Apple Makes 3rd Grader Cry

[kamil]

I never knew some companies neglected their number one priority: their customers. They are, afterall, what makes Apple exist to today (at least the dumb ones: "omfg, ipod! fap fap! its so sexy and i dont care if its a shit product, it just looks nice!!!)

Anyways, as the title of the thread says, yes thats right, Apple responded to a third graders letter with suggestions on how to improve the ipod (gee, you know a product sucks when even a third grader can name you its flaws).

Heres the story, watch the video in Flash:

http://cbs5.com/investigates/local_story_103023852.html

[MDX-400]

LOL. Funny stuff. Apple makes me cry anytime I have to use any of their software.

It's actually sad for me to know they are even still in business, lol.

It's no surprise Steve Jobs is a jerk--he always has been.

[mercury_in_flames]

ROFLMAO !!! DUDE! lol As much as I am not a fan off the ipod (must resist to say ipoo..).. lol I think that a news channel must be REALLY desperate to do a story on how a company cant be bothered to write a touching letter to kids saying thanks for your ideas lol.Eeesh, thats like me expecting to get an appology if i write to g.bush telling him he;s a moron, lol.

[RedemptioN419]

Big business these days. They can give you some of the best products, but at the same time give you the worst of services and insults.

[Guest Stuge]

Not sure what to say about this b`coz i`m not a fan of Sony service & all that ...but this is ridiculous on Apple`s (LOL) part..

Horrible Apple ...Keep it up

[JSP62]

HA HA, Shame on Apple for doing that. Hopefully Apple learned something from this.

I've always believed the best form of making a point is through embarrasment.

Edited April 24, 2006 by JSP62

[dandlion]

I never knew some companies neglected their number one priority: their customers. They are, afterall, what makes Apple exist to today (at least the dumb ones: "omfg, ipod! fap fap! its so sexy and i dont care if its a shit product, it just looks nice!!!)

Anyways, as the title of the thread says, yes thats right, Apple responded to a third graders letter with suggestions on how to improve the ipod (gee, you know a product sucks when even a third grader can name you its flaws).

Heres the story, watch the video in Flash:

http://cbs5.com/investigates/local_story_103023852.html

Actually, I thnk you will all find that just about every company that is large enough to have a legal department would respond similarily. My guess is that if the nine year old had written Sony or any other major company, the response, if there were any (and I will say that it is not all-together unlikely that Sony's response would be no response) would be to discourage "unsolicited ideas". Should they not pursue this course, they will find themselves in lawsuit after lawsuit in which the letter senders sue over the theft of their intelectual property i.e. the unsolicited idea. Since all these companies pretty much copy any innovation of their rival companies ASAP, you can bet that ipod will have most of the enhancements of the various sony players within a few upgrades anyway.

On the other hand, Apple is a particularily pathetic company. At one time in the mid '80's I had nine different Apple II+/2c/clones running at my home. Apple decided to abandon the 6502 market without bothering to use a processor that would have served as a bridge between the 2x user and the new architecture (eventually a long line of macs). Having invested years of effort developing 6502 assembly language skills, I decided at that time I would never again buy an apple product. Any company that will not listen to their customers eventuall will not have to, the customers will be gone.

Same can be said for Apple software, everything they develop is bloatware of a caibre rivaled only by the likes of the developments of Adobe and of m$ (microsloth/microsoft).

Sony really gets no major points in the software catagory either, It seems that each release of Sonic Stage introduces more problems than it solves, most often because sony incorporates the DRM (Digital Rights Management) crap into every music file transfered to their players. Not entirely surprising since Sony is probably more worried about the money they make off of their music and movie royalites than they are about the poor saps that buy their hardware, but being realistic about what is going on, almost all companies sets their priorities with only their profit in mind. Long forgotten are things like pride in their product, customer satisfaction etc. etc. etc.

[JSP62]

Actually, I thnk you will all find that just about every company that is large enough to have a legal department would respond similarily. My guess is that if the nine year old had written Sony or any other major company, the response, if there were any (and I will say that it is not all-together unlikely that Sony's response would be no response) would be to discourage "unsolicited ideas". Should they not pursue this course, they will find themselves in lawsuit after lawsuit in which the letter senders sue over the theft of their intelectual property i.e. the unsolicited idea. Since all these companies pretty much copy any innovation of their rival companies ASAP, you can bet that ipod will have most of the enhancements of the various sony players within a few upgrades anyway.

On the other hand, Apple is a particularily pathetic company. At one time in the mid '80's I had nine different Apple II+/2c/clones running at my home. Apple decided to abandon the 6502 market without bothering to use a processor that would have served as a bridge between the 2x user and the new architecture (eventually a long line of macs). Having invested years of effort developing 6502 assembly language skills, I decided at that time I would never again buy an apple product. Any company that will not listen to their customers eventuall will not have to, the customers will be gone.

