
A Hidden Genius at the Apple Store - glhaynes
http://duncandavidson.com/blog/2010/10/apple-store
======
zdw
Just an example of how Apple has changed the build of their equipment for ease
of maintenance:

I had someone give me an broken iBook G4 and ask "Can you see about getting
the data off the drive?". Here are takeapart instructions for it:

[http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-
iBook-G4-14-In...](http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-
iBook-G4-14-Inch-933-MHz-1-33-GHz-Hard-Drive-Replacement/189/1)

14 pages, _60_ screws.

Compare to a recent MacBook:

[http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-
Unibod...](http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Unibody-
Model-A1278-Hard-Drive-Replacement/816/1)

3 pages. 3 screws.

That's progress.

(in fairness, that's the model with the door on the bottom - the more recent
models have 14 screws to remove, but the disassembly isn't difficult compared
to the iBook: [http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-
Pro-13...](http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-
Unibody-Hard-Drive-Replacement/1337/1) )

~~~
jamesbritt
"3 pages. 3 screws. That's progress."

I wanted poke around inside my new Thinkpad X100e. Might be four screws I had
to twist, and they were designed to not fall out; they loosen up but stay in
the cover hole, so no more concerns over lost screws. Very nice touch.

~~~
sliverstorm
It may well be progress, but as this guy describes Thinkpads are
_unreasonably_ friendly to disassembly. They have little graphics on the
underside to show you what size screw goes in what hole on my X61, and the
hard drive comes out with _just one screw_

~~~
chrisbroadfoot
What's the point? How often do you disassemble your computer?

I'm pretty happy to go and look up some instructions (or, y'know, just undo
all the screws) rather than having ugly stickers all over my laptop.

~~~
sliverstorm
They aren't stickers, they are simple icons printed directly next to each
screw hole with a table under the battery. It's very slick. Not vital as you
say, but very nice. Especially if your manual is a pdf, the task is 20 pages
long, and your only computer is the laptop.

Thinkpads have a lot of nice little touches like that. Mine even has drain
holes for the keyboard in case of beverage. How often have i spilled? Never.
Do i appreciate their presence? Very much so.

I have to inquire as well, how many laptps you serviced? 'cause they are
usually a complete pain in the *#?!$.

~~~
chrisbroadfoot
For other people? None. For myself? Three.

They've all been as easy as piss to change RAM/HDD. Though I'm not sure if
this is what you mean by 'service'

------
metamemetics
Can't replace adequate product testing.

For example I think the biggest problem with the iPhone4 was not attenagate
but the material chosen for the camera lens.

After 3 weeks the phone camera is completely unusable due to blurriness from
the act of setting it down on a table due to the lens being made of a non
scratch resistant material and being flush with the casing that is.

~~~
gojomo
It's interesting that both this lens concern, and the antenna problems, may
have been under-appreciated by Apple because much of their practical-use
testing was with cases -- either in-house or for camouflage field-testing.
Then, the iPhone4 ultimately launched without a broad variety of available
cases, so most people used it without a case.

------
random42
I work for a small shop, so I know very little about how big players work, but
I was under the impression, that _every_ company takes data in account, while
making product decisions.

~~~
msbarnett
Most every company will take the data _they have on hand_ into account, but
some companies are much, much better at funnelling quality information back to
themselves than others.

A Compal laptop doesn't have the benefit of having a lot of data from previous
models incorporated into its design, because sales, support, and repair takes
place at 3 or 4 levels of indirection.

------
bsandbox
Another hidden benefit that they may or may not make use of - Apple can
directly observe their users interfacing with their products. With websites
and to a certain extent with software, usability data collection is a given.
But for consumer products like iPods, iPhones and Macs, it's a little harder
to come by. By having thousands of end users in dozens of stores around the
world playing with their gear, it seems like a great opportunity for Apple to
get direct feedback on user pain points.

