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Apple Preps Retail Employees for Rollout of 'Joint Venture' Services
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The entire idea of a laptop is that you are able to drag it around from home to work and back, always having the same apps and files with you. I have never heard of anyone asking for a second notebook to place at his home.
There is certain scenarios where the very limited functionality of an iPad may work fine, for the majority of work computer an iPad is simply no option. Try to do accounting on an iPad for example.
And yes, Apple does not get the business market. They are a consumer company that keeps everything a secret til it is ready for primetime. They may or may not update programs and they do not have a public roadmap available. The support cycle for the Mac OS are flat out ridicoulous when compared with MS or Linux. Basically once a new version is out, bugfixing for the old one is reduced to a cummulative update every couple month.
And I have said that before. I don't blame Apple for that at all. They are a consumer company and happy in that niche. I don't believe that the higher ups have any intention of seriously trying to get into the enterprise and business market. Small businesses are probably fine .. but larger corporations are not their target.
T.
Well here in Europe Apple has to offer a standard two year warranty on all there items. For some reason they don't offer more then one year ...
According to EU regulation you're even covered for broken stuff after the two year warranty period, unless the producer can prove you abused/ damaged the product after you bought it.
The whole apple care thing in Europe is one great rip-off! It's an insurance so you can be sure you are insured ... although you technically are/should be!
Never asume!
With all due respect mate, you have no idea how this is going to work, you are assuming everything based on what you know now, on how things work now, I don't know how it is in the USA, but here in the UK, Geniuses are extremely efficient and the business team do an amazing job. Joint Venture is going to be a new way of doing things and then everybody will try to copy them (as usual with Apple). Just wait until the official announcement and see how it works before complaining. No wonder why more and more business in the UK, from Small to very large corporations, are switching to Mac.
With all due respect mate, you have no idea how this is going to work, you are assuming everything based on what you know now, on how things work now, I don't know how it is in the USA, but here in the UK, Geniuses are extremely efficient and the business team do an amazing job. Joint Venture is going to be a new way of doing things and then everybody will try to copy them (as usual with Apple). Just wait until the official announcement and see how it works before complaining. No wonder why more and more business in the UK, from Small to very large corporations, are switching to Mac.
What about Apple Care?
Apple Care covers warranty issues (parts, repairs, etc.), Joint Venture will be a support service. I think it's remarkable for such a low price. If you think about paying this price as an individual then it will be expensive, but for business, it's really a bargain! Can't wait!
Apple Care covers warranty issues (parts, repairs, etc.), Joint Venture will be a support service. I think it's remarkable for such a low price. If you think about paying this price as an individual then it will be expensive, but for business, it's really a bargain! Can't wait!
If Apple wants to make more inroads then they need to add Docks for their laptops, then again they probably expect people to go out and buy all new Thunderbolt compatible hardware in some strange effort to remove the need the need for docks but instead have a snake monster on the desk.
C
champ01
Guest
This is great news.
I've no idea what some of you are talking about.
Service for businesses are expensive and 500,- is cheap.
I've no idea what some of you are talking about.
Service for businesses are expensive and 500,- is cheap.
This is great news.
I've no idea what some of you are talking about.
Service for businesses are expensive and 500,- is cheap.
Agreed. Especially for Apple quality customer service.
$500 per year is cheap.
Too cheap.
So one of three things. One the second you mention Windows they stop you and try to sell you something else.
Two there are basics included and anything more is priced differently.
Three call center is off shore.
I don't see it working for the simple reason Apple never wants to talk about integrating with any other system. Exchange has been their exception.
No server product, no server support, and a staff that is not equipped to handle a businesses needs.
Apple will never get anywhere. Your a MS Partner MS helps you make money, your an HP Partner, HP helps you make money, your a Lenovo partner, Lenovo helps you make money. We develop for MS products, sell HP servers, and Lenovo desktops/laptops.
You want to become an Apple partner there are ridiculous requirements and they show you how to make Apple money.
Nobody buys service from Dell, HP, etc...they buy it from their partner VAR's.
