Ha ha. I love that (official) line
If only carting round a bag o' dongles for a common port was easy, eh?
Steve the Visionary ....
Tim the Enchanter
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Tim Cook Says He Expects AirPods to Ship Over 'Next Few Weeks' in Email to Customer
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Ha ha. I love that (official) line
If only carting round a bag o' dongles for a common port was easy, eh?
Steve the Visionary ....
Tim the Enchanter
While I agree the poster should have used a different tone and asked more politely, I didn't find the phrasing that harsh. but your question is unfortunately revealing of a serious contemporary problem. When we find ourselves asking "why would you expect people to be nice"? things have sunk pretty low. It's an outgrowth of the anonymity problem. No doubt if the poster was speaking directly with Tim Cook, he would have used a much better tone.
This isn't a business email with your boss. This is an email from a frustrated customer that has been let down by a company that they have probably committed $1000s of dollars to over the years. Assuming the email is legit I am glad that Tim apologized. All is forgiven for leading us on for nearly three months, now just deliver the product. Apparently Apple's leadership isn't very demanding, otherwise we'd have products on schedule. This type of feedback is what makes market forces work!
I just wish I could pre-order these RIGHT NOW. I want them yesterday.
But he was not. It was a note about a problem, and 30 seconds in Tim Cook's time are worth more than I make in five years - and also probably more than the poster makes in five years. You can't and shouldn't insert politeness that wastes their time. At most a Hi Tim at the beginning, and Thanks for reading this at the end, but that's it. No person who's working 15 hours a day going from meeting to meeting and has to deal with a lot of crap as Tim certainly does can waste 30 seconds/email just to read polite words (especially since Tim Cooks probably has to read 1000 emails a day, and his staff probably ten times as much). They need the most basic info, that's it. Problem --> Reason --> End. That's it.
Are there any available that are truly wireless? That's what I want. No wires at all.
Hmm.. customer bought into his "vision" and now feels trolled.. lol, "demands" a date, Tim fails to come up with a pipeline sentence.
Seems legit.
Seems legit.
Apple at one time prided itself on "under promise-over deliver" this created a psychological effect in the consumers mind that correlate to high customer satisfaction. Basically allowing the company to set realistic expectations and then push themselves on delivery really making the customer think they are special or lucky. Look at former iPhone releases, or even recent ones when Apple iPhone upgrade program enrollee's felt slightled when they weren't first in line for the iPhone 7, and Apple working with them to get them the new device as soon as possible. This is also something that Apple customers have come to expect based on the precedent established under Steve Jobs. During the October event there was a great deal of time devoted to the AirPods (they even made an Ad-) when they stated late October "they" set the expectation. To my best recollection there was no official press release only anecdotal comments that they were delayed to "get right" with a "coming soon" tag on the product webpage. This customer had every right to express his frustration, and give the stagnation and abandonment of much of their product lines I imagine this is one of the more positive customer emails he has been receiving lately. You can't give a pass on a company with currently vaporware promises (when they're on the shelves I redact the vaporware slur, until then I think it stands).
Others have posted, I imagine sharing the customers feeling and frustration of "should I wait or just go somewhere else?" It is this exact sentiment plaguing much of the negativity through many of the Mac threads. Historically Apple released new/updated macs regularly more or less with a year-year and a half cycle. When Apple entered the mobile phone and later the tablet sphere customers (granted dictated by established marketing and market practices) became accustomed to yearly (or damn near close) iPhone updates and somewhat reliable iPad updates (there have been models that have skipped a year, but generally the iPad product lines have seen at least one of the primary lines see noticible updates).
By Apple becoming what it is today-they have set a precedent with their customer base, and when they take it for granted, there will be push back, in the form of a disgruntled customer email, or just the shear loss of customer blocks as they move to other platforms and devices that meet their current needs. They've set the expectation for themselves, not the customers building up this magical king Midas of a company in their minds.
For their asking price, Id rather get myself a really decent pair of good sounding (and admittedly bigger) BT headphones from a reputable company... AND invite my kids and wife out for icecream...
... I HOPE that would also decrease the likelyhood of my wife complaining about me selfishly spending too much money on myself!
... I HOPE that would also decrease the likelyhood of my wife complaining about me selfishly spending too much money on myself!
Instead of cherry picking, how about thinking of all the launches under Steve and all the launches under Tim and how many things were announced and released quickly thereafter by each. And, for that matter, how many great things were created and how many were axed under each.
Maybe it's just nostalgia but I feel the company is just losing it every which way (with the exception of profits) and delivering on announcements is another such slip.
