Investing tons of money into developing a physical retail preference where people can go to if they have issues might not be magical, but it certainly is a difference maker.
I don’t want to troubleshoot my older relatives tech issues, I just point them to the apple store. Time is worth a lot.
As far as I can tell, only Apple wanted to invest in this route. Nokia, Google, Microsoft all have tons of cash, but no one wants to invest it into low ROI high liability physical retail options.
Nokia was perfectly okay letting the mobile carriers and their uneducated minimum wage staff deal with customer service. Apple decided to invest in customer service.
Also, all of this migration to smartphones happened in 2010 to 2014. If other companies had invested as much as Apple into the user experience (including what you do when you have a problem), maybe they would be in their position.
Making physical stores around the globe - impressive and absolutely can make a difference. But also only possible for megacorporation.
Corporations do no not care about people. People form communities to help themself, open small shops. LineageOS, postmarketOS - that is magical.
Debian can't open brick and mortar stores.
Android while perfectly able resolve your first request (video calls and web browser) become more and more closed over the years. Because user freedoms is not valuable differentiator for most of the customers. Google and manufacturers are corporations too. They seek profit.
Users value experience, true. And Apple understands that support is part of the experience, they invest to build their brand. That's good, but they do it to exploit customers as much as possible, 30% cut is part of it.
It does not matter who is on top of the mountain. It is underdog who is trying to differentiate. Maybe if nonprofit, but it could not produce newest and shiniest, without support it does not work. Support either from government (like do not sell poisonous products) or customers (conscious choice). History shown again and again that government does not care and for customers it take a long time to figure out [1].
> Android while perfectly able resolve your first request (video calls and web browser)
Android did not have a FaceTime equivalent back in 2010 to 2014. I know, because I tried it. A simple app where you pressed the contact name and it called the person, reliably and consistently was all that was needed.
There might have been Viber but I didn’t trust that company at all. But when I’m dealing with non tech literate people, I want a consistent, unchanging experience, and that’s what FaceTime was and what all the Android video calling apps lacked.
Skype involved logging in, passwords, and creating accounts, which was a no go for elders who don’t know English and never used computers. I know because I tried it. What worked was Facetime.
My point is that Apple offered the buyers something they wanted, and no one else did, hence they were rewarded.
I don’t want to troubleshoot my older relatives tech issues, I just point them to the apple store. Time is worth a lot.
As far as I can tell, only Apple wanted to invest in this route. Nokia, Google, Microsoft all have tons of cash, but no one wants to invest it into low ROI high liability physical retail options.
Nokia was perfectly okay letting the mobile carriers and their uneducated minimum wage staff deal with customer service. Apple decided to invest in customer service.
Also, all of this migration to smartphones happened in 2010 to 2014. If other companies had invested as much as Apple into the user experience (including what you do when you have a problem), maybe they would be in their position.