Ripple effects

Last Friday my iPhone's vibrate feature failed. I had a day or two of odd brrrraap buzzes, wheezy ailing things, and on Saturday, pfft! no more vibrate.

I went to Apple's Genius Bar on Sunday, fighting masses of bored tourists on Easter to get my phone inspected. The technician (genius?) took a quick look at my phone and decided that I had broken the external silence switch when I dropped it at some point. "There's your problem, right there," he said cheerily.

Before I had the chance to get defensive, he had opened a drawer and taken out a small white box. Out came a new iPhone--refurbished, I'm sure, but visually perfect--and within five minutes the genius (technician) had swapped SIM cards and activated the new phone. He took my phone--nine months old, dropped several times, with the scuff marks to prove it--and put it in the box with an explanatory label.

And that was it. "Here you go," he said, "you're all set." And I went home with a new phone in my pocket.

I tell this story not simply to add to the "cult of Mac" but to examine just why Apple has been so successful.

• Trust. The tech who met me listened to my request, quickly verified it, and moved onto solving the problem. No challenges, no curiosities, no wondering whether I had violated an arcane clause of my limited warranty. Heck, the tech even pointed out that I had dropped the phone--surely grounds for voiding my claim, and for which I had prepared an extensive explanation about timing, cause and effect, and so on. But it made no material difference to him.


• Ease. All I did to get my phone replaced was make an appointment, hand over the phone, and sign a form acknowledging my receipt of a new one. No other paperwork or, as noted above, difficult questions.


• Flow. The Genius Bar is, of course, free. I booked online, arrived late on Easter Sunday, and still got taken within minutes.


• Goodwill. The net effect of the above: I am a newly satisfied Apple customer, not only proud of my iPhone (proud! of a phone!) but delighted with my recent experience. I've spent the week telling people my story, which routinely elicits amazement and wonder: what other company is this easy to work with? This in turn continues Apple's amazing halo effect, which translates into ever stronger sales.

The message, to any company selling products: treat customers with respect and make life easy for them. Individual transactions may have a higher cost than a cost accountant may prefer. But the long-term impact is undeniable.