@zSkeptic
zSkeptic wrote:
This will not be a popular opinion on this forum but I do not agree that Apple is wrong on being silent on this battery issue.
I respect your opinion even that I do not agree fully with you.
Apple is a publicly traded company and it's allegiance is ultimately to its shareholders. This means there are going to be times where they have to make hard business decisions that may include some compromises in customer service levels. As an example, let's assume that Apple has estimated that one percent (350,000 phones) of 4S customers are affected by poor battery life.
350 000 phones is quite low number in my opinion. This forum has over one million views! I would say that 66% of this views are iPhone 4s with battery life issues.
Let's also assume that 5.0.1, resets, restores, etc. addresses the main drainage for two-thirds of this population (I fall into this category). Then you are left one-third of one percent of users who have a long-term or serious problem phone.
iOS 5.0.1 did not fix the battery life issue for anyone. iOS 5.0.1 fixed only the SIM issues.
I would say iOS 5.0.1, resets, restores,.. addresss less that 20% of the main drainage issue.
I can understand why Apple may not issue a public statement because they have determined it may cause unnecessary panic, returns and customer services loads on their stores and phone lines.
Yes, but this is done at the expense of its customers.
I work in operations for a Fortune 500 medical device company and this is exactly how we deal with known defects and problems. Unless the problem will affect the safety and health of the patient or is mandated by a regulatory agency such as the FDA, how we address and communicate product issues becomes a judgement call.
Selling medicine and drugs is regulated by FDA and the rules are really tough! The clinical trials and the patients information is handled with a great care! Medical device company is totally different that mobile phone companies! The rules are totally different and I would not put them in the same box.
Unless the problem will affect the safety and health of the patient or is mandated by a regulatory agency such as the FDA, how we address and communicate product issues becomes a judgement call.
If Apple would have to follow the FDA regulations would not have gotten the approval to for its iPhone 4s to begin with! I know that iPhone 4s is not a drug or medical device so I think that this is not the best comparison (Apple and FDA).
I am not saying this is right and some consumers will get the short end of the stick but I can understand why Apple has chosen the silent path.
I do not understand why Apple has chosen the silent path. One should look to Nokia example! Nokia once was a great company and ruled the world of mobile phones and invented the smart phone and over night is going falling like a rock to the bottom of the sea. I think that if Apple repeat its stunt with crappy battery life with iPhone 5 then we will see Apple selling apples instead of phones. The consumers made Apple great and consumers will bring Apple down!
The fact that mainstream media has not published any stories in the past few months tends to support my position.
For now Apple is king of the hill and media is polishing Apple's image. Apple should know that it needs to make its customers happy and it should not confuse its customers with its subcontractors' workers!
Where I do fault Apple is the training and consistency of support at their stores and service lines. From what I have read, some users have been treated well and have been given exchanges even outside of the normal policy window. Other customers have recieved poor responses bordering on mistreatment (especially from so called Geniuses) and saracasm. This is an area that I find unacceptable. If a customer truly has a problem phone that cannot be fixed, Apple needs a more effective system in place to support these situations.
I agree with you on this.
Scarface.
Level 1
(86 points)
Jason L
Community Specialists
