Why Apple Service is Number One

I recently had a problem with my iPhone where the off button stopped working.  My iPhone was out of warranty and when I checked at the Apple store they said it would cost $275 to replace the phone.  Not a bad price for a $900 phone but when my wife also had the same issue I though I would write Apple.  I didn’t complain or bitch but just said it was unusual to have two phones break.

About a week later I received a call from Apple to inform me that Apple would replace our phones and it would be absolutely free. The representative called a few days later to make sure I was completely happy with the service.  Two new phones.  Yes I was happy.

I have never received this type of service from other companies when my product was in warranty so to receive this level of service when it’s not in warranty shows why Apple is always number 1 in customer service.

Other information I found on Apple Service:

From Consumer Reports:

Apple bested its own scores from last year’s survey and walloped other brand-name computer manufacturers.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/04/apple-is-tops-when-it-comes-to-computer-tech-support/index.htm

Get an Apple adapter for only $10

Apple posted this on their website:

Starting August 16, 2013, if you have concerns about any of your USB power adapters, you can drop them off at an Apple Retail Store or at an Apple Authorized Service Provider. We will ensure that these adapters are disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.

A great way to get an adapter for only $10

Read more on their website

http://www.apple.com/support/usbadapter-takeback/

Microsoft Surface sells less units in 8 months than iPad sells in 3 days

Microsoft Surface only sells 1.7 Million units since it’s launch eight months ago.  In comparison iPad sold 57 Million in same time frame and over 3 million iPads in the first three days.  Almost twice the total sales of the surface in just three days.

No wonder Apple had a smug look on their face every time a reporter said the Surface would replace the iPad.

In millions of units (total is for eight months)

In other words, Microsoft spent more to advertise Windows 8 and Surface than it made in Surface revenue.

You can read the full report at:

http://www.geekwire.com/2013/microsoft-surface-revenue-853-million/

and more information at:

http://www.macrumors.com/2013/07/31/microsoft-surface-estimated-to-have-sold-only-1-7-million-units-since-launch/

Apple #1 brand for computer, tablets and phones in Harris Poll

Apple was picked #1 brand for computer, tablets and phones in Harris Interactive Poll of  38,814 people and 1,511 brands.

Computer brands:

1 Apple Computers – 2013 Computer Brand of the Year
2 Hewlett-Packard (HP) Computers
3 Dell Computers

Tablet brands:

1 Apple iPad Series – 2013 Tablet Brand of the Year
2 Kindle Fire Series
3 Google Nexus Series

Mobile Phone brands:

1 Apple iPhone – 2013 Mobile Phone Brand of the Year
2 HTC Phone
3 Samsung Phone

More about the Harris Poll EquiTrend® survey and methodology:

Harris Poll EquiTrend® Methodology

A sample of 38,814 U.S. consumers ages 15 and over were surveyed online by Harris Interactive from January 11 through February 8, 2013 and the survey took an average of 35 minutes to complete. The sample was from the Harris Interactive online panel of respondents, a database consisting of over a million cooperative respondents who have double-opted in to be randomly invited by Harris Interactive to take part in online surveys. The total number of brands rated was 1,511. Each respondent was asked to rate a total of 40 randomly selected brands. Each brand received approximately 1,000 ratings. Data were weighted to be representative of the entire U.S. population of consumers ages 15 and over based on age by sex, education, race/ethnicity, region, income, and data from respondents ages 18 and over were also weighted for their propensity to be online. This is the same precision weighting approach Harris has used to become the leading online polling organization when calling elections.

Click here to read the full article at their website.

Android infections dominate mobile devices

Android devices have now beat out Window devices with the most infections.  Interesting that Apples iOS devices don’t even show up.  This confirms what I have been saying about the excellent security on iOS devices.

