Is Apple the Next Comcast?

I’ve been a die-hard Apple supporter for the past 3 or 4 years – just go read some past blog posts – but I’ve had 2 experiences in the past few weeks that makes me ask the question in the title.

First, lets start with Mountain Lion.  Apple has been touting iCloud as the answer to this issue of my music scattered all over the place.  And movie sharing and basically getting my digital bits organized.  But you can’t use iCloud with iOS5 (phone and pad) or Mountain Lion (iMac and Macbook).  So for $20, I downloaded Mountain Lion and installed it on my 3 year-old iMac. BIG MISTAKE.  I read the system requirements, I read the reviews, I checked the software compatibility charts for the stuff I use most frequently.  Turns out the compatibility charts weren’t 100% accurate (things like quicken and vmware didn’t work anymore) and iPhoto needed to be upgraded (another $20), but then that made all my photo libraries incompatible with the other machines in my house.  Anyway, you see where I am going – one change to take advantage of what looked like a really good and helpful feature caused me an immense amount of digital pain. So what did I do – I blew it all away and restored a backup from my time machine (a truly great Apple tool) and in 40 hours, my machine looked like it did when I started down the foolhardy path to simplicity.

My second experience that got me thinking about Apple and Comcast in the same sentence came when I went to the Apple Store to get my Macbook fixed (bad video card – covered under AppleCare).  I had a great experience, but the guy I got to overhear talking with a Genius, did not.  The conversation went something like this…

• Guy:  I’ve been waiting for about an hour – how much longer do you think it will be?
• Genius:  Do you have an appointment?
• Guy: Yes, I had one this afternoon that was rescheduled to now (an hour ago now)
• Genius: That’s right, I remember you, you were late for that appointment
• Guy:  I wasn’t late, I was here on time. I waited an hour and half and then had to go.
• Genius: Yes, that means you were late, because when we did call you, you weren’t here. So the rescheduling till now was a courtesy.
• Guy: So because I left after waiting an hour and half, I am “late”?
• Genius: Exactly.

So listening to this, and while you can’t hear the tone, I’ll tell you the Genius was both a bit smug and arrogant, really had me thinking about the cable company when they do you the favor of giving you a 5 hour appointment window.  I’m sorry, but if I had been that guy and had to wait 1.5 hours at an appointment, I’d be ticked off beyond belief.

Apple’s market capitalization is over the moon.  They have had a string of hits that keep coming. They have remade industries seemingly overnight. But sometimes your market power warps your common sense and your hearing.

Maybe I had a poor experience with Mountain Lion (but I doubt I’m the only one and lots of people complained about Lion too).  And maybe that experience at the Apple store is a unique one.  But I doubt it.  How can I give this feedback to Apple?  I can’t in any manner other than what I doing here.  Go to their website and look for a place to provide feedback – http://www.apple.com/contact/ – there isn’t any.  You can go to lots of specific places – store, itunes, product, etc – but I want to give overall feedback – and I can’t figure it out.

It kind of reminds me of Comcast of old (they have gotten a bit better), people are talking, but no one seems to be listening.  The lesson for you – make sure you have a way for your customers to give you honest feedback. It needs to be easy to do, easy to find and easy to do anonymously as well.

Any thoughts or experiences you want to share?

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