~~~
ugh
It wouldn’t be an easy task to adequately collect that information. Their
retail employees are not sociologists or usability experts and letting them
collect usability data which might be quite subtle and usually cannot be had
with a simple standardized form seems like a daunting task.

There is also the danger that Apple ends up with massive amounts of
unstructured data, so much that no one can possibly make heads or tails of it.

~~~
sil3ntmac
Yes that seems a very possible result. Besides, I'm sure Apple already does
UX/UI testing of their products as much as possible.

------
AngeloAnolin
This is probably one reason why Apple is able to belt out products that
customers wants. They put a lot of thoughts to the concerns of real customers
who come to their store to report or have something fixed. They are relying on
these data/information to make their next product, stand out far better than
their last one.

I think they are living by the mantra - "it ain't cheap but it's worth it."

------
andylei
is this really that different from, say, Dell? I imagine their tech support
also has a database or two.

~~~
credo
I bought a Dell server 3 years ago, its power supply is now damaged (because
of a power outage and failure of the surge protector). It is unclear whether
there is more damage, but the first thing to do is to try using a new power
supply.

I called Dell to order a new power supply. They didn't have it in stock, but
promised to get back to me by the next Monday. They never got back to me. A
week after that Monday, I called them again and they directed me to a third-
party supplier. That supplier listed the price of the power supply at $259.99
(the power supply is not available in any local store in the Seattle area)

In fairness, Dell sells PCs at low prices, Apple sells their products at
premium prices and so it may not be fair to compare the two. However, in terms
of customer support, it is hard to see how you could be correct in suggesting
that Dell's customer database and awareness of customer concerns is anywhere
close to that of Apple.

~~~
ghshephard
Also, to be Fair - Dell is optimized for supporting the poweredge line with a
support contract, which it offers in 4 Hours turnaround time. Since 1999 I've
had roughly 600 Dell Servers under active support at three companies in the
Bay Area, and have probably called dell about 20-30 times. They've never
missed their support window of 4 hours (come close several times, but by the
240th minute, I've always had part and a body on site). Ironically, Apple
still doesn't make it easy to purchase that type of support for their product.
The typical answer is "Take it to the genius bar" - Apple is optimized for
consumers, Dell is optimized for corporations.

Also - None of the people who come on site, for parts or labor, are actual
"Dell Employees" - they are subcontractors that are typically certified on a
number of platforms - Dell is just one of them.

~~~
culturestate
AppleCare Premium provides similar 4-hour onsite for XServes, and in my
(admittedly singular instance) experience, they meet their commitment.

------
barg10
Lol. I've been in retail and market research for 15 years. Trust me. They
aren't that smart. And they don't look at as much data as they could. You
would assume so, because you think that as a consumer, who is as impressed
with the company for being Apple, that it must be doing something to make
themselves the Apple that they are, but retail companies look at a shockingly
basic amount of trends, and the rest they hire professionals to shuffle
numbers around with. It's alot of luck and guess work. Yes, this includes
Apple. it's just a company, that you like.

------
richcollins
They aren't learning fast enough. I've had every Apple product (~10?) that
I've ever owned replaced at least once due to hardware issues. Some 3 times.

------
guelo
This reminds me of Craigslist Craig's job in customer service. Absolutely no
better way to understand your customer's pain points. As an engineer I'm a fan
of spending time in customer support once in a while, especially as a company
grows and more layers are added between engineering and the customer.

------
baby
Well. What he's just saying is that Apple is getting a feedback and listenning
to it. So when I brought my 1 year mac and refused to pay 1000 euro to fix it.
I guess the next customer won't have the same issue. COOL.

------
tzury
this blog's design is a state of art. minimal yet effective and beauty.

------
scrame
[http://www.theonion.com/video/new-apple-friend-bar-gives-
cus...](http://www.theonion.com/video/new-apple-friend-bar-gives-customers-
someone-to-ta,17693/)

