Re: [NTLK] Letter from Steve Jobs

From: matthiasm <mm_at_matthiasm.com>
Date: Thu Jan 08 2009 - 09:57:23 EST

On 08.01.2009, at 15:07, Michael J. Hußmann wrote:

> Frank Gruendel (newtontalk@pda-soft.de) wrote:
>
>> I remember a time when the Powerbook 540 (not sure if at
>> that time Apple notebooks were already called Powerbooks)
>> was introduced. I had saved a bit, and with what today would
>> amount to a couple of thousands of USD in my pocket I drove
>> to Hamburg to buy one. At that time Hamburg was a city of
>> approx. two million people, featuring exactly ONE Apple
>> store. Said Apple store did not have the new 540.
>> The shop assistant said they did not get one. Instead they
>> were sent the 540's little brother, with a shitty black and
>> white display. But even Little Brother couldn't be
>> demonstrated because it arrived DOA due to incorrect packaging.
>
> That would have been in 1994 -- the PowerBook 540 was a short-lived
> model introduced in May '94 and discontinued a mere five months
> later --
> and I am sure there was more than one store carrying Macs in Hamburg
> at
> the time. There was the Gravis store in Grindelallee (...)

Well, you really cannot compare Apple USA and Gravis in Germany.
Gravis has (had?) the more-or-less exclusinve rights to sell Apple
computers in Germany. Apple USA AFAIk never did. And until a few weeks
ago there was not a single "Apple" store in Germany anyways.

Gravis, to me, in the 80s and early 90s had the Rolls Royce aura: "If
you need to ask how much a Mac is, you can't afford one." .

OT:

German customer service centers around this unfathomable arrogance.

Having lived in Germany, then California, then Germany again, I know
what I am talking about. I am at the point where I avoid going to a
German store at almost any cost - I just do not need the abuse, I much
rather order online.

Example:

- shopping for a satelite TV system, I ask for dual receiver with dual
feed: "Are you sure you want that? That will be too expensive. One
feed is always enough."

- next store: "where do you mount your dish" - "on the roof" - "better
mount it on a stick in the back yard, so you can repair it easily" -
"I want it on the roof" - "and I tell you to put it in the garden..."

- or, best yet, a big department store "Kaufhof", used to close at
8:30pm. At 8:10, I try on a pair of pants. A clerk, already wearing
her coat, pops out of nowhere, grabs the pants and hangs them back on
the rack. "you are too late, we close in 20 minutes and the registers
are already closed!". I called her supervisor, and guess what, she was
also wearing her coat alredy, standing right next to the elevator
station... .

(end of rant)

Matthias :-)

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Received on Thu Jan 8 10:28:56 2009

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