Like anyone with a technical background, there's nothing that makes my day more than receiving a bright shiny new piece of equipment in the mail. Whether I receive something small and intricate, or something large and expensive, it doesn't make a different. A friend of mine in Israel once purchased and handed out large ball-bearings to his friends — "See, something high-tech that you can purchase for less than an Israeli pound!" — and we all appreciated the thought.
When my new Apple MacBook came, I thought I'd enjoy setting it up and owning it — and I did enjoy the look and feel of a really splendid machine. But I hadn't reckoned with the killjoys in the Apple marketing department, who managed to turn my initial impression so far around that I'm seriously considering abandoning the machine entirely.
When I first turned it on, the machine insisted that I not only provide it with a a login name, but wouldn't let me proceed with turning on the machine until I had selected a photograph of myself to turn into an icon. Now I can understand that the computer would ask politely if I wanted an icon of me; but not that it insist on one before I could turn it on. And, without my permission, the system is throwing that icon of me at every single program that might possibly want one, and it broadcasting it all over the Internet.
Oh, and while I am not "required" to register, the system wouldn't let me proceed with using the software until I filled out the registration form. I used some random series of characters to fill out the form — which it promptly sent off to Apple headquarters, without my permission.
Next came listening to a piece of music. Apple not only copies it into iTunes, but uses the opportunity to try and make me register (again) for iTunes. And any program in the machine that requires an email address always asks for my ".mac" account information — I don't have a ".mac" account, and I doubt I ever will.
So, the joy is off the machine. Using it is a chore instead of a pleasure. Over the next few days I'll try it out some more, and if I can get it running, fine; any trouble, and they've used up their entire reservoir of good will, and back to Apple it will go. Frankly, I'm inclined to return it regardless.
The lesson? Don't mix marketing into every aspect of computer ownership — disaggregate marketing from the experience of using the computer. Let your customers enjoy their computers instead of driving them crazy with make-works tasks that fit your company's needs, not the customers' needs.
Topics: · marketing
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Adam wrote at 2007-03-26 23:56: