Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

DRWAM — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:35:47 GMT

Mike, I agree 100%. It in no way actually measures performance, only customer satisfaction of those willing to respond. I was shocked to see Dell at the top too. I know [anecdotal] so many people that tell me of failed parts and bad service, but yet they continue buying from Dell. After having two Jeep Grand Cherokees with problems, I stopped leasing them. I build my own PC's as I want the select parts [and fancy geek case],so i have only purchased Dell laptops, all of which performed great, so I would also rate them high, at least for laptops. However, the high end HP laptops just blow Dell's prices away [and left the MBP in outer space of course], so my next laptop may be from HP, unless Wae delivers to NJ.

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

mikegalos@msn.com — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:11:37 GMT

DRWAM

Actually, all they did was point out that the valid survey didn't measure that the products in any way but measured the perceptions of the users.

It's a valid survey. But it's about the equivalent of asking what percenage of OT3 Scientologists are happy with their religion. It tells you about the people's happiness with their belief but nothing about the validity of the belief. And while there's nothing wrong with citing a survey of belief, people tend to draw conclusions that aren't measured.

Or, to put it into your field, it's the equivalent of skipping diagnostics, signs and symptoms and measuring population health by going to a health food store and asking 100 people, "how're you feeling?"

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

shark47 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:13:00 GMT

"You guys have just discredited an independent valid survey."

Not really. The results of the survey are not in question here. Read Tayme's comment. The article itself mentions the teflon nature of Apple.

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

DRWAM — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:45:15 GMT

You guys have just discredited an independent valid survey. I am quite certain that given all those that complain about Apple, that results would not be skewed by those that all of you have rationalized, would not say anything bad about Apple, even though the survey 'measures a consumer's overall satisfaction with a company, which includes product quality, value, customer service, and essentially anything else that impresses or annoys a customer of a particular company.' Only a true fanboy would think otherwise, IMO. I still love you all anyway.

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

shark47 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:50:18 GMT

"Shark, again, with all due respect, at this site, good news from Apple is flawed and bad is news is from 'industry trusted companies', and just the opposite for MS."

How can you use my views to make a general statement about the entire site? And, no, I don't think all bad news about Apple is from "industry trusted companies". Apple wouldn't be where it is today just on the basis of fanatical users. Similarly, not all bad news about Microsoft is from flawed sources.

Moreover, you're the one who called Arrington a liar. I never said he was an industry trusted source. My comment was not about his post but the comments on it. If Mobile Me is buggy, it's buggy. It doesn't depend on how good/bad XBox Live or Windows Live are. If these were the people who were interviewed for the survey, I am not surprised Apple did so well.

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

DRWAM — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:16:01 GMT

Shark, again, with all due respect, at this site, good news from Apple is flawed and bad is news is from 'industry trusted companies', and just the opposite for MS. They [Apple] are due their credits and more people are happy because of quality. MobileMe problems and iPhone problems are posted all over the web. Apple is not getting a pass, and MoMe quality seems bad, from what I have read on the PC side. Mac OS looks like it has problems with it too.. And MS does not suck, IMO, but lawyers do:)

Anyway, I disagree with your statement. But, I am very anxious to see what Live for Mac OS will do, especially if it's free. Even if it requires a version of Office, if it's good, MobileMe could fade away, or the price could get wacked to a more acceptable amount. Another annual fee to the consumer is just causing more of their dept problems.

I use Exchange on the Mac, XP and iPhone, but my company is now looking into personal folders that sync with the home server. I now Google wares exist, but I trust my Microsoft apps more, as well as my own secure company server. Or at least I hope it's secure. Please correct me, or scare the crap out of me if I am wrong.

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

tayme — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:12:10 GMT

@shark - "But it might be the consumers too."

That is a very good point, and was mentioned in the article. It is widely known that a good many of Apple users actually have an unhelathy "love" for the company and its products.

"But Apple has other things going for it besides a troubled OS competitor. "Apple is not without its quality problems," said Fornell. "People know there have been some service and product quality problems, but Apple has an almost Teflon-like quality. It's problems don't really seem to matter to consumers." "

--tayme

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

mikegalos@msn.com — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:10:23 GMT

shark

What I've seen even more from the non-fanboi Apple user is a tendency to blame themselves when something goes wrong.

