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"We're Number Three!" (8/22/00)
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There's no shame in winning a bronze medal, but neither is there much glory standing on that third step. That's why we're a little disappointed that, according to Go2Mac, the American Customer Satisfaction Index only ranks Apple third in the industry. Worse yet, Apple got beat out by Gateway (who captured the silver) and (gulp) Dell, who actually walked away with the gold. We imagine Mike Dell is dancing his little "Better Than Steve" dance right about now.
What's particularly galling about this revolting situation is that Apple has always been known for customer satisfaction-- or, at least, customer loyalty. To get beaten by the company that made the butt-ugly Astro and the company that has been aping Apple's every product move for the past year and a half, well, it's almost too much to bear. We'd almost think the ratings were fixed, if we hadn't just been regaled with horror stories of several Power Mac G4s arriving DOA and the ensuing nightmare of trying to get the problems fixed. Declining quality control and quality of service really look like they're becoming Apple's biggest bugaboos, and we hope the trend stops soon.
Now that we think about it, getting trounced by Dell and that cow company might be just the kick in the pants Steve needs to start taking product quality and customer service ultra-seriously. While we're not expecting a return to free lifetime phone support, or the introduction of a guaranteed 24-hour free replacement policy for all out-of-box Mac failures (why doesn't Apple have that implemented?), we figure at least some improvements are probably forthcoming just so Steve can stick it to Dell. Hey, at least Apple finished higher than Compaq.
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SceneLink (2499)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 8/22/00 episode: August 22, 2000: Was the Great Radeon Vacuum at Macworld Expo really Steve's punishment for ATI's overzealous press release, or was it due to serious technical difficulties? Meanwhile, 3dfx gets behind Apple's new proprietary ADC video connector, and Apple ranks lower than Dell and Gateway for customer satisfaction...
Other scenes from that episode: 2497: The Chicken Or The Egg? (8/22/00) The Wrath of Steve is both legendary and terrible in its fierceness, but has it been blown way out of proportion? In particular, unsubstantiated reports filtering into the AtAT Mobile Production Unit (currently chasing storms in the lush, rolling hills and valleys of Urbana, Illinois) indicates that the most infamous recent example of Steve's awful vengeance-- the ATI Incident-- may have been all smoke, no fire... 2498: Standards, Schmandards (8/22/00) Apple's history is littered with the remains of weird proprietary technologies that eventually died horrible deaths: NuBus, ADB, the DIN-8 round serial port, etc. Back when the first PCI Power Macs were introduced, it looked as if Apple had finally joined a twelve-step program and was on its way to standards-based health; PCI slots, standard VGA video ports, and later, USB and FireWire-- there was every sign that Apple had fully recovered...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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