Understanding the Apple buying decision

We all live in our own world where our decisions seem perfectly rational.  It's when we venture outside our worlds that we can't understand why people don't see things as we do. 

Likely I'm not very far from the decision of buying another laptop computer.  Assuming hell doesn't freeze over a second time, and Steve decides to release OS X to the some of the generic PC manufacturers, I'll likely end up buying a MacBook.  That isn't a decision that I reached easily.

In fall 2004 I bought a Dell desktop and spent nearly six months coming up to speed on Windows XP and a number of varieties of Linux, including SUSE, Xandros, and Ubuntu.  I didn't try very hard to live on Windows, but I did make certain that my Dell whether running Linux or XP integrated into my home network which means it could save files to the file server and print to the printers.  I spent a lot of time on Linux and grew to be very impressed with it save it's inability to print high quality photos on my Epson 2200 and 4000 printers.

In late summer of 2005 I bought a Dell laptop.  Again I created a dual boot machine.  For the last six months I've had to use the Dell laptop almost on a daily basis mostly because of one application that will only work with Internet Explorer.

While all this has gone on, I have continued to use my trusty  1 Ghz Powerbook G4 and my Dual G5 desktop.  They have been my main machines.  I have found that the website work that I do, combined with my photography interest, makes the Mac a better platform or at least one that I'm more comfortable with due to my years and years on the Mac.

Like any other complex buying decision this one isn't perfect.  Apple isn't a great company to deal with despite some of the opinions I'm sure this will generate.  Having been on the inside for nearly twenty years, gives me plenty of insight into how customer problems are handled at Apple.  It's not pretty.

Then of course there is that bad lower memory slot in my PowerBook which was covered in the extended warranty for some Powerbooks but not all including mine. It has cost me money.

Having said that and having lived in the world of Windows and Linux, why am I going to put my computer satisfaction once again in the hands of Apple?

That's a really good question which I doubt that I can answer even to my own satisfaction.  I don't like Apple the company on lots of levels.  I still know many employees.  The good employees will admit that the sales culture within Apple  is very sick. Most of those employees just keep their head down, try to do their jobs, and hope that their number isn't up yet.   Yet the product culture at Apple continues to turn out great products.

I think Apple could (and did at one time) do better and more exhaustive product testing.  Apple's warranties are not what one would expect with Apple's sometimes premium pricing.  Apple's customers also have no idea where the company is headed because the only person that knows that is Steve Jobs.  If something happens to Steve, all bets are off on Apple.

I'm also not a fan of Apple trying to track down its own leaking employees by going after enthusiast websites.

Yet in spite of all that, I'm going to buy another Mac. In a heartbeat I would buy OS X and hardware from another vendor if I could be assured that OS X would run on it. 

I don't think that's going to happen.  On some level buying a computer from a company that pushed you out the door for no good reason doesn't make a lot of sense, but I'm still going to buy that next Mac when the time comes for another computer.

There are folks like Chris Seibold over at Apple Matters who have figured out what I like to call the Apple market share myth.  That is the whole idea that Windows users will eventually be beating down the doors for Macs since they are clearly superior.

On June 6, 2005 I wrote "Apple, Driving On The Left Side Of The Road."  In it I postulated that Windows might have become such a part of life that it can't be unseated.  To a certain extent I that has turned out to be the case.  Sure Apple will win some converts, but it will not be a landslide.

There also some indications that Apple is getting killed in K-12 which might not bode well for the future of the company.  None of this is actually going to change my mind.

Just as there isn't enough pain in dealing with Apple to keep me from buying another Mac, most Windows users as Chris Seibold hints aren't suffering enough to ditch Windows.

I still believe that the Web 2.0 world of Flickr, Webmail, Writely, Kiko, and now Google's Spreadsheet could make operating systems irrelevant, but now I think there's another element to the Web 2.0 world.

I actually think great web applications are enabling people to survive longer in the world of Windows.  Apple has done a really good but not perfect job over the years of making computing easier.  Microsoft really has never managed to come up to the bar that Apple set in ease of use.

Configuring mail or doing networking on a Macintosh is far easier than on a Windows machine.  Some Linux distributions like Ubuntu have also done a great job.

But consider this.  Really great Web 2.0 services are just making some things which are pretty hard under Windows a whole lot easier.  The company I work for Webmail.us provides very reliable email services for small businesses.  Not surprisingly many of them use Microsoft products.  Since so many customers had problem with configuring Outlook, our customer care team put together an Auto Config tool for Outlook.  Even that didn't solve the problem so they went a step further and created an Outlook 2003 configuration movie.  Yet if you use our webmail client, you don't even have to think about settings.  All you need are your userid and passwords.  You don't have to even know what a SMTP Server is when you log in through our webmail interface.

A whole culture has built up around Windows that helps Windows users survive. The world of Web 2.0 though it is more than that is also just an extension of a culture that tries to improve on the imperfect world of Windows.

Giving up that comfortable culture is just as hard for Windows users as it would be for me to give up the friends that I use for Mac support. One day perhaps there will be enough applications on the web that we won't have to worry about operating systems.  I'm sure that would make Google very happy.

Then again maybe my Mac is my security blanket.  It might have some holes in it, but it has gotten me through a lot of challenging assignments.  I'm glad I know what is out there in the Windows and Linux worlds, but it isn't compelling enough for me to switch.

If I could ever figure out the printing of photographs in Linux, I might one day be able to move over, but I have reconciled myself to being tied to Apple products.  There's a certain bond among Apple users because if nothing else they all know that they just have to put up with Apple and follow Steve wherever he chooses to wander.

