specification machine, you are stuffed with Apple. I have considered a move in the past, that was until the G5 got ditched for Intel....

I really dont think Apple are serious about capturing a large market, they seem content to stick with specialized areas...rather than going for the consumer market...

In many ways its a shame that Apple are so old fashioned, and unwilling to enter into a real fight with Microsoft. Its so 80's the manufacture your own pc, with your own software....it just doesnt cut it in the 21st century....

Until they start to be a little less controlling of your options, they will remain on the fringes of the industry.......

 

[Sal Baker]

In many ways its a shame that Apple are so old fashioned, and
unwilling to enter into a real fight with Microsoft. Its so 80's
the manufacture your own pc, with your own software....it just
doesnt cut it in the 21st century....

My take is that it cuts it when a company continues to be the most profitable computer maker with the highest profit margins and continued double digit sales increases every year with expanded consumer electronics devisions that no other company in the world can compete against.

Apple stock holders and customers alike seem to be very happy with old fashioned success.

Sal

 

[JohnJ80]

Well, when you run a large business you try to get it mostly right for the vast majority of your customers because, you can't get it right for ALL of them. Unfortunately for you - military bases and small islands - are not the majority of the market. In your case, it is double jeopardy because you are both. However, your problem is not the universe.

Clearly you have figured that out, but I think, failed acknowledge it.

The simple fact - and demonstrated by all sorts of metrics (including profitability, sales targets, increasing market share, customer satisfaction surveys etc...). Apple is doing well in all of them. So, Apple is not faltering. You mid course correction ('where' vs 'is') I will grant you is probably true. Apple is faltering when it comes to taking care of customers in island territories on military bases. Lets agree on that and be done with it.

So, my advice to you, since you appear to be determine to figure this out and get a G5 Mac, is to quit wasting brain cycles on the ranting, and invest them in figuring out your problem. Either way, Apple is not going to get excellent and servicing military base customers on islands before you get your Mac.

J.

My rant is not concerning their products, it's the way they do
business when it comes to individuals like myself who find
themselves in these predicaments without a choice.

My frustration comes with Apple not making all their products ready
available everywhere like they do with their iPods. In reality it
has become a maze with figuring out how I'm going to get the
machine with everything I need built-in.

You can find Apple iPods at any base, same with a Canon 20D (where
I found mine)

But you can't find any powermac G5 Quads nowhere on the island,
that's my beef.

--



http://www.sublogic.net

--

'Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.' -
Mark Twain

(equip in profile)

 

[robomedic]

One of the reasons Apple doesn' get into the fray with Microsoft et al is the Georgia debacle. That whole episode was a classic example of the misinformation sewn by wintel nuts to protect the kids form solid productive machines that might actually help them learn. In the case mentioned by mr Henry, the original offering of laptops (ibooks) was based on smaller scale very successful trials. The fact is that the custom tailored computer software packages would have provided a huge educational advantage to the impacted families. The costs were to be spread out over a much longer time than is typical for such deals. What company would put a technical device in an uncontrolled environment with no immediate cost recovery system in place without insisting on a service package to cover potential repairs (even some caused by abuse intentional or otherwise). The mythical "compatibility" issues never did hold up under scrutiny, but meaningful discussion was never allowed as is often the case when dealing with govenment entities. It should be noted that the lower bids were never considered because they did not even meet basic US Department of Education standards let alone statewide bidding standards. So, in order to prtect a couple of substandard bidders if the PC persuasion a well intentioned individual was hounded out of office and hundreds of children who might have benefited from great technology and education specific tools were left empty handed. Way to go Microsoft (and yes their dirty little corporate hand were all over this one.)
--

On the first day, God said 'Let there be light' and there was light. And mr. Adams said
'Thank you...'

 

[DigitalWolf]

--Ever try and find out?

Keep Taking Photos,
Jeff
The Digital Wolf