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HuffPost: Bitter Apple: A History Of Apple's Apologies

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發表於 2013-4-5 10:01:28 | 顯示全部樓層 |閱讀模式
The Huffington Post  |  By Drew Guarini


Posted: 04/04/2013 10:34 am EDT  |  Updated: 04/04/2013 6:40 pm EDT


Being the biggest tech company in the world means always having to say you're sorry.

This week, Apple apologized to Chinese consumers after criticism around the company's less-than-stellar warranty and repair policies frustrated the country's iPhone and iPad owners. China's media and foreign ministry accepted Apple's apology, a sure relief to Apple with China being the company's fastest-growing and second-biggest market.

But the Chinese snafu joins a long line of Apple apologies. Some were passive-agressive, like Apple's apology for iPhone 4 preorder problems, supposedly because the phone was too desired. Others are more serious, like the apology Apple had to make for letting the game "Baby Shaker" into the App Store.


The Apple Maps Apology
In June 2012, Apple announced that it would be dropping the popular Google Maps app, replacing it in iOS 6 with its own homegrown app. Upon its release in September, Apple's native maps app was universally and near instantly panned. Users complained that cities were erased or mislabeled, famous landmarks were nowhere to be seen, and subway and other transit directions were totally absent.


The iPhone Price Cut Apology
Apple irked the earliest iPhone adapters by cutting the price of the original 8GB iPhone by $200 -- from $599 to $399 -- only two months after the June 2007 release. Then CEO Steve Jobs took to Apple's website to acknowledge the controversy, saying he'd received hundreds of e-mails complaining about the price cut. "This is life in the technology lane," Jobs said in the letter, echoing the fact that there will always be top dollar buyers who will have buyers remorse when the price eventually drops. Apple and Jobs offered $100 credits to any iPhone buyers that bought their phone within 14 days of the price cut.


'Baby Shaker' App Apology
In April 2009 Apple came under fire for a 99 cent game in the App Store titled "Baby Shaker." Thegame depicted a crying baby which can be quieted by vigorously shaking the device, a move that would result in red X's appearing over the eyes of the baby. Public outcry included organizations such as the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, slamming Apple for approving the game's sale. After Apple pulled the app, anApple spokeswoman issued an apology to InformationWeek: "This app is deeply offensive and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store. We sincerely apologize for this mistake."

The iPhone 4 Is Too Successful Apology
Apple issued a humble brag disguised as apology in the wake of preorder problems for the iPhone 4 release in June 2010. Amidst high demand, Apple's website was crashing or behaving strangely during the preorder phase for the new smartphone. Apple took to its website to simultaneously boast and say they were sorry:
"Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple's new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties."
Apple would have similar problems with their website in September 2012 as preorders began for the iPhone 5.



The Antennagate Apology
Antennagate refers to criticism Apple faced in July 2010 when the iPhone 4 was plagued by dropped calls or problems dialing out when users touched a certain part of the phone's aluminum sides.

At first, Apple ignored the complaints and essentially told users to hold their phones differently: "Avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases," adding that signal issues due to grip were a "fact of life for every wireless phone."

As scrutiny intensified, Apple released another statement, explaining that the dramatic drop in bars was caused by a software glitch that had the iPhone 4 falsely displaying more bars than the actual signal strength. In a leaked document to its employees and technical support staffApple said: "We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers - DON'T promise a free bumper to customers."

Still, iPhone 4 owners and the media did not let up. That same month, Steve Jobs held a press conference to address Antennagate. "We're not perfect...and phones aren't perfect either," Jobs said during the conference. Jobs added that Apple would be offering iPhone 4 buyers free cases to remedy the situation. The problem was eventually quietly fixed.



Siri's Abortion Clinic Apology
Siri, are you pro-choice?

Maybe not. In December 2011, pro-choice blog The Abortioneer pointed out that the iPhone's personal assistant failed to provide nearby results on birth control, contraceptions and abortions when asked. Salon went on to point out that Siri was able to find information on escort services or Viagra, reiterating that the technology was unable to acknowledge a woman's needs. A petition for Apple to stop "promoting anti-abortion extremism" was started and quickly collected over 30,000 signatures. Apple would go on to say that the glitch was a beta software issue.

Tim Cook also went on to provide the following statement to Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation:
Our customers use Siri to find out all types of information and while it can find a lot, it doesn't always find what you want. These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone, it simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better and we will in the coming weeks.

The Snarky Apology That Actually Disses Samsung
Last October, a UK judge ruled that Apple had to apologize to rival tablet maker Samsung after Apple accused them of copyright infringement over the iPad. Apple's apology on their UK website went on to crank the snark to 11, essentially dubbing the Galaxy an inferior, less cool product:
But the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool.

British Judge Robin Jacob deemed Apple "non-compliant" and ordered the company to reissue a more sincere apology. Apple complied.



The 'Sorry, MobileMe Sucks' Apologies
Before there was iCloud, there was MobileMe, the company's cloud-computing predecessor.Problems began during its launch in July 2008, when it was found that the "push" capabilities of MobileMe were far from instantaneous. Apple said it would cease using the term "push" until sync was nearly instantaneous. Other launch problems included server troubles, slow performance and erratic behavior such as unexpected logouts.

The troubles eventually culminated into an apology. "We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge," Apple said to MobileMe users in an email.

But Jobs was far less nice with the team that created MobileMe. According to Fortune, the founder berated the group of employees for MobileMe's shortcomings at a meeting, asking what MobileMe is suppose to do and following with "So why the fuck doesn't it do that?"



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