I would actually sell Apple products to customers who wanted it, but Apple's requirements for becoming a reseller are steep, they have no on site global warranty, no 3 year warranty plan, and SharePoint doesn't work on Safari.
Too cheap.
So one of three things. One the second you mention Windows they stop you and try to sell you something else.
Two there are basics included and anything more is priced differently.
Three call center is off shore.
I don't see it working for the simple reason Apple never wants to talk about integrating with any other system. Exchange has been their exception.
No server product, no server support, and a staff that is not equipped to handle a businesses needs.
Apple will never get anywhere. Your a MS Partner MS helps you make money, your an HP Partner, HP helps you make money, your a Lenovo partner, Lenovo helps you make money. We develop for MS products, sell HP servers, and Lenovo desktops/laptops.
You want to become an Apple partner there are ridiculous requirements and they show you how to make Apple money.
Nobody buys service from Dell, HP, etc...they buy it from their partner VAR's.
I would actually sell Apple products to customers who wanted it, but Apple's requirements for becoming a reseller are steep, they have no on site global warranty, no 3 year warranty plan, and SharePoint doesn't work on Safari.
Too bad nobody in small business uses Macs.
Except me, apparently.
Oh and him, and her over there, and them over there.
I hope you were being sarcastic?
Yeah... I see them in SB as well, the industry I serve uses them like crazy. Far from the mainstream, but that's the point of this program Apple has come up with... to encourage more SB's to go Apple.
Yeah...
Wow, so many people are commenting on this based on speculation...! Why don't you wait until all of the official details are publicly revealed? Kind of pointless to comment on specifics otherwise...!
To be honest, I am aware of many of the specifics, and while I won't be divulging them, I have to say I think this service will be quite valuable for both Apple as well as the small businesses they service. They already have a great business team (at least in my area), and this will allow them to service business needs that much more thoroughly and directly.
No company is perfect, and no service is perfect either, but this will be great for a small business.
Queue priority over consumers is awesome (kind of sucks for us, but businesses don't have time for downtime!), and man, getting a loaner after 24 hours??? Will Best Buy or Futureshop do that for you? $499 is a lot for a consumer, but for a business, it's not bad at all...! And those are just 2 of the features of this service.
Wow, so many people are commenting on this based on speculation...! Why don't you wait until all of the official details are publicly revealed? Kind of pointless to comment on specifics otherwise...!
To be honest, I am aware of many of the specifics, and while I won't be divulging them, I have to say I think this service will be quite valuable for both Apple as well as the small businesses they service. They already have a great business team (at least in my area), and this will allow them to service business needs that much more thoroughly and directly.
No company is perfect, and no service is perfect either, but this will be great for a small business.
Queue priority over consumers is awesome (kind of sucks for us, but businesses don't have time for downtime!), and man, getting a loaner after 24 hours??? Will Best Buy or Futureshop do that for you? $499 is a lot for a consumer, but for a business, it's not bad at all...! And those are just 2 of the features of this service.
Four: The call center will dispatch a 16 year-old employee from the nearest Apple Store. (After he's done stocking the shelves with iPods).
I believe you maybe right on that regards, there's no telling what the office will look like 10-20 years from now. I fully expect things to become more portable as we own several iPhones here.
However we're repeating history again. We have Apple who is running a closed system with a tight ship next to Android who is turning into the "IBM compatible" of decades past. We're not even sure if Netflix or Pandora will be available on iOS starting this summer based of draconian wallet-squeezing rules set forth by Apple. Those sorts of things scare businesses.
I don't see this as a bad thing...
1. Companies, especially smaller one, outsource or lease their equipment anyway. Companies like Systel, etc locally here service lots of desktops, laptops, copiers for small-mid corporations. Why not Apple? Also some of the companies around here now service macs (some advertise they are authorized repair, others do not) Sounds good to me with apple getting in the game.
