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InTheMist

macrumors member
Jun 22, 2013
65
3
Lol @ "First customer in Europe to have an iPad"...

Pathological lie on Internet much?

11 am the day before they were meant to be released. Ok, maybe there were hundreds, who had their iPad delivered mistakenly early. I still claim the right to call myself "first".
 

Jjaro

macrumors regular
May 29, 2009
186
16
Yokosuka, Japan
As a former Apple employee, I'll say this:

While Cook's vision is of making Apple Retail a destination for consumers, the numbers they show here indicates that it serves only as a destination for service and support. Until Apple can find a way to raise the standard of Retail and make it a uniformly pleasant experience for customers (by increasing hiring standards for the employees and raising compensation to draw desirable candidates), the stores will continue to be only visited out of necessity. Apple Retail has come a long way since it started, but has in the past five years since iOS was released, they have shown that they still have plenty to learn.

Man I haven't ever worked at an Apple Store but I think you hit the nail on the head! I hate going to the Apple Store except to check out and play with a product before I buy it. Then I leave and either get it online from another cheaper retailer, or buy online so I can customize things like RAM (not like I buy computers that often though, lol, but I think you guys get my drift).
 
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asthamapheo

macrumors 6502
Jun 26, 2013
285
0
iwatch, itv, iphone 5s, ipod, and the rumored gaming console, that's what's coming! and i'll surely buy all of these products.
 

MagnusVonMagnum

macrumors 603
Jun 18, 2007
5,193
1,442
An "army of products" :confused:

It sounds like the rumors of iPaper, iWatches, iCondoms, etc. etc. are probably true, after all. Clearly, Mr. Cook intends to focus on on quantity of products rather than quality or innovation (and no, putting chintzy controls on a watch is NOT innovation; it's stupid and will give Apple a bad name in the long run, IMO).

You know every time I use my Bluetooth stereo for hands-free calling in my Subaru WRX (and again when I rented a Ford Fusion in Arizona last year that used the Microsoft "Sync" system), I can't help but think the first company that can make voice controls that ACTUALLY WORK in every day products rather than misunderstand 60-90% of what you say is going to make a TON of money. I remember trying dictation software in the early 2000s and it just SUCKED. No matter how much time I spent in learning mode, it would get the words wrong over and over and over. I spent 20x more time correcting its mistakes than I would any typing errors I might make just typing out a paper. It was WORTHLESS and a total rip-off.

Now I see similar systems in cars and phones and frankly, they STILL suck to high-heaven. I can't get my car to recognize the last digit of a dial-by-number phone number to save my life. It won't let me use preset buttons while in motion (because THAT is "dangerous" and yet it screwing up EVERY SINGLE TIME to the point where I'm in a RAGE over how badly it screws it all up is supposed to be SAFER? Bullcrap. I'm FORCED to either pull over or take my chances fiddling directly with my phone because the darn voice recognition software doesn't work worth a darn (and it's not the mic as callers always tell me I sound crystal clear when I actually get connected). I've heard bad things about SIRI even with the server-side system that is probably 20x better than the stuff found in stand-alone gadgets, but still FLAWED.

Maybe Apple should be spending beaucoup bucks on getting stand-alone voice recognition perfected before anyone else (accents matter in a global market too for that matter) and make a killing on all corporate and industrial levels in the process because the CRAP that is out there now SUCKS (save perhaps some commercial stuff for phone answering that only expects certain keywords and not word-to-word recognition).

THAT is the kind of "innovation" I think Apple needs. We don't need all new devices, but rather devices that are so much friendlier and easier to use that we can't wait to buy one over the competition. Smart phones existed before the iPhone already, for example, but they SUCKED. The iPhone did not suck. And that is where Apple needs to be. Creating new devices in markets where existing devices just plain suck.

If Apple wanted to make a washer and dryer, for example, don't just stick a glossy black piano lacquer coat on it and Siri's voice, but make a machine that can automatically sort delicates and color clothing, move them into a holding area or separate cleaning chamber and wash and dry them all in one cycle (Japan has all-in-ones already for example, but they don't sort clothes for you). Then have it fold (and steam iron if necessary) them as well automatically. THAT would take the monotonous task of doing clothes into a whole new level of convenience. You put dirty clothes in and get a basket of folded, sorted clothes back. ANYTHING less than that is a DON'T BOTHER for me and just leave it to the usual crap to make baby steps over a 100 year period (because that's all they've really done in the past 100 years; it's hardly any different at all today). No, it would not be easy. But that's the challenge of making something SO much better than what already exists and THAT is why people bought the iPhone over the garbage that came before. I would buy that Apple Washer & Dryer in a heartbeat if it was even remotely affordable. Anything less would never be worth much more than existing units.

The same would hold true to ANY new market Apple might want to get into. If it's just a slight improvement over existing products, it'll never cut the mustard for innovation and making huge new leaps in stock prices, etc. It has to revolutionize a product line somehow. I'm just not seeing any signs from the current Apple that they have ANYTHING in the pipeline that is going to do that. Because anything that would do that would also be incredibly risky and costly to boot. That's something Steve Jobs wouldn't hesitate to sign off on if he thought it would work, but all I'm seeing from Mr. Cook is "fashion" cases for a Mac Pro that LOSES functionality, not gains it. It's one step forward and three steps backward. I'm not impressed.
 

egoistaxx9

macrumors 6502
Jun 25, 2013
289
0
iTV and the iWatch is what i'm really excited for. it'd be really cool to control my iphone from my smartwatch.
 

orbital~debris

macrumors 68020
Mar 3, 2004
2,133
5,563
UK, Europe
11 am the day before they were meant to be released. Ok, maybe there were hundreds, who had their iPad delivered mistakenly early. I still claim the right to call myself "first".

Ha.
I received mine at 8am on the 27th May, but I've never considered claiming "the right to call myself "first" in Europe - that's absurd.
And Considering Steve's focus on the detail, I still think the day early was intentional to build just a little extra hype - Apple could have delivered on launch day if they'd wanted to.
 
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