Same can be said for Apple software, everything they develop is bloatware of a caibre rivaled only by the likes of the developments of Adobe and of m$ (microsloth/microsoft).

Sony really gets no major points in the software catagory either, It seems that each release of Sonic Stage introduces more problems than it solves, most often because sony incorporates the DRM (Digital Rights Management) crap into every music file transfered to their players. Not entirely surprising since Sony is probably more worried about the money they make off of their music and movie royalites than they are about the poor saps that buy their hardware, but being realistic about what is going on, almost all companies sets their priorities with only their profit in mind. Long forgotten are things like pride in their product, customer satisfaction etc. etc. etc.

Good 'ol capitalism at its best!

[dragulagu]

Actually, I thnk you will all find that just about every company that is large enough to have a legal department would respond similarily. My guess is that if the nine year old had written Sony or any other major company, the response, if there were any (and I will say that it is not all-together unlikely that Sony's response would be no response) would be to discourage "unsolicited ideas". Should they not pursue this course, they will find themselves in lawsuit after lawsuit in which the letter senders sue over the theft of their intelectual property i.e. the unsolicited idea. Since all these companies pretty much copy any innovation of their rival companies ASAP, you can bet that ipod will have most of the enhancements of the various sony players within a few upgrades anyway.

On the other hand, Apple is a particularily pathetic company. At one time in the mid '80's I had nine different Apple II+/2c/clones running at my home. Apple decided to abandon the 6502 market without bothering to use a processor that would have served as a bridge between the 2x user and the new architecture (eventually a long line of macs). Having invested years of effort developing 6502 assembly language skills, I decided at that time I would never again buy an apple product. Any company that will not listen to their customers eventuall will not have to, the customers will be gone.

Same can be said for Apple software, everything they develop is bloatware of a caibre rivaled only by the likes of the developments of Adobe and of m$ (microsloth/microsoft).

Sony really gets no major points in the software catagory either, It seems that each release of Sonic Stage introduces more problems than it solves, most often because sony incorporates the DRM (Digital Rights Management) crap into every music file transfered to their players. Not entirely surprising since Sony is probably more worried about the money they make off of their music and movie royalites than they are about the poor saps that buy their hardware, but being realistic about what is going on, almost all companies sets their priorities with only their profit in mind. Long forgotten are things like pride in their product, customer satisfaction etc. etc. etc.

True , I'm myself am more neutral, and even admit that ipods aren't that bad players (tested it with different phones, different players), actually they are as good as sony's, it's just that sony gives me the natural sound, which I like to hear. Anyway, what I DON'T like about apple is that they make a hype of every hardware they sell, looking at their computers, especially their overhyped players. All by doing that commercial bussines to boost their sales, I know that it's their aggresive strategy now to get good onto the market, but still, it's stupid to only pay attention to the selling (am an industrieel engineer student and could/will be in that bussines, so it kinda frustrates me). Pityfully, that's the bussines of nowadays, like mentioned in the quote

[leonyuhanov]

HAHAHAH!!! after viewing the story, im pretty happy with what apple did!! It will plainly teach that little girl not to whine to her momy "MOMY MOMY I WANT AN IPOD!!!!!! WAAAA WAAAA WAAA!!" and maybe shell learn that just becasue everyone of her little friends has one, doesnt mean its a good player!!!!

Apples response was not harsh at all!! they are covering their asses!! if the reply was different something allong the lines of "Thankyou for your ideas, we will incorporate them in our next gen ipods" the news story would read:

3rd Grader sues Apple for stealing ideas

Am i right!? or what!

Leon

Edited June 22, 2006 by leonyuhanov

[mercury_in_flames]

lol, the fact remains, that the news in the U,S has the most amount of b.s ive seen. I havent seen much of it, but what i have seen, just lol.

[JSP62]

lol, the fact remains, that the news in the U,S has the most amount of b.s ive seen. I havent seen much of it, but what i have seen, just lol.

U-S-A !!! U-S-A !!!

[mercury_in_flames]

lol, rite...... no offence dude, but if i said george bush land others would know where I was talking about.

Edited June 22, 2006 by mercury_in_flames

[JustAnUnCoolCat]

Having been involved (as an advisor and also on the support side) for a certain Korean brand (beginning with an 'i') - i'd definately agree with the sentiments of 'as they get bigger and more prominent and get a bigger market share' that the mere innocent loyal customer gets the sh*t end of recognition.

And when they do get big, and put out a crappy product or somehow otherwise get on the wrong side of the irrational 'free the source code' advocates - it's often the enthusiastic loyal customers who dare to try to calm the waters that get the ass-kicking from both company and whoever is giving the grief.

It says a lot about the company when they formally bring in their choice of their biggest supporters to be their outreach representation worldwide (there were about twenty of us, myself being in that category.. as well as having a formal contract with the company too) get kicked up the backside and left to face the music when the company decide to close ranks and start to disregard the flaming rows.