2. As someone who has been doing desktop support, and worked in a truly locked down I/T where I had to wait on ops to fix my computer A loaner is a benefit. you know what it is like to be without your computer and your boss looking at you like "we are paying you to sit here and be non-productive?" some companies just don't have the overhead to keep spares in stock. Plus we went through such a bad period one time with Dell's breaking; we ran out of PC's. At one company, I even brought in my own Toshiba laptop and used that while waiting the weeks for them to get me a new PC. They weren't happy about it, but agreed it was better for me to be productive. I think the loaner is a great idea - keeps the employee productive. In a corporation your documents (especially where security is concern) should be on a server getting backed up - than on a local computer.
3. More apples in the corporation the better. Other than MS SQL server, Exchange, and MS Onenote (yeah I can't give that one up) - there is really no need for a PC (unless your business runs special applications; most sales, admin, receptionists, etc just pretty much run office). You can pretty much find software to do everything else on a mac - and most of the time better / cheaper. PLus with MacOffice, Apple Mail, and other software - you can connect a mac to Exchange, SQL Server natively using mac or Linux software. I have a couple of open source linux applications running on my mac (some through X11, some not).
1. Companies, especially smaller one, outsource or lease their equipment anyway. Companies like Systel, etc locally here service lots of desktops, laptops, copiers for small-mid corporations. Why not Apple? Also some of the companies around here now service macs (some advertise they are authorized repair, others do not) Sounds good to me with apple getting in the game.
2. As someone who has been doing desktop support, and worked in a truly locked down I/T where I had to wait on ops to fix my computer A loaner is a benefit. you know what it is like to be without your computer and your boss looking at you like "we are paying you to sit here and be non-productive?" some companies just don't have the overhead to keep spares in stock. Plus we went through such a bad period one time with Dell's breaking; we ran out of PC's. At one company, I even brought in my own Toshiba laptop and used that while waiting the weeks for them to get me a new PC. They weren't happy about it, but agreed it was better for me to be productive. I think the loaner is a great idea - keeps the employee productive. In a corporation your documents (especially where security is concern) should be on a server getting backed up - than on a local computer.
3. More apples in the corporation the better. Other than MS SQL server, Exchange, and MS Onenote (yeah I can't give that one up) - there is really no need for a PC (unless your business runs special applications; most sales, admin, receptionists, etc just pretty much run office). You can pretty much find software to do everything else on a mac - and most of the time better / cheaper. PLus with MacOffice, Apple Mail, and other software - you can connect a mac to Exchange, SQL Server natively using mac or Linux software. I have a couple of open source linux applications running on my mac (some through X11, some not).
Ah but think about this... In my area, many of the large office buildings are sitting vacant with for sale / lease / rent -with option to sublet. What we have is smaller store-front offices just for a local presence. We are seeing a trend where the large I/T dept / corporate office is trickling away, and companies are moving to smaller buildings and remote employees, or just hiring contractors and outsourcing all together. Gone also are the days of companies paying for relocation in masse. They will either have you work from home, or if enough people in an area warrant, open a store front to sit 5-10 people. Relocation is really only becoming for mission-critical like hospitals. But with so many I/T people out of work - we are flooded with good talent just waiting to be hired locally.
As for the dock. While Apple does not provide a true dock as we think. Just imagine if this was connected through thunderbolt and had a built-in thunderbolt hub (daisy chaining would be solved internally).
I DON'T SEE WHERE THIS WOULD BE A SNAKE MONSTER! Seriously, with a USB hub and a thunderbolt hub built in, this would actually reduce the number of cables on my desk. would be nice for a thunderbolt octopus, like the power / USB / magsafe that comes out of this display. One thick cable instead of many.
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Just a thought, but perhaps this new 'Joint Venture' service is to gear up for more increased activity once the iPad 2 launches tomorrow. Maybe some of the changes are more relevant to enterprise/business customers that have stayed away from the iPad in the past due to security issues.
Except for the fact that knowing Apple, they will have zero real life business support. They won't even help those of us that have been supporting Macs in businesses for the last 10 years out on there own outdated AD Bind and SMB integrations.
Got the pitch yesterday
...and like I told the Salesguy, as long as I'm using this 25k accounting package, you can bet I'm not gonna switch my business to Macs. Not to mention the other thousands of dollars worth of software I've purchased and use daily. Mine is a small business, the cost of entry with a server and 5 work stations is far more than I'm ready to pony up for...to pay $500 a year for this service.
