The WHY behind Apple

It was a childhood dream: to become a member of the Apple community through the ownership of an Apple product. The renowned MacBook Pro laptop was the target. For a long time, Dad was not convinced of the purchase as the price was not appealing at all. He thought that it was just another overpriced device because of the logo and the branding built around it. From his point of view, there was no truly compelling argument for this purchase and they simply could not afford it, as a lower-middle class family with two kids. He did not really get why his older son (let’s call him David in this story for easy reference), had wished for a MacBook Pro so desperately for so many years, as he was not tech-savvy like David was. David understood the technology much better : He grew up with it, studied engineering, broadened his knowledge and honed skills continuously in his spare time, enrolled in one tech course after the other, and won prizes in hackathons both locally & nationwide. It took him more than a year to persuade Dad to finance the laptop. In the end Dad made the sacrifice and gave the greenlight. They would buy the MacBook Pro, with the student discount and an installment plan. Still, it cost a fortune compared to the monthly income of the family. 

David was ecstatic. He felt like he was in heaven. He praised the display and audio quality, examples of all of the technological breakthroughs that Apple had achieved during the last decades. He handled his precious laptop very carefully, while enjoying every moment that he could work with it. He was enormously pleased with the software, gadgets, hardware, and interface that allowed for such a satisfying user experience. He loved how portable and slick the laptop was, how smoothly he could use it. He was never disappointed by the MacOS operating system as compared to Windows. 

Everything worked seamlessly until THAT day. The day that revealed the cracks in the display that suddenly appeared on the bottom right-hand side. There were neither physical fractures nor external scratches visible. The cracks had popped up in the internal LCD. This may seem to be a trivial issue as the laptop was working properly otherwise, but this was an unexpected catastrophe for David. HIS beloved PRECIOUS laptop was defective. “How could it happen? What did it go wrong?” he repeated cluelessly as he got more and more anxious. He was at a loss as to how this could have happened and he worried that the cracks would start to spread. There was nothing else left to do except to take it to the service center. The next day, naively, he and Dad went to see the Apple agent to address the legitimate defect. Knowing that the one-year limited warranty had just expired by a month, he relied on the valid and binding AppleCare Protection Plan coverage he had. However, it turned out that it would not count as the service center considered the damage to be “out of warranty repair”. Both the agent and his manager were saying the same thing: this was not a valid claim covered by the AppleCare Protection Plan as the damage was caused by a puncture and the replacement of the display should be covered by the owner.

David and Dad were shocked, frustrated and devastated after hearing the terrible news. They felt that they had been treated unfairly and had endured a glaring injustice. They were sore, livid and got huffy. As customers, they were not at all satisfied with the way their complaint was handled. After several attempts to discuss this matter with the service center, and even after escalating it to the next level, the answer was still the same: the replacement should be paid by the owner. In practice, this would cost one-third of the originally paid price, which was also equal to more than one-month of Mom’s salary, who had lost her job due to the COVID-19 financial crisis at that time. FULL STOP.

Great leaders see the future differently than others and this is how the Apple story started. Apple Computer co-founders, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, were not motivated by money, but by the vision of transforming the technology market so that an individual, not just corporations, could participate as a customer. With their product(s) they wanted to do something significant and revolutionary: to reach ordinary people and make personal computers affordable and easy to use. They successfully challenged conventional thinking and the status quo, not only in the computer industry, but in the music, phone and small electronics industries, and even in the entertainment business. They innovated continuously over a long period of time. They followed their WHY, their purpose, their cause and what they believed in, which resulted in their success over time as well as the cultish frenzy around them. 

