Customer backlash against Apple is definitely something to watch. Some of this is due to a simple case of no longer being the underdog that everybody can root for and some is a direct result of their recent decisions. Not much you can do about the former, but Apple is going to have to be careful about the latter. They earn a significant premium for many of their products and at least a portion of that is due to the strength of their brand.
A case by case overview of recent decisions by Apple is at the link.
ilounge.com
Customers Ask: Is Apple Going Rotten?
By Jeremy Horwitz
Editor-in-Chief, iLounge
Published: Thursday, September 20, 2007
Last Update: Thursday, September 20, 2007
Karma. Doing the "right thing." Thinking different. Apple's enlightened approach to building customer loyalty is now famous, generating big headlines every time CEO Steve Jobs takes on Hollywood or the music industry. Attempts to raise iTunes prices? "Greedy." A fight with NBC over revenues? "Give peace a chance." That's Apple, your socially-conscious corporate friend, who does right by you while standing up to big bullies -- sort of like a character from a Pixar movie.
But over the past two weeks, Apple's fans have been grumbling that the company they knew and loved is transforming into another Microsoft, making short-sighted, anti-consumer decisions and carelessly releasing products with user experience-diminishing problems. In response, an increasingly angry erosion of Apple's brand loyalty is beginning, with complaints mounting all over the Internet, including on the company's own discussion forums. This time, it's not just a cadre of Microsoft fans trying to anonymously stir up trouble for the Cupertino-based company, but rather legitimately upset Apple customers who are threatening boycotts of current and future iPod, iTunes, and Mac offerings.
Put aside Apple's $200 iPhone price drop, which generated a lot of anger but was quickly resolved by the company, and bugs in both new iPod and iTunes software, which the company is certainly working to repair. Instead, consider just four of the issues that are still largely unresolved by Apple, and the extreme anger and disappointment that its customers have been expressing as a result. |
