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Ballmer Pleads For Openness To Compete With Apple
mjasay writes "At the Mobile World Congress, Steve Ballmer took aim at Apple's closed iPhone ecosystem with an ironic plea for openness: 'Openness is central because it's the foundation of choice.' Ballmer has apparently forgotten his company's own efforts to vertically integrate hardware and software (Zune, XBox), its history of vertically integrating software (tying SharePoint into Office, IE, SQL Server, Active Directory, etc.), as well as years of illegally tying Windows to Internet Explorer that only the US Justice Department could undo. Indeed, Microsoft's effect on the browser market has pushed Mozilla to get involved in a recent European Commission action against the software giant, with Mozilla's Mitchell Baker recently declaring that 'A number of illegal activities were also involved in creating IE's market dominance,' now requiring government intervention to open up the browser market to fair competition. Putting aside Microsoft's own tainted reputation in the field of openness, is Ballmer right? Should Apple open up its iPhone platform to outside competition, both in terms of hardware and software?"
I have been an IT manager for quite a while and I have come to expect certain kinds of vendor performance for business. For all systems from servers to workstations to laptops, I expect next day, on-site repair service. For laptops, I expect accidental damage warranty coverage. I expect to pay extra for this level of service and I generally get what I expect.
Recently, various people in my office have taken some interest in Apple computers and more specifically, MacBook pro. I ordered them with Apple care. I accept fault for not reading everything, but my expectations for business level service had been set by other players in the business hardware market. A couple of years pass before anything happens and then it does. A manufacturing defect in the system board of one of the MacBook pros had failed. Apparently, this is a well known problem in some circles and descriptions of the problem are found in various Apple forums.
I called Apple support and made an appointment for service at a local Apple store. Okay, BIG mistake... I found that they don't actually care but offered to put my repair job "at the head of the line" for about $100 and called it Pro Care. Pro Care is a lot of things I don't want or care about, but being "first in line" is hardly worth it when I still have to wait three days for them to get the replacement part in. I am not afraid of spending the money, but three days isn't fast enough. It was a big mistake because it was only after having waited more than three days that I discovered I could have gotten much faster service by going through a 3rd party service center. Lesson learned there... don't depend on Apple, depend on some independent 3rd party.
While all of this time is being wasted, my user is effectively prevented from doing her job and is constantly asking me when it will be done. I am exploring enhancing service options with Apple and am finding that Apple will not deliver to my business needs or expectations unless I was government or some trillion-dollar enterprise. It's not that I didn't choose or buy the right options, it's that Apple will not offer them.
And to be clear, I do get these options from other vendors. Dell is my current favorite in this regard. They have not failed me yet and everything has been resolved the next day. And why? Because they know business needs and expects this. Apple does not.
Everything about Apple says "consumer electronics" and that's fine for consumers. I will not buy Sony for business for the very same reasons. But isn't "consumer electronics" pretty much the same as "toy"? For most people it is and certainly for me.
I won't deny that Apple puts out some really nice stuff. If only they would offer support and service that business needs, I'd be fine with it. Without business needs being addressed, it is too risky to entrust mission critical responsibilities to Apple equipment. Apple equipment can't be considered as a reliable tool without some significant service and support options behind it. Without it, a tool becomes a toy.