From the AI article mentioned above:
Again, I fail to see how this would be a benefit to anyone.
the program was set up and always meant to be for those new to the Mac computer. or even computers in general. I remember that from the first announcements 3 years ago. Having transferred data from a PC to a Mac it is not something the average user would know to do or even probably feel comfortable doing it. so the data transfer, even at $99, is worth the price. the year of training for those folks is worth the price.
and the new mix is actually a great idea. now instead of just the one session a week (if you are lucky to get one) you have small classes, private tutoring, study hall and guided independent study at home. with luck the workshops alone will help to open up slots cause they can get a lot of the very basic folks out of the way there and leave the 'one to one' sessions for more advanced stuff.
This is a horrible change of policy. You can only order it at time of purchase? So if I decide I want or need to learn more after I've gotten used to my Mac for a month, or a year, I'm out of luck?
there are still open workshops, videos and help pages on the apple website and I'll bet you even money that the same folks that you could walk in and ask a question haven't been told to shut the F up just cause this program changed.
heck I haven't renewed my membership since last year and I get more than enough help walking up to a baby blue shirt when I"m on the mall. most of them are thrilled to help cause it gives them an excuse to learn something new.
That sucks. Ever since Steve has been off,
you really think Steve was out of the loop. for all we know, this was his idea.
2)receive the Mac as a gift and hence need the service. Dear old dad didn't know that Jr. had no clue how to transfer all the data...so Jr. gets the shaft?
actually no. guess perhaps you should talk to them before you raise a stink. cause if you had (as I did yesterday) they would have told you that even though you paid for it today, when you give Jr the computer next week on his birthday, you will give him an activation number. when he enters that on the website THAT is when his membership starts and that is when he can take his brand new computer and his old one in to have them do the transfer etc.
I wonder if this policy is only for purchases of new Macs going forward or if it's retroactive? Anyone know?
retro only for Apple store purchases (brick or online) for the last 14 days.
folks like it or not, Apple has a right to change the terms at any point. given the number of times I've been in my local store and heard someone gripe loudly about the lack of sessions available, about having lied about the topic they wanted to try to get a session and then ended up with a trainer that couldn't do what they wanted, blah blah, i'm not surprised they had to do something.
and i'm betting that most of the folks on this site would never actually do One to One cause you don't need to be trained and coddled on your computer. you are just gripping cause you can, cause big bad Apple is saying no to something they used to say yes to. get over it.
Hiring qualified people only working 2-3 peak hours per day might be difficult too.
as someone else pointed out, you have a space issue for many stores as well. my local store has two tables with space for 6 laptops each if it's just the user. if you are actually doing a private session it's 4 so folks have room to work.
the sales area is so swamped during the day that it would be a nightmare to do sessions there. imagine paying for a class and then having to deal with a horde of kids at the next table goofing off with the web cam. or even just the back and forth of sales talk. the folks at my store are very good about keeping sales out of the back of the store where the one to ones and the genius bar are located which is a huge plus. they would have to buy off one of the adjacent stores to have a separate studio (and maybe Genius Bar) do to much more.
People buying elsewhere are Apple customers, but not Apple Store customers... so, this was an obvious line of distinction. Not saying I like it, but I think interpreting it as an insult or an anti-customer statement goes to far.
look at it from their point of view. Best Buy etc aren't selling at any less of a price. it's stuff like "buy a mac and get a $20 itunes gift card" going on there. so if you have an apple store in the area, why wouldn't you come to them to buy. and if you are so cheap as to go to something like MacMall then you are probably nasty enough to come in and bark your way into a price match (which I hear they will do if they are asked and you have proof of the price as current and it's the same model not a discontinue or a refurb etc). and if you insist on ordering online from MacMall etc then you are probably not going to use One to One anyway cause the target audience is often folks that either don't know such places exist.
Apple is going mainstream.
actually mainstream, aka shades of the Way of Windows, would be to just drop the program all together. and then next quarter they drop the free Genius Bar visits for everyone that doesn't have Apple Care or a device less than a year old
