I was a delegate to the CCA Convention this week - to the uninitiated CCA stands for Customer Contact Association. One of the speakers there was a guy called Peter Cochrane, who was described in the convention blurb as a ‘futurist, venture strategist and researcher with an international reputation for developing technology-driven business.’ He is also ex chief technologist at BT and founder of Conceptlabs. He’s also been presented with an OBE for good measure. Quite a guy.
With such an impressive CV I was of course keen to hear what Peter had to say - and one thing stood out above all else. Peter said the gap between Microsoft and Apple was ‘very small’. And that got me thinking. This week sees the UK launch of the much vaunted Apple iPhone - which has won the accolade Invention of the Year (from ‘Time’ magazine) - and probably quite right too.
But here’s the rub. Many Apple customers, who previously wouldn’t have heard a bad word said about the company they love, are complaining about Apple ‘acting like Microsoft does’ by taking a money driven attitude to the iPhone launch. The controversy comes from Apple’s ‘Microsoft like’ decision to launch the iPhone under an exclusive network partnership deal with 02 – and that’s gone down like a lead balloon with many of Apple’s previously completely committed customers. Many of them are now blogging their heads off about this (and some other recent ‘Microsoft like’ Apple) decision and threatening to ‘unlock’ the phone so it can be used with other networks.
For its part Apple has warned that unlocking the iPhone will make it ‘permanently inoperable’ when future software updates are released. Under the iPhone deal the actual cost of the iPhone - £269 - bears no relationship to the cost of using one. Customers have to take out contracts with 02 that start at £35 a month and run for a minimum of 18 months - total cost a whopping £899.
So Apple has moved in the eyes of at least some of its customers from being an ultra cool outfit that understands and delivers on their needs to a soulless and monopolistic machine. Does Apple care about this now it has become an establishment player? It would appear not. Looks like its ‘hardcore’ of enthusiastic fans have a rotten Apple to contend with now.
1 comment:
Steve I'm not so sure that Apple have sold themselves out to become the monolith that Microsoft is. They must however have spoken with their raving fans and have been guided by consumer feedback prior to launch. There's no doubting Apple have upset many of their loyal customers but the package was known prior to their stores opening and you only have to look at the queues of customers eager to be th first in line for an iPhone to realise that in fact the power of this brand is so strong that in the mind of the customer that an initial deal with O2 is not such an issue after all.
I suspect those users that declared they would unblock their phones are the same ones that hack away at other Apple features on other products in an attempt to challenge their favourite brand.
Take a look at this http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vNdr8Q423Y4
I reckon only a fraction of these customers will ever try to hack their phones or object to the 02 deal. They just love the brand too much.
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