Part of the company's success was grounded in the belief that their devices were more elegant in design and better in quality compared to competitors’ products. However, this is not the real reason customers buy these products. It is the WHY behind it according to Simon Sinek, who also used Apple as an example in his global bestseller (“Start with Why - How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action”) to explain and demonstrate his Golden Circle concept. “Apple thinks differently”. It empowered the individual and challenged such companies as Sony, Motorola or Nokia. Apple excels at creating seamless communication between devices which ensures a simple ease-of-use experience that makes Apple so appealing and made people comfortable buying other Apple products. This also functions as a new business model: the creation of the iEcosystem (a tight ecosystem of hardware, software, and content) that also makes it easier to stay with or be shackled by Apple. The more Apple products you obtain due to their simple beautiful design and integration, the more onerous it is to leave the Apple boat. This is a great deal for Apple both in the short- and long-term and has led to an empire built upon customer lock-in. 

Since its foundation in 1976, Apple has become a dominant tech company in terms of both market share and lofty stock price. Still, people may not consider Apple to be an example of a classic tech monopoly, such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook or Amazon, despite the fact that their mobile operating system controls almost half of the U.S. market, and less than a quarter worldwide. Apple became the first U.S. corporation to surpass USD1 trillion in market value in August 2018. On the technical side, experts say that without Steve Jobs at the helm, Apple has become less innovative and more iterative. The company is much more driven by sales, and less by the original idea (the WHY) of transforming the industry.  

The question is: is it enough to produce nicely designed and user-friendly products for the success of a company (i.e. any kind of company) and for upholding its reputation? Obviously this is a key factor, however it is inadequate without proper customer service to keep customers loyal and satisfied. The latter should undoubtedly be the top priority of every company. It is also how to make sure that customers recommend your product/service to their relatives, friends and colleagues, which is beneficial for the company in the long run. The investment in the amount of time, money and effort of acquiring new clients has sadly surpassed the effort to retain customers. Customer experience is a crucial factor. Even if you have an exceptional product and brand, the negative/poor experience of the customer service will negatively impact business. It is not only about the loss of current and potential customers through negative reviews via social media, blogs, message boards, and word-of-mouth, but also about the damage in reputation and potential downward spiral of profit due to lower sales. 

Clearly, Apple has fallen far from its “tree”, from its core company values. If you sell a product that does not work properly, or the service (provided by dismissive agents) is abysmal, then the whole thing may fall flat. To say it in another way: a few bad apples (Apple service centers) can spoil the barrel by playing the power game and by avoiding taking responsibility for the quality of their product. 

What are the takeaways of this story? 

From the customer’s point of view: 

1. Do your research; 
2. Be aware of your customer rights and stand up for them; 
3. Be proactive; 
4. Choose an effective way to communicatie (i.e. argue with real finesse); 
5. Be patient with reaching your goal. You can achieve the best result with deliberation. 

From the company’s (customer service) point of view: 

1. Prevent bad customer service: avoid situations when a customer faces negative or careless service and have a well-trained and organized team to serve the customers; 
2. Assess problems with customer service regularly and take actions to quickly fix them before they get out of hand; 
3. Take responsibility for mistakes; 
4. Resolve customers’ complaints and problems instantly and keep communication channels open; 
5. Treat your customers with respect and care. 

The ‘lowly’ David has (and many other Davids have) the “sling”, a highly effective and devastating weapon in hand that can be dangerous for the “giant” if it hits the most vulnerable spot. Great leaders understand that even the underdog(s) can beat a top dog. This is a common scenario reflected in the biblical story. The real keys to business success are sometimes obscured by misconceptions about levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Strive for excellence and value your customers for the long term. Keep in mind that just one person who is today an Apple advocate and supporter, may become a decision-maker of a big company one day.

The cracks in the display ultimately reached a deeper level: customer loyalty, the admiration for the product and for the company behind it. Not only was David’s dream shattered by reality, but both Goliath’s WHY and reputation are also cracking.

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This is not a unique story that happened only to David. There are plenty of other Apple related stories that are shared widely in blogs, forums and social media. All of these stories pushed me to take David’s individual experience as an example and starting point for this article.

If you think that my non-fiction storytelling can drive real impact and word-of-mouth counts, please share this article. I would appreciate it a lot. Thank you. 

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Special thanks to Abbie Weisenbloom for her professional proofreading and gorgeous image that made this article whole.