Brilliant Apple support sets a new high-water mark
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on October 16th, 2007
Tagged as: Apple, Asides, Dell
I’m not one to hide my feelings. When I’m angry you can see it a mile off (my wife 2) and when I’m happy I breathe an infectious enthusiasm for the most trivial of things that’s almost annoying. You’ll be relieved to know that by nature, I’m more happy than I am angry 
Yeah, I’m a touchy-feely sort of guy at heart, which is why I’m a copywriter and not a sheet metal worker, although I suspect even they have their moments.
I’m also not one to rant over other people’s shortcomings as if planting a flag for consumer rights every time something goes wrong with something I’ve bought, seen or had to do with professionally or personally. To quote Massive Attack: the big wheel keeps on turning, and I’m more than happy to look after my own, slightly smaller one thank-you very much.
However, there are moments when all this talk of principles and morals falls flat on its face and you let loose with something wholly unexpected. I’ve had notable negative explosions, I think the most memorable public one was my criticism of ShinyShiny’s treatment of Acer.
I’ve also stated publicly (although I don’t remember where) that I’m thoroughly impressed with Dell’s telephone support service. Yes, I have a Dell and when it went wrong they were simply amazing on the phone.
Now it’s time for me to compliment someone I never really thought I would. Apple.
Back on the 6th September, I ordered the 16GB iPod Touch complete with personalized inscription as a present to myself for my new son. The day before he was born, it arrived. Perfect timing. I immediately loaded it up, registered it, transfered a bunch of stuff over and took it out to show it off (well wouldn’t you?). Took it home and spent the evening with it hooked up to the hi-fi and had guests over for dinner. All very impressive.
The next day I slipped out to charge it up again. Connected it to my PC and BOOM! It all went dark. I have no idea what shorted, but not only did the iPod die, it also became incandescent for the next 4-5 hours - in fact I had it in my pocket when we went to hospital as I wasn’t sure if the thing was going to explode and burn the house/car down!
On Monday I contacted Apple support. They pointed my to the nearest Apple Authorised Service Provider who congratulated me as I was quite possibly the first person in Italy (Europe?) to have returned his iPod Touch. Anyway, they took it in and said they’d be in touch. Fast forward one week and a brand new iPod Touch just arrived in the post, complete with original inscription. No questions asked.
I understand all your arguments in defence of the poor old consumer, and that, yes, it was the least old Steve could do, but I think they went the extra mile to keep me a happy customer, and deserve the genuine thanks I’m giving them. Oh, and yes, it’s one hell of a product.
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No going back now
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on March 23rd, 2007
Tagged as: Apple, Asides, B5Media, Copywriting, Gab Gab Gab, Internet Marketing, Jeremy Wright, Problems, SEM, SEO, Search Engine Marketing
It’s a fascinating moment for me.
On the one hand I’ve got a great job. Copywriting - and in particular freelance copywriting - has given me both the insight and education that lets me put my thoughts and feelings into words as well as the time, freedom and inclination to explore the outer reaches of web life.
At ‘work’ I have been busy drafting the story behind a few upcoming product launches with various success. I have been studying various ways of approaching the thorny subject of internal communication and recruitment. On top of all this, I have also been looking into creating the master content of a series of web strategies so that the text is both easy to translate and effective across 7 key European markets.
Not a dull moment then.
But just like anyone with time management problems, I have also been distracted by what has in the past been called “blind ambition” but now goes by the name of a “challenge”.
You see ever since I stumbled across the letters, S, E and O, I have been drawn to their power - the fact that words, chosen carefully, could actually change the geography and relevancy of search engine results.
Then there was what you could actually do once you had uncovered this secret. White Hat is my natural colour of choice, of course, but nevertheless these three letters have unquestionably permitted some fortunate few to exploit a system to the detriment of the many.
These letters also have a more sinister side: they alienate you from the “real” world around you. I recently brought to my multi-billion dollar client’s attention that there was precious little activity on their site from any of the search engines. I even went as far as to recommend reformulating their web strategies not only to generate new traffic streams from natural search engine results but also to build enough reputation throughout the entire site to change the formula used by my client when linking to its resellers.
I got a big bunch of nods, a number of smiles and quite a few “wow we had no idea”s but never heard from them again about it. Meanwhile my client continues to pour truckloads of money into individual projects which, because they are disjointed from the overall core principles and are void of any shared values, detract from the performance of the site as a whole.
Ugh!
