我的公司自1994年就成立了，目前我们为使用我们产品的500多名客户提供服务。不要太有压力，当我说提供“服务”时，我指的是这些客户中的大多数可能一年只会与我们合作几个小时，一般是为它们提供支持或培训方面的服务。但是有些公司却经常需要我们提供服务，而且这些公司通常是少于250人的小公司。我们既成功过，也犯过不少的错误，但有一件事一定不会错：你不可能让所有人都满意。事实上，我已经退了一步，如果任何时候至少有三分之二的客户都对我们的服务感到满意，那我们就算做得很不错了。这就是科技公司，科技不可能永远让人满足，无法实现客户的想象或梦想是经常的事。人们常常因为这个指责软件公司，于是它们反过来再指责它们的合作方（那就是我们）。这些就是过去18年我生活的组成部分。
苹果公司的这帮人最近就常常出现在我的生活中。苹果在过去几周收到了很多客户的投诉，都是关于其最近刚发布的iPad3的。
用户抱怨iPad3的电池太烫了，经测试后发现新iPad的电池的确比以前的iPad的电池温度至少要高10度以上。新增、强大的视频功能据称迅速吞掉了一个用户的数据计划，并且根据《华盛顿邮报》报道“消费者不得接受更高的收费，否则无线运营商改变它们的计价模式将面临压力。”接着是无线热点的问题——显然，很多用户现在正在报告连接问题，然后保持他们的连接。
还有更多。
苹果的客户还说iPad的新“智能保护盖”——这个能够自动开启部件的磁力保护盖也有问题。这个保护盖还被批导致屏幕失真。说到保护盖，还有用户说许多在线杂志的封面在该产品的新视网膜显示屏上无法正常显示。ZDNet说该产品在于一些第三方产品对接时电源会出现问题。iPad3收费所需的时间比以前几版产品要长很多，它更重，也更脆弱。一位知名的果粉（好吧，其实就是Howard Stern）抱怨说他并没有发现新iPad与他的iPad2在屏幕分辨率上有多大的区别。也许他只是随便找个东西对比了一下，我也不知道。但不管怎么说，这对他似乎真的造成了一些问题。
我也听到一些苹果的客户说iPad3改进后的功能并不值买新机花的那些钱。一个客户曾对我说，“我打赌，如果乔布斯还在的话，一定不会让iPad3发行。他也无法解决这些问题，但他不会生产一款有这么多功能的产品”。
上周，麻省理工学院的Simpson L. Garfinkel在博客中写道，苹果的创造力将不复存在，它正在经历一场成长之痛。“现在的苹果正在与以前的创新背道而驰，苹果不再为追求产品质量的数字媒体创造者设计；相反，苹果现在唯消费者马首是瞻——听从那些掏自己腰包而不是让公司花钱的消费者，和那些消费数字媒体的人，而不是生产它的人。把重点放在数字消费品上的确让苹果获利不少，但是，这个公司的产品无论从质量、灵活度甚至信赖程度上都在走下坡路。
当然他会。
对刚成立的公司来说，这些问题不足为奇。我销售微软的产品已经多年，相信我……我知道什么是严重的问题！是的，iPad3只是有一点发热，但是没有人说它会着火；是的，它的“智能保护盖”，Wi-Fi连接和其他类似方面有一点小故障。你还好吗？欢迎来到科技世界，这里的一切都不可能完美，即使你是苹果。
然而，问题是苹果把标准已经定得这么高，我们对它当然有特别的期望。我们的确开始相信人类可以制造出能够一直保持良好工作状态的东西，我们相信苹果就是品质上乘的代名词，而事实上没有什么东西是完美的，尤其是科技产品。有太多移动组件，太多合作伙伴和太多其他科技影响着iPad。史蒂夫•乔布斯是一个非常聪明的人，但他不可能考虑到所有的事情。我相信，当那时候就出现类似“蓝屏死机”和简单操作就导致系统冻结的问题时，他一定也会疯了。但事实没有这样发展。
苹果公司的产品影响了包括我们在内的许多人。我是微软的合作伙伴、粉丝和用户，但即使是我，也在使用苹果的产品。因此，一旦强大的iPad出现一丁点小问题，都会引起媒体的大量关注，这是可想而知的。我并没有对这家公司感到遗憾，它的管理层一直在利用媒体放大它的品牌优势。乔布斯永远是一个开创者和执行者，他也一直懂得如果想让自己独占鳌头，就要忍受事物有时不按你所想的方向发展。但这也没能阻止他。
史蒂夫•乔布斯是天才，是开创者，也是一个无与伦比的创新家。但最重要的是，他是一个商人。他是一家上市公司的CEO ，当有一天你也开公司的时候就会知道，有些事情你必须得做。
其中一件事情就是，你必须准备好迎接各种问题，并做好解决这些问题的准备。因为任何一家公司，或任何一种新产品都会出现问题，苹果也不例外。我上文中提到过，能让三分之二的客户感到满意，对我来说已经很满足了。我敢打赌对苹果公司感到满意的客户的比例一定远远超过那个，同时当想到与我的公司相比，苹果公司要面对更多更加（变化多端、苛求、没有耐心和自以为是的）客户，我就感到这是一件很神奇的事情。然而，我和史蒂夫•乔布斯有一点是相同的，那便是我们都是在开公司。所有开公司的人都知道，不可能让所有人都满意。当你发布了一种新产品或新服务，该产品或服务使用的是最好的创意和最好的研发和质量，即使这样你也必须未雨绸缪，因为百密总有一疏，这一点在科技产业尤其明显。苹果公司有一个专门负责产品回收、担保、坏账和存货损坏的部门，这可不只是摆个样子。乔布斯和任何一个CEO一样，知道新产品避免不了会出问题。
苹果公司回复客户的速度非常快，它的客服做的很好。苹果公司无论在网上和仓库都能回复客户的投诉，它不会对客户的投诉进行否定、辩护或歪曲，因为它是一个科技公司，科技公司知道把事情一下子全部摆平是不现实的。苹果公司的产品出现问题并不是第一次，在乔布斯的监管下，客户投诉一直都被高度重视。他知道只要把客服工作做好了，再微小的客户投诉都能被重视起来，从而让客户的满意度不断提高。
一些潜在的问题，除非是致命的，否则不会阻止乔布斯这样的CEO停止发行他的下一代产品。当然，他也是一个完美主义者，但如果他没有现实的一面的话，也不会这么成功。史蒂夫•乔布斯绝对会在发行产品和保持完美之间选择前者，因为最后他的公司，正如我的一样，需要资金保持公司的正常运营和成长。因此，如果是他，也会同意发布iPad3。接下来他会仔细研究该产品，面对显示器的缺陷和媒体的指责，直到这个问题解决了，苹果的产品到时候会更加畅销。
