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Tag: Bad Apple experience

A bad Apple experience

by on Jul.01, 2011, under Reflections, Technology

My wife ordered a white 32GB iPhone 4 the other day and it arrived with the mail yesterday. Like most people, you’re probably wondering what I was thinking and why I would ever tolerate a McIntosh product in our home and I honestly don’t have a good answer. Especially not after the following episode occurred. She asked for help in setting it up properly with access to our WLAN, configuring her e-mail on it, installing a few apps and so on. So far so good. I managed to find the slot for the SIM card but not to start the phone (please note that I have a Master’s degree in Engineering Physics). After consulting the manual online, I realized that I:

  • Had to download and install a software called iTunes on our computer.
  • Had to connect the iPhone to the computer and let iTunes “register” and “configure” (whatever that meant) it before it would let anyone start the phone.
  • Had to create a so called Apple account in my wife’s name.

Successfully creating a so called Apple account includes approving a 13 (!) page legal disclaimer, stating your full name, address, e-mail and telephone number and entering all the details of a valid credit card. I honestly thought that the last step would be voluntary, but no. Apple wants your credit card information.

Next step was trying to locate the radio. After searching far and wide in all the obvious places I again went online for help and was struck with the fact that… …no, iPhone does not come with a radio. For real. In 2011. Unbelievable…

To be fair, I have to say that the user interface is impressive, fast, responsive and intuitive. Setting up the basics such as e-mail and WLAN access was easy and straightforward. But when trying to transfer some of our music collection and maybe a movie or two (hey, she got the 32GB version) it simply does not work. Only way seems to be via iTunes, but iTunes seems to be very selective. Soviet style selective. Does Apple really think their customers are morons with no technical skills or ambitions? At the price Apple is charging, why should I have to jailbreak a brand new telephone just to be able to perform simple day-to-day necessities (and likewise simplicities) like watching a movie or listening to music without Steve Jobs knowing about it?

My conclusion is that Apple products contains last year’s (or older) components marketed and packaged in a brilliant and ingenious way: buy cheap components, assemble in low-cost countries, spend some dollars on marketing and you’ve got yourself a decent business case. Why anyone would put up with the hardware flaws or the Soviet-style customer treatment is beyond me, though. Why do people buy rotten apples in the first place? If you want to buy Apple, stick with their stocks on NASDAQ – there are enough morons out there who buy their products… Apple is so… …1984. www.getupdated.com

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