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ascylto

Listed below are comments made by ascylto between Tuesday, 6th January 2009 and Thursday, 5th November 2009.

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Orange's 'unlimited' iPhone 2:53pm on 05 Nov 2009 I currently have a G3 iPhone with O2. I get a good deal on home broadband from them because I have a mobile account. I have used O2's Customer Services about three times and I must say they are, to me, a paragon. They are what all Customers Services should be like ... fast responses and knowledgeable. They are UK based (Scotland, I think) so I don't have to struggle to understand.

I have had an Orange contract before and their Customer Services went rapidly downhill. My opinion is based on some time ago so I don't want to be unfair to Orange but the lasting impression they gave me was very poor indeed.

O2 have got it wrong with their contracts ... mine (18 months) runs out in January and I won't get the new iPhone until I see what Apple offer in the summer. By then Vodafone may have had some influence on prices or contracts but, for me, O2 is still the best bet.
The Iraq War inquiry. 5:39pm on 15 Jun 2009 Result of Inquiry

1 Lessons will be learned
2 No one can be blamed
3 Security prevents detailed report

Cost £8.5 million

Kerr-ching!
Apple - angering the fans? 1:45pm on 09 Jun 2009 As a customer I like o2. Their customer service is excellent so far and I get what I would consider a fair deal ... my iPhone costs £35 a month for 600 minutes and 500 texts and unlimited(ish) internet; I also get broadband at home for £7 from o2. I upgraded from version 1 of the iPhone to the 2nd generation last time around and signed up for another 18 months with o2.

This time, however, they are going too far. o2's calculator seems faulty because they want £185 for a phone which costs US$199. My calculator says £125 is nearer the mark. Even adding a US sales tax doesn't alter the figure significantly and as all the phones are imported from China or wherever that shouldn't make a difference.

Apple ... this isn't your fault and I'll be very pleased to download the free-of-charge 3.0 software but o2 are doing you a big disservice in the UK. In rip-off Britain I expect to pay a little more but Apple themselves moved to make their prices more UK/US compatible so why should we now be ripped-off by o2? Perhaps we should ask the Spaniards who, as Telefonica, own o2!
Customer service - have your say 2:02pm on 28 Apr 2009 My best and worst customer service experiences:

WORST: This was with BT. They overcharged me hundreds of pounds and I was consistently put through to an Indian-based call centre where I had great difficulty in understanding accents. It took weeks and a good deal of persistence to get the problem sorted. I was so annoyed I promised never to use BT for telephony and, so far (a year later), I have made only 0800 calls using BT.

BEST: Words can't really describe the excellent customer service I have had at my local Apple Store. I once took a (non-Apple) drive back to find out when the warranty expired as I wasn't sure whether I'd had it more than 12 months. Staff couldn't find my purchase on their system but immediately replaced the defective drive with a new (and better) one. It seems the staff are well trained and they're certainly very knowledgeable ... I hope the ideas and their ways of working catch on.

and

Costco ... another US company. They have exchanged/refunded items for me even after warranty expiry and they don't ask why - just whether or not the product works.
Monday's Glass Box. 6:16pm on 30 Mar 2009 The Prime Minister said the Jacqui Smith/Porn Movies matter is personal for The Home Secretary.

NO IT IS NOT.

It concerns public money so it's OUR taxes. It's a public matter.

This shows just how far politicians have fled from public matters. They are now taking the Michael.
Does Dell covet Apple's design status? 4:35pm on 18 Mar 2009 I am an Apple user and have been for many years and so Apple are part of my comfort-zone.

I congratulate Dell on producing what is a rather good-looking laptop. It's a shame they gone for some adolescent type scribbling on the body which would, IMO, have looked better in plain metal. It's good to see manufacturers other than Apple realising that good industrial design is not only good eye-candy but actually makes their products more desirable. Sony did a fairly good job externally with their Vaios.

Nonetheless, the MacBook Air is faster, cheaper and, in most areas, better specced than the Dell. However, the Air is a niche product and not part of the Apple mainstream laptop range so I'm not sure the Adamo is going to sell enough at that price.

Design apart, the biggest problem is the operating system ... hiding the Windows Vista stickers won't make Vista go away and, rightly or wrongly, Vista has not been a good thing for Microsoft or computer manufacturers.

