[Podolsky]

Apple needs to field test hardware they way they do their software - by seeding the product into the field to get feedback BEFORE the general release to mortals. In fact, they could even piggy back this onto their software testing program and get double the feedback.

But, the desire for product secrecy, surprise releases of great products might be great for Steven Jobs ego but bad for customers. In fact, it punishes Apples best customers - the early adopters.

A returned Powerbook virtually wipes out the profit margin on that sale. People avoiding Rev. A products and delaying purchases is a huge loss to Apples bottom line. Anyone that buys a Rev A. powerbook now is really nuts. Apple should never have let this happen and it was avoidable. They must be loosing a huge sum on these new 15"

[James L]

Apple sold 3/4 million machines last quarter, a huge percentage of which were laptops.

While I agree completely with you that obviously some more q.a. was needed before the 15" line were shipped, I highly doubt that they are losing money over all on the line.

Remember that happy people don't post nearly as often as unhappy people. I would be willing to bet that there are many more happy 15" users than unhappy ones.

On the ones Apple needs to replace the screen on, I'm sure that they would have some deal with the supplier of the screens to replace them under warranty, just as we get a warranty when we buy a product.

Where Apple is losing for sure is in the bad pr they are getting from this. Mind you, my dell has the white spots in the screen too!

[Podolsky]

Originally posted by James L:
Apple sold 3/4 million machines last quarter, a huge percentage of which were laptops.

While I agree completely with you that obviously some more q.a. was needed before the 15" line were shipped, I highly doubt that they are losing money over all on the line.

Remember that happy people don't post nearly as often as unhappy people. I would be willing to bet that there are many more happy 15" users than unhappy ones.

On the ones Apple needs to replace the screen on, I'm sure that they would have some deal with the supplier of the screens to replace them under warranty, just as we get a warranty when we buy a product.

Where Apple is losing for sure is in the bad pr they are getting from this. Mind you, my dell has the white spots in the screen too!

I don't want to argue the $$ aspect, only Apple knows for sure. But, the systems and the culture of stress-testing is there. PR is huge for Apple and they are getting bad press on this. This slows the market down. Yes, Apple laptops are flying off the shelf but not as fast as they would be if some percentage didn't fly back on the shelf. But, again, my main point is that Apple needs to be doing what it already knows how to do with software. And while it doesn't always work - they get right most of the time.

[Angus_D]

Apple used to do hardware seeding as part of the CQF program (Customer Quality Feedback), but that was ditched because it was riddled with leaks. CQF was scaled back many moons ago and replaced with AppleSeed, which only does software seeding.

I can see Apple's position on this, though - their hardware is their main revenue stream, they need to keep their innovations under wraps until right at the last moment in order to maximise their profitability.

Finally, there's no substitute for a good, thorough in-house QA (Quality Assurance) team, and Apple's obviously isn't pulling its weight in a lot of areas.

[TheIceMan]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
...there's no substitute for a good, thorough in-house QA (Quality Assurance) team, and Apple's obviously isn't pulling its weight in a lot of areas.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Well said.

[James L]

Agreed.... well said!