The loyalty of the Apple cult is magnficent to behold. Presidents and Popes and every brand alive should wish for such devotion. I complained about Apple’s iPod rollouts and the Knights of the Round Dial came out in force, as always.
To answer some of them: The issue here is that some loyal Apple fans spent their hard-earned money to buy Nanos when, if they had known the new product was coming out, they would have preferred to get that. But now they can’t because all the hard-earned money is gone. And that is no way to treat your best customers.
Apple knew it was coming out with the video iPod when it came out with the Nano; sorry, guys, but I don’t buy that this was sudden divine inspiration made flesh/plastic/chrome. And don’t tell me that the rumor mill should be counted on as a source of information; it flip-flopped — and if they had gotten it right, Apple would have sued them.
I’m also unhappy that I bought a Treo 650 and had to commit to two years on Sprint — for me and my family — when they later came out with the Treo 700 with EVDO. But considering the considerable amount of time between those products, I am assuming that when the 650 came out, they were not sure when and whether the 700 would follow, having to not only do technical work to make high-speed happen but also make deals with Microsoft and Verizon. I made my choice.
But Apple knew full well they’d have two products coming out and I hope this was not a cynical act just to pump the quarter’s sales at the cost of customer happiness. For if you keep doing that, you won’t keep your customers’ fervent loyalty forever. Your crusaders are armed and can turn on you.
I’m not turning on Apple. I love my Nano and would’t have bought the video iPod. That’s not true for others and they feel let down today.
But I still do with I had a damned forward-delete key.