My company has been in business since 1994 and we currently serve more than 500 clients who use the products we sell. Don’t get too impressed. When I say “serve” I mean that many of those clients may only use us for a few hours a year for support or training. But there are those that use us for much more. Most of these companies are smaller businesses with less than 250 employees. We’ve had successes. We’ve made many mistakes. But one thing is certainly true: you can’t please ‘em all. In fact, I have conceded that if at least two-thirds of my clients are happy at any given time, then we’re doing fine. This is the technology business. Technology doesn’t work all the time and often it doesn’t live up to the hype or the dreams of its user. People blame software companies for this. They blame their partners too (that’s us). This has been a fact of my life for the past 18 years.
The guys at Apple have been living my life recently. The company has received its share of criticism during the past few weeks over the recent release of its iPad 3 tablet. Lots of criticism.
Users have complained that the iPad’s battery gets too hot and testers have found that indeed the unit does run at least ten degrees hotter than its predecessor. The new and powerful video capabilities are reported to eat up a user’s data plan quickly and according to the Wall Street Journal “…either consumers will have to get used to paying more or wireless carriers will come under pressure to change their pricing models.” Then there’s the issue withwireless hotspots – apparently, many users are reporting problems connecting and then maintaining their connections.
There’s more.
Apple customers are saying there are problems with the iPad’s new “smart covers” – the magnetic casing that turns the unit on automatically. The smart covers are also reported to cause fuzzy screens. And speaking of covers, other users say that many onlinemagazine covers don’t display properly on the product’s new Retina display. ZDNet says there arepower issues when docking with some third party products. The iPad 3 takes significantly longer to charge than prior versions. It’s heavier and more fragile. And one famous Apple lover (OK, it wasHoward Stern) complained that he couldn’t detect much of a difference between the screen resolution on his iPad 2 when compared to the new model. Or maybe he was just making a comparison to a porn model, I’m not sure. Anyway, it seemed to be a problem for him.
