That is highly debatable! It has been demonstrated again and again that hands on enhances training. This is why people taking science class have labs and why machinist spend time with machines in their training. Frankly would you let a plumber into your house if his only training was in the class room? Im fairly certain that the vast majority learn best with hands on education.
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Apple Retail Ends Genius Training in Cupertino, Moves to In-Store Web Seminars
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I've never had a support experience at an Apple Retail store where I felt I had to write home about it.
With exception of the one time I had to bring my early2008 15" MBP in to get looked at, I've had to go in a second/third time and sometimes had to almost argue with them to get them to admit to there being anything wrong with the device I had at the time (iPhones and iPads.)
Sometimes, I've even ended up fixing the issue myself, after getting absolutely no help from Apple.
Conversely, the one time I've had to get hardware support for a work laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad W540), they (IBM employee) came out to my house the same day, replaced the logic board on the deck (was a nice day,) with me sitting there watching/chatting with them the whole time. Took about two and a half hours to troubleshoot, diagnose, swap boards, and test.
Gotta get the on-site support option for that, though, but it's not much more than the return-to-depot cost.
With exception of the one time I had to bring my early2008 15" MBP in to get looked at, I've had to go in a second/third time and sometimes had to almost argue with them to get them to admit to there being anything wrong with the device I had at the time (iPhones and iPads.)
Sometimes, I've even ended up fixing the issue myself, after getting absolutely no help from Apple.
Conversely, the one time I've had to get hardware support for a work laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad W540), they (IBM employee) came out to my house the same day, replaced the logic board on the deck (was a nice day,) with me sitting there watching/chatting with them the whole time. Took about two and a half hours to troubleshoot, diagnose, swap boards, and test.
Gotta get the on-site support option for that, though, but it's not much more than the return-to-depot cost.
this is what happens then you let bean counters run any tech company
Judging from your comment history, my sense is that you agree with this as a cost-cutting measure and couldn't care less about its environmental impact.
Conservatives and business majors have developed a well earned reputation for short sighted thinking.
At some point, it's just another piece of generic, disposable technostuff. Thumbs down on this idea.
Apple is just an ordinary company now. Being cheap and not motivating employees.
Actually there are a lot of different types of learners. It's a theory in education called Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. There's several others; Mathematical, Spatial, Color, and Intra/Extrapersonal. But for this, those 4 above - the Kinesthetic, Audial, Visual and Linguistic are the primary.
A more effective green initiative might be to stop the trend towards designing products to be non-repairable.
1. Anecdotes are not data. The theory grew out of teaching via television to remote sites back in the '50's. The test instruments were flawed, and it became accepted wisdom.
2. There is not a single peer reviewed paper that backs the theory. Yes, I know the theory has been around since the '50's. 3 Generations of teachers have been taught it. The problem is that in the 90s's when they whole school reform nonsense started, people went back to see what learning theories are supported by data (Why aren't our children passing these tests - now we know why). This isn't one of them. None of us are happy about this, because it meant we had to start all over in both instruction and in test instrument development.
There is a LOT of resistance to dropping this, but again, the data doesn't support it. The problem is that using a learning methodology that the student is comfortable with means that the brain takes shortcuts and the learning isn't retained. Long-term memory retention is the key - and that wasn't evaluated in the studies mentioned above.
The best way for a student to learn is to use a methodology that the student is not actually comfortable with. The brain can't take shortcuts and the student is forced to pay attention.
3. I have attended way too many seminars where this argument breaks out. To quote 1 instructor:
You think your pissed about this? I wasted 3 years of my life trying to prove it.
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Yes, Texas is still there.
With all the products and configurations I can't imagine they'd have all the parts in a store.
So, it will be just be: send to depot, swap out motherboard etc., instead of even looking at it.
Then they collect the bad parts sorted by issue and send it to China to analyze and repair.
Back to USA for refurbished or replenish motherboard stock.
All makes sense AND saves $$$.
BTW: Not that impressed with Genii. So far I always knew more than they do.
Same deal for my own repairs. You tube , ifixit and before that getting repair manuals from shady websites
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Only in the short term.
