It seemed so to go well with Apple. The Apple keynote was successful. Finally a smart watch and two new iPhones. Again a sales record: 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sold in the opening weekend. And to think that the sales of many countries (including China) do not yet concubines. Yet it went last week suddenly wrong. Apple had to act twice sharply in a short time to prevent the image would be damaged. How can that happen? And now it remains here with, or has Apple suddenly a serious image problem?
‘Bend Gate
Let’s start to bend-gate’. Last week went on the Internet a lot of movies around hunched iPhone 6 devices. Because the new phone is quite thin and the aluminum fairly flexible, the risk would be that the phone bends in the pocket. The movies were viral and there was a hype, where other companies hooked again. The hype was so great that Apple released a statement saying (bending is exceptional), but more importantly, it allowed the press to see where the iPhones are tested in order to prove that it did not make stupid mistakes. And that’s unique. At least …, it happened only once before, in 2010
Das was einmal:. Antennagate
2010, which was the year that the iPhone 4 appeared. It soon became apparent that there was a big problem. The GSM / 3G coverage could sometimes disappear when the phone was held. In a certain way Unlike 2014 (Apple responded within a few days) Apple only came time after 3 weeks with a statement via a welded press conference.
The press conference, held at Apple’s own campus, it took a lot shorter than the normal “Apple events’ and was completely dedicated to what ‘antennagate’ was going to be called. In half an hour late Steve Jobs did his best to prove that the antennagate was not so bad (because devices of other brands had affected), and Jobs showed the areas where the antenna was tested. Finally, the company announced that all iPhone 4 owners could get.
Nine complaints
Now it seems bend-gate ‘might turn out okay. Currently a free cover Almost standard is hyping all about Apple. This is often in favor of Apple, but now so here at a disadvantage. But to put this in context the places: according to Apple, only 9 users have reported a curved iPhone 6 (!). Suppose that this number is in fact the 1000-fold would be, then that’s still only 0.09 percent of the total number of iPhones sold in the opening weekend.
A very big failure
But then: bend gate was just the beginning. The real big bang had yet to come. Wednesday suggested Apple iOS 8.0.01 available. A software update that should respond to a – now long – queue bugs that had been discovered in iOS 8 However, there were also two bugs in return. That all the other bugs in it did not fall.
Not more calls
Many iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users could suddenly no longer use (according to Apple a total of 40,000 users ) of a mobile network and the fingerprint scanner stopped working. The latter is still incalculable. But no more calls and internet was a completely different story, says Gonny van der Zwaag, editor of iPhone and iPad site iCulture, to MT.nl:
“It’s the first time that Apple commits such a big failure. Even though people do less, calling is still a crucial function. It is also the first time that the company has decided to pull into the software. Again after an update Making it wrong is unknown. It seems to me that the software is well tested internally, but apparently not good enough. How can that be? I can not with my mind. “
Apple-worthy
In the night of Thursday to Friday Apple iOS 8.0.2 introduced, which enable the problems were solved. But it is not the first time something goes wrong software. In 2012, Apple put Google Maps on the side for his own map application. That the company had better (still) can not do. Apple Maps appeared to be full of errors and really was not Apple-worthy. ” CEO Tim Cook even decided to offer his apologies pointed to alternatives and sacked shortly after Scott Forstall, who was responsible for the development of Apple Maps
The big question is:. Allowing Apple can commit such mistakes? The real answer lies hidden in Cupertino and we may never get to hear. One possibility lies with the leadership change. Van der Zwaag:
“If we do not know exactly, this ‘slordigheidjes’ is probably partly be attributed to the new policy of CEO Tim Cook. Delegating much more than Steve Jobs. Who sat as a ‘dragon’ everyone on the skin. It does cook a lot less. Thus, the chance of errors larger. I therefore believe that we have this kind of thing more often experience – Apple has changed under Tim Cook, and since this is a result of. Look, Apple is not a BlackBerry that in two years is going under. But this does indeed dents in the image. It makes them more human. “
Something has to change
Is Apple lost? There will not be as fast as the question. People buy still flocking the iPhone 6 and other Apple products. The chance that Apple (direct) suffers financially, so it seems small. But, according to branding expert Joris Zoelen must actually something change at Apple.
Apple should give 100 percent disclosure. Recognize the symptoms and problems. That is step 1 Then they have prospects. Indicate what they are going to do the coming period. As precisely as possible. Let’s notice that this is not Apple-worthy. The chance that Apple is going to do this, it seems small. It is simply not in the DNA of the company to be open, though I see no other option. The brand Apple has long been under pressure. The products are not perfect, people get disappointed quickly. Samsung is sometimes more popular. All signs that Apple is no longer the company a few years ago, “
Circle
Van Zoelen we have to keep one thing in mind:. The “Apple pie. This is the strategy of Apple, all products work beautifully together so you will be tempted to buy everything. The company (whether or not in time) But once you’re teleurgsteld hit in one product, it is also likely that your other products from the same company turns its back.
“You may have an iPhone, iPad and a Mac. It all works together nicely. But if you soon will replace your iPhone for an Android device, dissatisfaction go quickly notice that your iPad and maybe even your Mac not fine together. What do you do? Then you also replace other devices. Apple must prevent that from happening. In my eyes, this can only get through. “Transparent and humane
Less creativity at Apple
is the Van Zoelen that Apple is much less creative. According to him, a sign that the company is struggling to keep innovating. The naturalness that was present under the reign of Jobs, seems to be gone.
“Look at the opening sequence of the last Apple keynote. The text appearing in them is, comes from the Think Different campaign. Themselves beautiful words, but for me a sign that Apple is reusing and the vibe ‘corpse to be lost. “
By the way, the band OK Go that Apple not only texts, but also the film method ‘recycled’. The band, known for his creative music videos, namely has recorded the same kind of video. According to the band manager, Apple has used the same director. Apple has the idea for the video above is indeed stolen from them? Judge for yourself
Top:. Flickr (creative commons)
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