I just hope he doesn't wander too far from the computer world.

Update-  I actually meant to post a link to Walt Mossberg's "MacBook Laptop Lacks
A Few Features But Has Lots to Like, Low Price."

And like all Macs, the MacBook is vastly superior to Windows machines in terms of bundled software and security. Apple's operating system is better designed, more stable and more modern than Windows XP. Its built-in iLife suite of multimedia software can't be matched on Windows...

But the MacBook lacks two important hardware features...no slots for the flash memory cards....(and)  The lack of the card slot is particularly nettlesome...

Despite these drawbacks, the MacBook is a solid machine at a great price.

I'll have to agree with Walt.  Apple does appear to have a winner in the MacBook.

Comments

[Stephen]

Perhaps you'd like to see Picasa for Linux?

http://picasa.google.com/linux/

[ocracokewaves]

Actually I have seen that, I just haven't tried printing using it. I'll see if I can figure out how to get it going on Linux which sometimes isn't the easiest chore.

I'll report back on the printing.

[jbelkin]

Your entry was very well thought and reasoned and I can't disagree with you on what you're saying but also keep in mind this - the sales dept is driven one thing - sales - their whole job is based on that. Here are your target numbers. Hit them or exceeed them, great - miss them, you are gone. This is true of the most touchy feely organic free trade farmers only products company. Everyone else is holding and hugging, but if Whole Food decides not to buy anymore, you are "cast out." While Apple indulgences certain division, sales is just sales. the raw numbers tell the whole story.

I should also point out that any company - even the corner mom & pop store will not be 100% perfect to 100% of the people 100% of the time.

When Steve Jobs has been with Apple, I think the reason their products have been successfully overall is a pretty simple philosophy ...

What do people want to do? Let show them something fun & interesting and see if they like it also.

Out of this, we have the Apple I & II, the mac, the laserprinter, the imac, the ipod, and the design esthetics of the G4/G5 and software such as itunes, ilife and OSX ...

Again, I'm not claiming that Apple is perfect nor will it ever be but that's all they really promise ... we'll make you something interesting ... we think you'll like it ... and yes, sometimes that can be translated as arrogance but that's apart of their overall culture ... and like everything else (including people), you take some bad with the good - of course, the good has to outweigh the bad ... :-)

[ocracokewaves]

Actually your theory of sales isn't exactly the one which works at Apple. You can be blowing your numbers away at Apple and still be shown the door or want to jump ship on your own because Apple's sales culture has turned into little more than a garden of cronyism with almost no objective performance measurement.

Actually I have written about this particular dead horse many times, and this time I'm really just saying that as much as I dislike parts of Apple, I 'm still willing to buy their products. Maybe all big companies are bad, I don't know. In this case there aren't any viable alternatives so I will stick with Apple.

However, I don't think Apple products are going to ever have more than a tiny piece of the market. There are lots of reasons for that and the Apple sales culture is one of them.

And I agree. It's been well worth having Apple around warts and all. I said as much in my post "The Apple Influence."

http://viewfromthemountain.typepad.com/applepeels/2005/10/the_apple_influ.html

[michael]

Wow! Another great posting that is well reasoned, well developed, and well written.

It is nice to read someone else's comments who shares similar conflicted thoughts about Apple. I love the Macintosh OS, but I despise their laptops.

As much I enjoy using the Think Pads and H-P laptops, I cannot commit to purchasing a laptop that runs Windows.

Unlike you, I rely on statistics software for much of my work. Almost all of it runs on Windows. The open source stuff is very suspect on the Mac platform. Thus, I am very conflicted. I would be happier doing all my work from one, well-built machine.

Thanks to the Ego in Cupertino and the Cowards in Austin, I will remain conflicted.

[Ralph]

Interesting view. I'm a long time windows IT guy who has been doing internet security solutions for seven years. This year I bought a MAC. Actually, I bought one for my wife, one for me, three iPods and one iMAC for a member of staff.

I've tried five different linux distributions and was alive during the DOS age.

Why now? I think I just got sick of it. Constant maintenance; poor engineering, always 'just good enough'; every little thing is an add-on, many of them cost; in the end the best is hard to get to, not the best and doesn't last.

I like the screen quality; the way stuff just works; the attention to detail (my speakers mute automatically when the skype phone rings); the sound quality and the unix underneath. There is so much built in compared to a PC.

I still have a PC for games.

I have a terminal server to work off for windows management apps.

I am amazed how easy it was and how little I use the PC for now.

I worry about warranty and support long term; but its been a blast!

[Damian]

"Apple does appear to have a winner in the MacBook."

By all accounts they do run very hot, though. Take a peek inside and you find components have been covered with "thermal grease" - and even that doesn't seem to be helping.

The heat being generated is even discoloring the machines:

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1802

I don't think I'd risk buying one.

[ocracokewaves]

Funny you should mention that, but I saw the same thing this morning at:

http://ibloggedthis.com/2006/06/12/apple-macbook-discoloration-issues/

Well I've been around long enough not to buy anything that Apple sells until the bugs are worked out of it.

On top of that, yesterday I saw Dan Gilmor's "Think(Mac)Book" which has a picture of a Thinkpad with an Apple logo on it.

http://sf.backfence.com/bayarea/showPost.cfm?myComm=BA&bid=2388

Dan is lusting after a Thinkpad with OS X on it and has this to say about Apple laptops.

"Apple's notebook computer line is woefully inadequate, moreover, in the category that lots of travelers care about most: ultra-portability. Actually, it's not inadequate: Apple is missing in action.."