I had an Apple using friend (non-techie) who on sending her Apple laptop back for repair for the third time in a year (bad drive, bad main board, bad power supply) said, essentially, "I must be doing something wrong to have this break that often"

If that had been a Dell user the response would have been either "I'll never buy a Dell again" or "Stupid Windows" even for hardware issues.

Bad Apple products are assumed to be user error since If Apple stuff "just works" then when it doesn't it must be the user.

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

joe-dokes — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:09:10 GMT

Shark47,

Many said that Apple's high customer satisfaction was due entirely to its fanatical customers. Yet, Apple is growing at a rate twice the industry, and half of all its customers are new to the platform, yet its customer satisfaction has risen, albeit a small amount.

Thus, the expectation among MS fans was that Apple's customer satisfaction would decrease, that hasn't happened. The conclusion I would draw is that Apple makes a pretty damn good product, and backs the product up with good customer service.

Remember the rule of being a customer, "Quality, service, and Price. Pick any two."

Regards

Joe Dokes

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

shark47 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:40:43 GMT

"Apple clobbers competition in customer satisfaction survey"

I think that is more or less expected. It might be the quality. But it might be the consumers too. I'm not saying all its users belong to that category, but a substatnial number of Apple's consumers refuse to believe that the company can ever go wrong.

This is how they justify it to themselves:

"Mobile Me is a disaster."

"Yes, that may be true, but Microsoft sucks. So, Mobile Me does not suck."

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

DRWAM — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:03:47 GMT

Here's something from Computerworld mag published today that is not anecdotal:

"Apple clobbers competition in customer satisfaction survey

'Teflon' company posts personal computer record of 85, 10 points ahead of No. 2 Dell"

www.computerworld.com/.../article.do

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

DRWAM — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:55:39 GMT

Personally, after reading his article and 'about' section, I see that I have owned more Apple products than Mr. Arrington. I have not had a problem with any, including the iPhone 3G. I will also note, that 'from my experience' includes his too. However, he is a lawyer, which is analogous to liar. My iPhone works flawlessly, and has NEVER dropped a single call. I am quite skeptical when someone claims that ALL of their Apple products were faulty, which statically is remote given the larger amount that he quotes. I think he's a liar, possibly flame baiting to get web site hits. Anyone that continues to purchase products and claims so many failures of a company's product, is a complete idiot. He's a liar and/or an idiot. Perhaps he's just too stupid to get the technology to work.

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

shark47 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:52:17 GMT

OK. I don't usually post links to articles bashing Apple, but this one is a little relevant.

www.techcrunch.com/.../apple-is-flailing-badly-at-the-edges

I cannot comment on the article itself. Unlike lotsa, I don't have any "anecdotes". I can, however, comment on the comments themselves. What I found most interesting was the first comment. The article is about Apple and never mentions Microsoft, yet some iCabalist had to bring Vista into the discussion. It's very similar to Lindy's first comment here.

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

DRWAM — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:44:45 GMT

Paul made a good point about using free services, so it would make sense that gMail be used for iPhone stuff [even if you use Exchange] and Live for WinMo. Exchange is just terrific.

re: Apple gives MobileMe users an extra 60 days on their subscriptions

DRWAM — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:26:24 GMT

The Motorola Q does not seem to be listed in Live. The BB on two of my partner's phone just won't sync with Exchange, but mail works. But the iPhone does not support Hotmail. A workaround is available and seems to work well. Still, it's cheaper to buy a thumb drive to carry files and just sync to your computer. For those with an iPhone or Touch, it's cheaper to buy a WiFi Access poiont and leave it at work, or buy a portable one, than MoMe, and use a file transfer app such as MobileFinder for 2 bucks John P uses Datacase. MobileFinder seemed to have problems with larger files, but this may have been fixed due to the iPhone 2.0.2 update. Now storing and displaying Office docs, pics,music, video, etc... can be quickly sent to the iPohne and back via WiFi. MobileFinder works with Windows well. I use FTP clients. Cyberduck for the Mac and Filezilla for my PC. Transfers take 1 to 3 seconds depending on size. 104 word docs took less than 3 seconds to transfer to the iPhone and i was on another floor, across the house too, from the WiFi access point.