It's those of us on the outside looking in, helping to keep it rational and be fair to all, who get hurt the worse.

So, you could say, i've seen exactly what happens when the 'we are big, we are excellent, we are cool' mentality starts to drive a company.

My philosophy nowadays, ferk em... if they want supportive comments and backup from users.., be sure to support the supporters.. or go bury thy head in the sand.

Usually burying head in the sand is the firm's chosen method...

Be Cool Always

'Tom Kat'

Edited September 2, 2006 by JustAnUnCoolCat

[Guest Stuge]

Having been involved (as an advisor and also on the support side) for a certain Korean brand (beginning with an 'i') -

I Audio???

[JustAnUnCoolCat]

Oh i wish, Stuge, no sadly it was iRiver...

On reflection, i wished i had taken up the offer i got from iAudio/Cowon instead...

'Tom Kat'

Edited September 2, 2006 by JustAnUnCoolCat

[pata2001]

Oh i wish, Stuge, no sadly it was iRiver...

On reflection, i wished i had taken up the offer i got from iAudio/Cowon instead...

You know what, you're right about iRiver, and I don't have to work for them to see it. iRiver was great when they were doing PCDPs, and released an actual valid competitor for the iPod (H1xx series). Back then, they were the underdog. After H3xx, they went downhill, making empty promises to customers (non-exixstant firmware upgrades), etc. The H10 series was bug-ridden, even after firmware upgrades. Now, they have no up-to-date current DAPs except the clix. Even Samsung have more DAP models now.

[gnarly]

omfg, ipod! fap fap! its so sexy and i dont care if its a shit product, it just looks nice!!!

omfg, walkman! fap fap! it's so sexy and i don't care if its a shit product, it just looks nice!!!

You know, I'm slowly but surely coming around to the fact that the ipod is actually a damn good series of products. Why? iTunes.

The walkman? The hardware is great, sexy, works, ace. The software though? It's thoroughly awful in just about every way. Unstable, ugly, crappy to use... It's the reason my next portable music player won't be a Sony.

Apple seems to be the only company out there who understands that the software that accompanies the player is every bit as important as the player itself. Sony just don't seem to understand that at all.

[JustAnUnCoolCat]

Hi Pata..

Yeah, god knows.. they sure did make a hell of a mess on the customer relations front there. In fact, i'd say the only reason us peeps who were doing the frontline part on an outreach basis didn't condem the firm royally, was the sheer disgust over the situation.

Well, i admit, i did indeed (when i could stand no more) write a particularly damning piece about it all on their forum (and suprisingly, they didn't not remove it til about a year later when they revamped the forum and site content totally - mind you, i didn't expect a company response.. it's a natual custom over there to be non-confrontational).

The only real (and sadly materialistic) gain i got out of being involved was getting a free iFP-390 to test (never considerred it a gift/promo.. just considered it a loaner) - and really, i would have much preferred to have been treated with a little respect and not being left hangin out for the forum vultures and sacrifice 'toy' gifts.

In fact, the MisticRiver site was a direct result of the grief that ensued.. when some people literally had enough and effectively decided to let the official forum sink into it's own collective tight hole... (to be polite about it).

I knew there would be a few ex-iRiver people here, particularly on the PCDP front (since the company threw quality away after the iMP-550 escapade.. the last 'quality' one they made.. just about) - god knows, it was making the choice between a media-intolerent 'flashy features as sin' iMP-550 to replace an aging abused 250 model or go with a D-NE series.

I sacrificed 'flashy features' and went the D-NE route instead (better option it worked out) - and i was truely the traitor indeed for that move, in the iRiver community after being a long term commited iMP fan.

So i aint been a victim of Sony's customer relations, and to be honest, had no need to talk to Sony people at all outside of a time i was fixing someone's Vaio Picturebook - so i cannot vouch for any aggro people may have faced over dealing with Sony's people - but for sure, after the later iRiver experience, i'd give Sony support the benefit of the doubt.

As for Apple, well - when i used to work with Macs (for a few years.. the last two when i was in the IT business - aka early mac days), they treated customers like royalty (and at the money invested on a commericial buy number about 50 units then, not unexpected). But that sure walked into the sunset the day iMac (the first really affordable everyman mac on the scene) was being pushed and sold by the bucket load.

Sadly, it's a trend that persists and happens time and time again.

Leaves a bad taste in the mouth, when you are at the customer end of the deal - and when you are more formally involved, kinda makes you wanna hang your head in shame for reasons that were nothing like your fault as an associate or employee.

Gonna quit on this, bring back too much bad memories.. and bringing the bad blood back to the surface....

'Tom Kat'

[-walle-]

I hate apple and everything they stand for. But i think it's a fair enough response. In this day and age you have to cover your ass - legal wise.

On another note. I think i'd be pretty pissed if a 3rd grader wrote me letter with ideas on how to improve my product. There's no way in hell, apple hasn't already thaught of that, and decided it was a bad idea.