This is not like the dongles for the Mac. You would simply plug the adapter to your "legacy" earbud, and leave it like that. I don't have the iPhone 7, but I don't see this being an issue at all. If Apple did not include an adapter, then yeah, maybe that warrants a complaint.Ha ha. I love that (official) line
If only carting round a bag o' dongles for a common port was easy, eh?
Steve the Visionary ....
Tim the Enchanter
Do you even realize that out of the thousands of emails Cook receives every day he chose this one to reply to for a specific reason? Apparently Cook didn't think it was rude because he responded, knowing it'd be published and seen by millions of people. Maybe he recognized that by answering this specific email he could show himself to have acknowledged the frustrations of customers? Get off your high horse.
You're wrong. It was a direct email. I personally believe that's why Cook responded. Request. Problem. Remedy. That's all Cook needs. His reply was equally direct. As it should have been. It's business. This wasn't an email between life long friends or a couple in a relationship. It was a vendor/customer correspondence. It was a simple "I have a problem with something you did/didn't do. What are you going to do about it because I can buy someone else's product."
I'm sure they get obsequious love letters to Apple all the time. That wasn't the time for one.
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I take it as "few"= 2-3 weeks.
Anymore than that starts getting into next few months
They may start shipping but you can be guaranteed a 4-5 week back order. It's what Apple does with everything these days. I don't know why Apple thinks this is all acceptable. Oh that's right, "look at our revenue!".
Mass tends to increase in velocity when going down a slippery slope.
Mass tends to increase in velocity when going down a slippery slope.
Spot on! Doesn't the idiot know or perhaps Apple has no project management capability whatsoever?
Great picture - he looks like someone's Granny who's forgotten to put the false teeth in.......quite appropriate given his (lack) of leadership ability.Surprised he didn't just say "I've been using them since before iPhone 7 launch, to my recollection not once have they fallen out of my ears, they're the BEST earbuds we've EVER created -- thanks for asking" and leave it at that,
Exactly. That's how people communicate in a business relationship. Even with the POTUS. See below. No greetings, no hi, no bye, nothing. Just the facts and a minimum of opinion. (source: https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/releases/sep16/diem.pdf)
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
FROM: Henry A. Kissinger
SUBJECT: Conversation with South Vietnamese Ambassador Diem, .January 24, 1969
I saw the Vietnamese Ambassador for a few minutes this evening and made the following points to him:
-- The Nixon Administration believes it essential that the Government of South Vietnam (GVN) and the U. S. Government work closely together ln the months to come.
-- We have the impression that some of the difficulty between us over the past few months resulted from unnecessary arguments over language.
-- We intend to be tough with the North Vietnamese on the issues, but will try to get maneuvering room by using soft language.
-- South Vietnamese attitudes over recent months, we believe, were partly a result of distrust of the U.S. Perhaps the GVN was reluctant to concede anything because of uncertainties over what we might next ask.
-- This Administration will deal honestly and frankly with the GVN. We will listen carefully and sympathetically to the GVN, although we may not always be able to do what is asked of us. Bui
Diem admitted that relations had deteriorated over the past months, and said that he personally believed unnecessary things had been said by both sides.
I told the Ambassador that he should feel free to call on me any time he wished. I emphasized that I would like him to tell me what the real Vietnamese concerns were, rather than to go over arguments largely put out for public consumption.
I find it funny that people claiming that it's necessary to talk to people "way above your pay grade" in this direct manner, they neglect to mention that half of Cook's response is superfluous text.
Most of that is completely unnecessary. So much for being succinct, right?
There is a polite way to quickly and directly address these concerns, and he didn't use it.
Most of that is completely unnecessary. So much for being succinct, right?
There is a polite way to quickly and directly address these concerns, and he didn't use it.
seriously - what a whiney brat. He's on this forum. SHow yourself!!! Stand up for yourself!
These air pods are so ugly.
Ethered on the first comment. Apple's become such a joke these days.
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LOL, outdated.
Mike, with all of the negativity on Macrumors your holiday humor that "Apple has become such a joke" is much appreciated. "Such a joke" that despite the trollers' predictions that the "anti-consumer" "boring"iPhone 7 would be a sales disaster for Apple and flop, the iPhone 7 is being sold as fast as Apple can produce them and is now predicted to be bought by close to a quarter of a billion consumers world wide in its first twelve months. The other "joke" of a product, the Macbook Pros are also being sold as fast as Apple can make them and have already set sales records.
The one thing that is not funny, however, is that Apple is struggling to find places to store all of those profits as Marc Gurman has a source that is reporting the banks are complaining that their vaults are soon going to be out of room to store all of the cash that Apple keeps making.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Apple to you and all