I'm lucky enough to have an Apple Store within a mile of work. I can confidently go in there and get free advice from knowledgeable staff, play with their machines at will and even attend free seminars. As a marketing strategy Apple have got it right for a lot of people who want to use a computer but don't want the hassle that often goes with it. Although Apple is still perceived as being expensive, a quick comparison on specs and quality soon reveals there's not much difference.

I do believe Apple is more creative and innovative in many areas but can sometimes frighten the horses (as when they got rid of the 'floppy').

In the end, though, it does come back to what you're used to. I have Macs at work to do a publishing job and they work very well indeed. So I have Macs at home, too.
Is Apple recession proof? 2:24pm on 22 Jan 2009 D4lien ... You repeat the same old urban myth that Mac OS viruses have increased last year ... it is simply untrue. The only viruses have been notional, proofs of concept. In the real world there has been NOT ONE successful virus attack on Mac OSX. This is not because Windows has the major market share but because Windows is so much easier to attack. Do you really think that some serious money has not gone into trying to blow some holes in Mac software? If I were Microsoft I would ensure some black ops money went to just that! Market share is irrelevant, it's the quality of the product that is important. Would you accept being more at risk of an accident if you drove a Ford rather than a Mercedes? No! But we all know which is the safer and more expensive car.

You nailed the Vista problem yourself ... "the damage was done with early adopters reporting faults that took too much time to be fixed". Precisely ... Microsoft, the biggest, richest computer corporation couldn't fix its main project in time, let alone releasing it with so many problems.

I don't have a problem with Windows. For the vast majority who use it as a workstation don't even know it's Windows. Most Windows users feel more comfortable with Windows and won't move to Mac. Just like me, I prefer Mac because I'm used to it.

The fact is that Apple have a particular niche in the computer market and are considered 'high-end, expensive'. They want to stay there but you'll never take away the inherent quality of their products and much of that is because they design both software and hardware to work together. They don't always get it right but the do more often than their competitors.

"To create a new standard, it takes something that's not just a little bit different, it takes something that's really new and really captures peoples' imagination and the Macintosh, of all the machines I've ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard." ... Bill Gates.
Is Apple recession proof? 12:28pm on 22 Jan 2009 It's doubtful the 'iMachine' will come to a halt. Apple has a number of new and 'refreshed' products in the pipeline. Microsoft is still losing marketshare to Apple as Vista was a flop and Windows 7 is yet to appear but is already fighting virus attacks.

iPod and iPhone sales can be bolstered by incorporating technologies like Bluetooth and Apple have a two-years start on their competitors in the touch-screen phone market. Some big names seem yet to understand that many users want a simple and elegant interface for their phones. The iPhone may not be the most competent phone nor have the greatest feature set but, oh boy, it's easy and elegant.

Apple will continue to benefit from perceived invulnerabilty to viruses which many computer users are finding an increasing burden. Prices, however, will remain seemingly high because most people don't look at the features but at the price point.

Apple need to quickly update their desktop range and the company's green credentials (thanks to a generous 'booting' from Greenpeace) are growing.

The other thing which has served Apple well is their retailing at Apple Stores. The marketing model is superb ... hands on everything / play and listen / high-speed internet / very knowledgeable staff who are infectiously keen on their products and are not on commission / genius bars / free workshops ... it works very well and UK competitors could learn a lot from Apple in this area.
Yahoo's action heroine 5:24pm on 15 Jan 2009 Dontcha think she looks a little like Esther Rancid?

The teeth are a bit shorter, perhaps.
Steve Jobs goes public 3:52pm on 06 Jan 2009 neiltc13 ... you should take a longer view. That the BBC comments and speculates on the rumours surrounding MacWorld is nothing new. It does the same when there is a new arrival due from Microsoft. If there is a perceived Apple bias ... could it be because they are generally the front-runners in design-tech, especially with the iPod (which, like it or not, revolutionised music storage) and the iPhone (which, like it or not, revolutionised the ways we use mobiles. Hence the 'me too' from the big phone manufacturers). Even in the personal computers area, Macs were the first to enable colour handling. So fair dos to Apple. The BBC is reporting on innovation.

Like it or not, rumour and speculation are part of the entertainment that is 'the media'. What you seem to be asking for is a rather dull alternative which won't sell newspapers or web space. Visiting the BBB News because "I can trust the content ..." is rather naive. Look back in history ... you can't believe anything the media reports on ... even the BBC!

Returning to the Steve Jobs issue. I wish him good health. Even egocentric and secretive folk deserve that!

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