...and like I told the Salesguy, as long as I'm using this 25k accounting package, you can bet I'm not gonna switch my business to Macs. Not to mention the other thousands of dollars worth of software I've purchased and use daily. Mine is a small business, the cost of entry with a server and 5 work stations is far more than I'm ready to pony up for...to pay $500 a year for this service.
Your partially right.
Thankfully Microsoft has a Remote Desktop solution
Seriously we have been doing a lot of work for companies just as you describe, especially in the medical industry where managing data is important. With Remote Desktop and Remote App, plus a little SharePoint we are able to secure data and serve apps to the end user regardless of the machine they are on which is a boon to those who contract and do not want hardware costs.
Apple's remote desktop solution, and there is no remote app solution, and I doubt there will be with the cancellation of XServe's will not complete at all in that arena.
Money drives IT.
Novell was king of the hill, even though at the time Microsoft's product was woefully inadequate in comparison. Novell however went cheap and all those CNE's making 100K a year suddenly found Novell trying to undercut them with 60K a year CNA program. AD people were making good money and products pushed towards Microsoft even though the product was inferior.
IT Consultants drive the market. I've put SharePoint based solutions in 10 companies in the past 12 months. Microsoft would not have done that, they rely on their partners to do it.
Remote Desktop/App/SharePoint are all highly profitable, but they are also incredibly valuable to a business looking to solve specific problems.
Tell me, why would I want to push an Apple product where I sell the support solution to someone else, make squat on the hardware, and have no development line?
Or would I work on the product line that gives around a 52 percent profit margin, creates value for the customer, and gives me a reliable stream of revenue as we continue to develop the system?
The hardware/software argument is useless. Windows 7 is rock solid, their server product is beyond rock solid. Hardware, at least what we sell, is solid, and the service contracts make up for any deficiency.
When Apple changes their product line around to make VAR's money then people will push their products.
I do push the iPad and iPhone, a lot. Why? Because when we do app dev I can throw on another chunk of money to optimize them for the device. I also think they are high value devices that solve a lot of business problems for a reasonable price.
The problem is Apple's other products do not. They may in a few verticals, and Apple already owns those markets, I'd never tell a customer to move from them if it works for them.
When Apple takes the partner approach and makes it profitable for VARs/Consultants to make money with their products then their influence will grow.
I've quoted against Apple support companies before and absolutely crush them in the value segment.
Usually their champion in the company can't come up with much more than "It's cool" or something similarly useless.
There is no money in supplying hardware. What you make 3-5 percent on each unit? The money is in the consulting and value end of it. I sell them the server, the hardware, and the setup. It's not bad money but when I throw on top a custom SharePoint solution at 100-120 hours at $150 an hour, that is where the money is. IF we do our job right it is a continuing revenue stream.
Apple has no product like that and what supplier is going to be happy with 5 percent plus labor?
Since I know nothing about your business I feel qualified to comment on it.
I really doubt Apple's jointVenture will compete with you. From the description it's designed for a company that wants to ensure it gets quick support and loaner machines to stay up; Apple essentially is letting them trade a little money to save time and get back to working and generating revenue. They need basic support - My HD drive is acting up, my Mac won't turn on, how do I change this preference?, etc. Those customers are probably not going to need the kind of hand holding you offer; nor want to pay an additional $2.5+K (minimum) for it.
OTOH, it could help your business - as customers grow and learn what support they need that jointVenture doesn't provide you have the opportunity to sell your services. I'd follow every sale you lose to jointVenture - just to stay in touch and let them know you are there when they decide they need more sophisticated IT services. I'd make friends with the Apple Geniuses who support jV customers - let them know you are there, make them aware of your services so they can let customers know about you when they find they need more than Apple offers.
You can't, and shouldn't try to compete with Apple at this end of the market. The money's too small for what it'd cost you to deliver decent service. Instead, view it as Apple's way of prepping small businesses to getting used to paying for IT support and helping them learn what they really need. You're challenge is how to identify and reach out to Apple's jV customers to build a pipeline of potential future customers.