Most folks who know me think that I've got serious 'geek' potential. That is because I use Apple Macintosh computers quite intensively. I bought my first Mac (Mac SE) in 1988 - and I still have it and it still works. However, until recently I have to say that I really did not like the company Apple. I've found that time and time again, the famous care and attention to the paying customers has been totally absent in my dealings with the company. Maybe it is because my first dealings with the Apple company was with an Apple dealer based in Scotland and somehow the Menlo Park mind set didn't travel across the Atlantic Ocean. Or maybe it was because I was a penniless postgraduate.
I've always found that Apple, the computer company, seemed to treat me the paying customer, with the respect that I deserved because of the size of my wallet. A case in point (and Apple are not unique like this). I recently bought a new portable Mac. I registered the machine (heaven knows why I do this because I've yet to see any discernible benefit) and I even have a .mac account (now a .me account). Every time this has happened, I've got a flood of emails that basically tell me to buy more equipment! I've just spent an arm, leg and liver buying a machine and they want me to buy another?
Their saving grace is that they actually make damn fine products that really do work (did I mention my first Mac still works?).
I recently though had the pleasure of visiting a genuine Apple store, the one in Sydney, Oz. In particular the Genius Bar was a fantastic experience. The 'genius' was absolutely on the ball, clearly was passionate about the Apple products, but came across as genuinely trying to find a solution without giving some moronic company line. In other words I felt like I was connecting to a human.
Do I love my Apple Mac? Absolutely! Do I love Apple? Love I find is a mutual emotion, if Apple the company tried to show that they love me other than making a great product, I might be a fanatic. For now, due to a certain 'Genius' at the Genius bar in an Apple Store, I'm cautiously optimistic that Apple may actually care about me other than as a source of (meagre) income.