Trojan that steals usernames, passwords and credit card information and uploads the information to a remote command & control server

In mobile networks we found that 0.52% of devices were infected with high threat level malware. This is slightly up from the 0.50% we reported last quarter. The vast majority of infected devices are either Android phones or Windows laptops tethered to a phone on connected directly through a mobile USB stick or MIFI hub. The infection rate among Android devices is actually over 1.0%.

There has been a sharp increase in infections in the last quarter even tho Android has introduced new security features. Kindsight Security Labs reports that there are still major failures in the new security features.

Ransomware demanding money to unlock your computer

This is not a new threat or spam but is new to Mac but is very easy to remove or ignore (on a Mac).  I say ignore because it is just spam that makes it hard to exit because they launch 150 copies of the page.

NOTE: DO NOT PAY since this will not stop the threat.  It’s just SPAM.

To exit this on Safari simply click on the menu bar and click reset Safari but there is also a better solution below.

In System Preference’s you can set  “Close windows when quitting applications“.   Then you simply need to quit Safari and when you reopen it the ransom-ware site will be gone.

Apple Stores vs Microsoft Stores

While in London and Toronto I stopped into the new Microsoft stores to see how they compared with the Apple stores.

I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Microsoft “Popup Store” Eaton Centre Toronto

It’s a good thing they have three staff so they have someone to talk to. I took this picture July 17, 2013.  The Apple store was elbow to elbow.

Apple store Eaton Centre Toronto

The Microsoft stores are bare while the Apple stores are filled.

Apple Store Yorkdale Mall

Microsoft store Yorkdale Mall Toronto

We also visited the Eaton Centre with even funnier results.  Microsoft “popup store”  had three staff and one customer while the Apple store was packed full.  I like the fact that Apple has about 25  staff on hand too.

New trailer of “Jobs”, staring Ashton Kutcher

New trailer of “Jobs”, staring Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs and Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak due out on August 16th

Microsoft Surface failed, now dropping prices to dump stock

This is the beginning of the end for the Microsoft Surface.  First they dump stock to schools (at $199) and now discounting them $150 to get rid of stock. Just what I want to buy is something that is dumped and not know if I will ever get support or apps.

Microsoft Surface RT

This should go over great with people who fell for all the Microsoft hype and purchase a surface.  There are so many things wrong with this device it is hard to know where to begin. All they ever show off is that it has a keyboard (extra cost) iPad has many more keyboards to choose from and even solar powered keyboards.

I can still sell my old iPad 1 for almost what I paid for it but surface that is only a few months old is already worth $150 less then it did then.

The big problem is Microsoft and many of there followers don’t understand the concept of a tablet and are trying to reproduce the Toshiba Portege M200 tablet PC. This laptop tablet ran  Windows XP Tablet PC Edition that was released in 2002. This was a good product, not a great product but they did not improve it year over year like Apple does with its products including iPad.

While this was a interesting idea it’s not  competitor for an iPad. Microsoft lacks clear direction and confuses customers and they are not in it for the long hull.  They are trying to target the iPad and MacAir with the same device witch shows they still don’t understand the iPad as a device.

The iPad is not meant to replace your laptop but to compliment it. It’s great for people who only need to do a few things like:

• read mail
• browse the web
• book a hotel online
• create a comic book
• do your business invoices

Dutch to Open 11 iPad-Only Schools for entire education experience

Students learn everything on the iPad. No books, no paper no black board. When I read stories like this it make me realize how far behind we really are in the world.  Every lesson is tailored to each individual child.

If we had this when I was in school I would have paid attention.

This August, 11 so-called “Steve Jobs schools” will open in the Netherlands, serving 1,000 students primarily through educational apps on Apple’s iPad, replacing everything from books to blackboards.

A so-called ‘Steve Jobs school’ will use Apple’s iPad to focus on three core skills: arithmetic, reading, and text comprehension.

You can read more at Apple Insider at:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/07/02/dutch-steve-jobs-schools-to-use-apples-ipad-for-entire-education-experience