Apple Disses On Help For New Switcher
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So here I am convincing my friend to ditch his PC and go with a new MacBook Pro for the past month. I loaded him up with the last five months of Macworld and gave him a personal 30-minute demonstration on my MacBook Pro (Rev A). We talked and I answered all his tough questions. Finally last Sunday at church he tells me, “Let’s go get me a Mac this week.” Sweet!
So last night we hit the Apple Store in Stoneridge Mall and I tell the guy helping us (I’ll withhold the name) that my buddy is a switcher. He was excited to hear that and I ask him, “So is there like some cool gift for me? You know, a shirt or something?” No was the answer.
No? Dang, I wasn’t expecting an iPod shuffle or anything, but no shirt? Not even a silly “I Helped My Bud See the Light” sticker? Nothing. Dude, what’s up?
You know, evangelism is great, but reward for that evangelism is even greater! I mean for all the things Apple does to think different, a reward system would be just one more way to get more to the Mac platform.
Again, I wasn’t looking for hard cash or expensive hardware. Just swag. You know, a shirt that peps wear at the store or something. Nothing major, just something. I think a simple little “Thank you” from Apple would go a long way and maybe even impress on the switcher the Apple is different than the from the evil empire they just escaped from.
Now granted, one could say a buy-off is really just corporate America at its worst and that’s why Apple doesn’t have a reward system, but I would have to disagree with that assertion since Apple in context just isn’t like that. The reward would just be one more thing Apple does from the heart and not from the bank.
Anyway, I’m not sweating it, I was just kind of surprised and thought I’d share. Maybe you had a similar experience or maybe you have been rewarded. Or maybe I’m just being a baby. Comment and let me know what you think.
[tags]Apple, Switcher, Diss, No Reward[/tags]
13 Comments
Rick Prather
November 17th, 2006
at 8:54pm
I think you are typical of the generation that wants a reward for anything!
“I had trouble with my MacBook so you should fly me to Maui!”
Give it a rest.
You did what you thought was right, and I agree, and got your friend to switch and now you want your Gold Star on your shirt..
Worry about something important!
MikeC
November 17th, 2006
at 10:26pm
You know, Apple’s been doing a lot lately to piss people off. I just went through a three week ordeal of trying to find Quicktime 7.0.4. Apple seems to want to pretend the 7.0.x versions never existed, and yet they appear to be what my Pismo with 10.4.8 wants in order to play back audio smoothly. Miserable. What’s so bad about keeping this stuff available? Years back one could simply go via FTP to info.apple.com and find any ol’ piece of Apple stuff, no matter how old. No longer. Then there’s the mandatory glossy screen on the Macbook. Why? Glossies suck. Most companies charge extra for them, still treating a matte screen as default. That glossy screen is the biggest cause for hesitation (well, really, it’s the fact that I don’t $1500 at the moment…) in getting one of the Dark Side models. Basically, since Msr. Jobs came on board, Apple has gotten more and more rigid and high-handed in how they deal with their customers, resellers, and pretty much anybody else who might be asking for something that doesn’t come with a credit card number attached. It’s not enough to make me question my faith, but it *is* enough to piss me off - and I fix their products for a living!
Izzy
November 18th, 2006
at 12:39pm
I’ve gotten four roommates, two girlfriends, two coworkers, and one potential mother-in-law to buy Macs throughout the years. I’ve made the offhand remark many times that it would have been nice to receive a commission or something that says “thanks,” but to be honest I’m just happy that they are going to be using a computer that they’ll actually enjoy. I feel your pain…
Sam
November 19th, 2006
at 3:36pm
Honestly, no one cares. It’s not some religion. It’s a computer, it’s his choice to choose Mac. You helped him along the way. Apple doesn’t need to give you anything, they already got you to get him to buy his laptop.
ThinkandDrive
November 20th, 2006
at 3:20pm
What you want for nothin’, Rubber Biscuit?
Sorry, had to be said.
John
November 21st, 2006
at 8:58am
I can see where someone might take the position that bringing *one* ‘to the fold’ is insignificant, and the swag for one convert would probably be pretty chintzy anyway.. How many Apple keychains can you use?
Now Izzy, with eight converts, he might have a legitimate “beef.” BTW, Izzy, I hope the girlfriends don’t run into the fiancee’.. ;-)
The salesperson is undoubtedly making a commission on the sales. So, if someone has done what would normally be considered your “groundwork” or your sales pitch for you, (especially eight times) there might be some validity to the viewpoint of ‘throw me a bone..” Peanuts from the gallery, anyway..
Andreas
November 21st, 2006
at 9:40am
I started using Mac in spring 2004 and got really enthousiatic after I’ve been using Windows ever since it came out. Here I am, converted 8 people now to use Mac, including 4 die-hard windows users who made an oath to use Microsoft’s shit. In 3 Apple stores around the UK they started to know me as the guy who converts people and then comes in with them and buy Macs, and they even acknowledge it that I converted them! Guess what? Whenever I buy something myself, there’s nothing for me! No discount, no shirt, a cap, nothing as a sign of appreciation. Makes me feel unappreciated and I started to wonder why I’m doing this. Fuckit.
Alex Diablon
November 21st, 2006
at 10:05pm
Sounds like someone needs to get away from the computer and experience the real world for a bit…. What a ridiculous assumption. If anything, you probably scared the poor salesperson.
bjmc
November 22nd, 2006
at 5:06pm
Yes - the tee shirt idea is great and might help things along with potential switchers when worn.
jl
December 30th, 2006
at 5:36pm
In an apple store, sale person asked driver license copy?! Unbelievable request.
I had to buy MacBook in nearby BestBuy.
If Apple Store keeps doing this, none would try the “best” product.
James kyle
February 15th, 2007
at 6:49pm
The reward is reducing the number of people that call you with all those niggling problems like system slow down, freezes, viruses, getting networking to work, getting sharing to work, lock ups, and on and on…..by exactly 1.
If your not “the computer guy” that these people call, then feel rewarded with the warm fuzzy feeling that you’ve helped out someone who was.
Dan Oblak - MacBigot.com
November 11th, 2007
at 12:23pm
Is this guy 12?
HairyPotter
December 8th, 2007
at 12:26am
I agree. I have evangelized at least 5 people myself and never expected something from Apple cause I know it is easier to rain gold than get 1 dollar from Steve Jobs. I still love Apple products and I am a switcher too (4 years ago). In fact I am a double switcher. I have started on a Mac, switched to PCs forced by my job and switched back to Mac when I was fed of trouble, virus, crashes, spywares, vulnerabilities, and other crappy things from windoze.