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it's telling that most of their retail staff these days are less knowledgeable about the product than their customers and typically don't even own Apple products themselves (in part because they can't afford them on an Apple retail salary.)
Maybe it can't be proven, but I certainly identified with what he posted, going by trial and error to see how I learn the best.
I think the "Genius" position will eventually evolve to the equivalent of "Fashion Consultant" to help customers choose Apple products to match their outfit.
In the early days of retail they gave tests (pretty good tests) to new hires...even the sales people. Now they don't. The new motto is "anyone can learn". So that is why they are all clueless. When I got exiled to retail AppleCare they had just stopped testing and then the gap people showed up filling roles. Retail managers began overseeing the AppleCare/Genius side of the operation and it was all doom and gloom. They wanted culture over knowledge....and boy do they have it.Yes, Texas is still there.
With all the products and configurations I can't imaging they'd have all the parts in a store.
So, it will be just be: send to depot, swap out motherboard etc., instead of even looking at it.
Then they collect the bad parts sorted by issue and send it to China to analyze and repair.
Back to USA for refurbished or replenish motherboard stock.
All makes sense AND saves $$$.
BTW: Not that impressed with Genii. So far I always knew more than they do.
Same deal for my own repairs. You tube , ifixit and before that getting repair manuals from shady websites
That's a shame, concerning the change. It really did sound like it was all of the following: useful, a morale booster, and instills employee loyalty. You'd think how Mac hardware is charged more for, it'd be enough to cover all of these services from the backend.
Also wanted to add.. I've worked on places where their policy was no photography allowed. OTOH, it's too cumbersome to search everyone entering those grounds for cameras, or even confiscate them. Given Apple's secretive nature, I'm surprised they allow photography on their campus grounds! Cool to know though!
Also wanted to add.. I've worked on places where their policy was no photography allowed. OTOH, it's too cumbersome to search everyone entering those grounds for cameras, or even confiscate them. Given Apple's secretive nature, I'm surprised they allow photography on their campus grounds! Cool to know though!
I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Apple's online training course entailed!
This doesn't really change the front-forward things that a genius at the bar does - the resets, the wipes, ect. It's not like they ever sat there and regularly installed RAM or anything like that. It just means that rather than have a technician in the back do it, they send it to a bulk depot where people who have additional training and permissions can do it faster and mail it back.
I have never seen replacing hands on training with video webinars be better. But Apple must be hurting for cash, right?
Nope, but they are hurting for growth, which is the only thing Wall Street degenerates care about.
Perhaps Apple's machines have failed so much that there is now a considerable applicant pool of people trained in non-Apple stores who know how to repair Apple devices. Or maybe new Apple machines are meant to be disposable and can only be replaced rather than repaired.
[Sorry - my kid's very expensive MacBook just died - can you detect the sour grapes?]
One of the reasons I pay such high prices for Apple's products is their customer service. If Apple decide to penny-pinch on staff training, and customer service suffers as a result, it'd be another sign to me to be on the lookout for a viable alternative to Apple's ecosystem.
EDIT: Hands up if you would trust a surgeon or automobile mechanic who received only online training.
[Sorry - my kid's very expensive MacBook just died - can you detect the sour grapes?]
One of the reasons I pay such high prices for Apple's products is their customer service. If Apple decide to penny-pinch on staff training, and customer service suffers as a result, it'd be another sign to me to be on the lookout for a viable alternative to Apple's ecosystem.
EDIT: Hands up if you would trust a surgeon or automobile mechanic who received only online training.
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Because then they couldn't deny service to customers without AppleCare.
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And the airline industry is so well known for the quality of its service and stellar customer satisfaction scores. /s
Weird move for a company that relies so heavily on employee engagement, while cost efficient and perhaps even environmentally conscious, this is deffinitely going to encourage the idea that retail employees are far from the HQ (as in not being part of the company) and of course its going to have an impact on customer service. People = Service = Profit. This is not an area in which Apple should be thinking about cost efficiency.
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I don't know who would have approved of this move, I certainly hope it wasn't Angela Ahrendts who did. Could you imagine if the people working on repairing your Burberry bag had never touched a piece of leather before or had sewn anything before in their life?