this might take longer than i thought...
Mar. 17th, 2008 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llcoolvadReason #4671 why I hate Apple Computer, Inc: Artificial Demand
P picks me up after he gets out of work and we head off to the Apple store in Peabody. We look around for a few minutes, marveling at the Apple Macbook Air (which frankly feels a little flimsy, like you could snap off an edge if you weren't paying attention), then we finally ask a clerk to get an iPhone. "Sure!" he chirps (because that is what they do, there), "We only have the 8GB, is that ok?"
Up until that very second I wasn't sure that I was getting the 16GB iPhone, but suddenly I knew that I would be satisfied with nothing less. No, that isn't ok, can you call around? He scampers off, wagging his tail, and makes three or four calls. He comes back looking vaguely sad, like he knows that something isn't perfect but he's not sure quite what it might be, and says "no, no one has it in stock. We get shipments every day, though!" His female counterpart chimes in with "We don't know what's going to be in them, but if you call? In the early afternoon? We might know then!"
We don't know what's going to be in them? Hmmm. Maybe they could look it up in a computer. If only there were one, somewhere...
P and I discussed this over dinner. They sell exactly two kinds of iPhones, the 8GB and the 16GB. Only two. They don't come in various colors or with sparkly bits stuck to them or in the limited edition Vapor Blue version. Just two. It's not like they make the 16GB version out of a precious ore that has to be mined from the deepest parts of the Mariana Trench; lives are not lost making the 16GB version vs. the 8GB version. In fact, our perky boyclerk explained (in very small words) that the 8GB version was EXACTLY LIKE the 16GB version in every way except that it would hold less music. Really?
Artificial Demand. It's ugly.
P picks me up after he gets out of work and we head off to the Apple store in Peabody. We look around for a few minutes, marveling at the Apple Macbook Air (which frankly feels a little flimsy, like you could snap off an edge if you weren't paying attention), then we finally ask a clerk to get an iPhone. "Sure!" he chirps (because that is what they do, there), "We only have the 8GB, is that ok?"
Up until that very second I wasn't sure that I was getting the 16GB iPhone, but suddenly I knew that I would be satisfied with nothing less. No, that isn't ok, can you call around? He scampers off, wagging his tail, and makes three or four calls. He comes back looking vaguely sad, like he knows that something isn't perfect but he's not sure quite what it might be, and says "no, no one has it in stock. We get shipments every day, though!" His female counterpart chimes in with "We don't know what's going to be in them, but if you call? In the early afternoon? We might know then!"
We don't know what's going to be in them? Hmmm. Maybe they could look it up in a computer. If only there were one, somewhere...
P and I discussed this over dinner. They sell exactly two kinds of iPhones, the 8GB and the 16GB. Only two. They don't come in various colors or with sparkly bits stuck to them or in the limited edition Vapor Blue version. Just two. It's not like they make the 16GB version out of a precious ore that has to be mined from the deepest parts of the Mariana Trench; lives are not lost making the 16GB version vs. the 8GB version. In fact, our perky boyclerk explained (in very small words) that the 8GB version was EXACTLY LIKE the 16GB version in every way except that it would hold less music. Really?
Artificial Demand. It's ugly.
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-18 03:29 am (UTC)And when it gets stuff wrong, it gets it *really* wrong. Feh.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-18 01:16 pm (UTC)And as far as customer service is concerned, enthusiastic is good, but overly-puppyish sounds a little wearing.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 11:47 pm (UTC)