I’ve heard some Apple customers say that the improvements in the iPad 3 weren’t worth the cost of buying a new unit. One client said to me “I bet if Jobs were still around, he never would’ve let it be released. He would’ve had these problems fixed and also would’ve had a product with more features too.”
In a blog last week, MIT’s Simpson L. Garfinkel wrote that Apple is no longer creative and suffering from growing pains. “The Apple of today is turning its back on that creative class. Apple no longer designs for creators of digital media, who tend to be very demanding about product quality. Instead, Apple builds for consumers—in both senses of the word: people who spend their own money, rather than their companies’, and people who consume digital media, as opposed to people who produce it. Focusing on digital consumption has made Apple wildly profitable, but the company’s products have trended downwards in quality, flexibility, and even reliability.”
Wow! Seems like a lot of issues here, right? Apple has more money than most countries on earth. What, they couldn’t afford a few extra weeks of product testing and quality control? They couldn’t wait until everything was perfect? They couldn’t come up with more incredible features to satisfy our never ending appetite for more cool stuff? They had to get this product out on the market so fast and risk their reputation? Would Steve Jobs have let this happen under his watch?
Of course he would.
For starters, these problems are not significant. I’ve been selling Microsoftproducts for years. Believe me…I know what significant problems are! Yes, the iPad 3 runs a little hotter. But no one’s saying it’s going to catch on fire. And yes, there are glitches with its “smart covers”, Wi-Fi connections and other stuff like that. Hello? Welcome to technology. It’s not all going to perfectly work. Even for Apple.
The problem is that Apple has set the bar so much higher that we have certain expectations of them. We actually start believing that human beings can make something that works well and works all the time. We believe that Apple is the definition of quality. The fact is that nothing’s perfect, particularly technology. There are too many moving parts. There are too many partners. There are too many other technologies that interact with the iPad. Steve Jobs was a very smart man. But he could not have thought of all this. He would have been furious, I’m sure, if there were more serious problems, like “blue screens of death” and system freezes when doing simple tasks. But this is not the case.
Apple gets way more media scrutiny too. The company’s products have affected so many of us. I’m a Microsoft partner, fan and user. But even I use Apple products too (hint: check out the great new album by the Shins on iTunes). So naturally when there are any problem with the glorious iPad, no matter how trivial, it’s going to receive a lot of media attention. I don’t feel sorry for the company. They use the media to their advantage all the time. They’ve made billions and are probably the most watched stock on the exchange. Along with the benefits comes the scrutiny. Jobs, always a promoter, always a performer, always understood that if you’re going to put yourself out there you’re going to have to take some hits when things don’t go your way. This would not have stopped him either.
Steve Jobs was a genius. A creator. A one-of-a-kind innovator. But most importantly, he was a businessman. And that’s what I can relate to. He was the CEO of a publicly held company. And when you run a business there are certain things you just do.
For one, you expect and prepare for problems. Because every company and every new product has its problems. Even Apple. I wrote above that having two-thirds of my client base happy was enough for me. I bet the number of happy Apple users is much higher than that, which is amazing to me considering how many more (fickle, demanding, impatient, know-it-all) customers the company has when compared to mine. But one thing I have in common with Steve Jobs is that we’re both running (or ran) businesses. And every business guy knows you can’t please ‘em all. You release a new product or service with the best of intentions and the highest level of research and quality you can provide and then you reserve for the rest. Things will go wrong, especially in technology. Apple has reserves for product returns, warranties, bad debts and inventory obsolescence. This is not just for show. Jobs, like any CEO, knows that new products will have their problems.
And you respond quickly. Apple is supporting their customers fine. They’re responding to complaints online and in their stores. They’re not denying, defending or deflecting blame. They’re a technology company. As much as they think they can get it all right, they know that’s not reality. This is not the first time there have been problems with Apple products. Under Job’s supervision, support issues were addressed and they still are. He knew that as long as you have the right customer service infrastructure in place minor complaints can be addressed and customers can be satisfied.
Potential problems, unless they’re critical, wouldn’t stop a CEO like Jobs from releasing his next product line. Sure, he was a perfectionist, but he wouldn’t have been as successful as he was if he wasn’t practical too. Steve Jobs absolutely settled for less than perfection in order to get product out the door. Because in the end his company, like mine, needs revenues to stay in business and grow. So he too would have signed off on the iPad 3 and then stood by the product, even in the face of its minor shortcomings and major media scrutiny, while the problems get resolved and more units get sold.