Either SEO (and SEM for that matter) is still in its infancy outside the US or I’m starting to be earn a reputation as a lunatic.
Best thing is to start my own business and boy do I have a few ideas knocking around. Thing is even then when I talk to friends and neighbours about them, even some who have offered to invest, the “big picture”always remains a few feet out of reach, as if what I see happening across the world in blogs, media companies and other online industries is merely a figment of my imagination, or just part of a game I’m playing all by myself.
‘Slow world’ meets the ‘fast world’, as an Italian web specialist once said, is when those living in a world fed by mainstream media have to deal with the lightning fast reactions of those of us who have chosen a more democratic, if slightly more volatile, path online. It’s never a pretty site and we (fasties) always come out worse off.
The question of whether to continue or go back is a rhetorical one. However the answer opens up a whole new debate: Then what?
I have ordered the near future into challenges I have to face:
- I want and need to master the art of RSS as I believe RSS technology is what’s needed to create the world’s most advanced e-learning platform.
- I believe that niche communities and experience aggregators are the key to entrepreneurial success in a Web 2.0 world. Jeremy’s “No Money in Web Advertising” articles have been instrumental in this decision.
- I believe strongly in a healthy relationship between paid content and free services. E-learning, for example, is an ideal platform to experiment with both.
Each of the above is a open project I’d like to see up and running by the end of the year and if there are any talented writers, teachers or programmers reading this, I could probably bring that forward quite some way.
Want to know why I got buzzed today. Because I read this, then watched it here.
Oh and Jeremy, if you’re reading, I’ll be in touch soon - or you will…
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When the dust settled…
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on October 11th, 2006
Tagged as: Acer, Apple, Dell, Masked Blogger, Richard Binhammer
Yesterday I was part of the single most interesting event since I started blogging. That wasn’t too long ago either so I guess *events* lurk around every corner.
Masked Blogger claims he’s trying to reach Apple from the inside. He publishes an intriguing post and the world jumps. Apple has blogged!!
Within 12 hours there’s even an *official* response from Dell’s senior communications man and the thing looks like it’s about to snowball.
But it didn’t and in the time it took for most of the non-listening world to notice, the storm was over. Yet in just 48 hours MB had managed to raise enough dust to cover the entire Gobi desert.
The conversation has since moved on and MB is drawing his own conclusions. The one thing I truly felt is that some companies heard. No matter how far up or down the food chain, they noticed, gave opinions and shared their thoughts on the subject.
OK, I *defended* Acer and took a harmless pot shot at the press-release response from Dell but rivalries aside, an exchange of views took place and they weren’t at watercooler level either.
Some of the points on MB’s post today show that companies are both listing and willing to participate but also illustrate just how important it is for companies who come onboard the bloggeride to set the record straight.
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Changing from the inside? More like an opportunity to battle it out.
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on October 10th, 2006
Tagged as: Apple, Dell, Masked Blogger, Naked Conversations, Richard Binhammer, Scoble, Shel Israel
I knew this was going to happen.
Anyone who’s read Naked Conversations will have noted the authors’ persistent message: Apple doesn’t blog. Google doesn’t either. Be warned…
Yet someone has spoken up. The masked blogger has come along and reached out to Shel Israel in public (or perhaps in private is a better way of putting it). I share the masked blogger’s predicament and fully sympathize with his frustration.
Millions of bloggers *get* this social medium thing. Yet just as many companies do not. While it can’t be denied that the international business community has been slow to pick up on the arrival of blogs, I think it’s a little unfair to criticize the slow-moving conglomerates for not having a blogging voice.
Some companies are slicker than others, faster to adapt to the winds of change. Granted this gives them an advantage, and the case studies of Kryptonite and even Scobles’ close call with IE7’s toolbar issues prove the validity of an alert presence, but you just can’t escape the inertia and the firm grip of traditional, tried and tested media.
Having said that, I don’t think this post was the most suitable place for corporate messaging, and Dell’s Richard Binhammer made a brave move to post what is a shiney, carefully-written press release.
While having the Senior Manager for Dell’s Corporate Communications underlying his company’s commitment to hearing its customers can by no means be dismissed as a bad thing, you can’t get away from the fact that it was a well-worded attempt to, how does Scoble put it? “..improve their image“, at the expense of everyone else.
Now that someone has entered the argument *officially*, the best that could possibly happen here is that the major competitors slug it out. Thing is, as there’s no-one else out there right now, I doubt that’s going to happen in a hurry.
1-0 to Dell, but it should have been disallowed.
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