The occasional rotten Apple

My weekly Mediapost innovation column focuses on the supply chain brainfart lag with Apple's new iPhone 5 between product announcement, release and the resulting accessory time lapse to supply the stores with protective cases.

Here's the link to the article on Mediapost and a sample of the text is below:

I have a love-hate relationship with Apple. I’d like to describe myself as a Pragmatic Advocate (as opposed to a Zealot Fanboy prepared to sleep outside for 5 days to get a phone that everyone else will have within days or weeks).

I personally have switched almost entirely to Apple products (Phone, Pad, Air) based on the unbeatable form and function combination that truly is superior to anything else on the market. I don’t do this blindly. I feel like it’s been a logical and natural process. I love the tangible product family, however I really love the intangible service and experience excellence (Blue shirts, Genius, 1-to-1) that truly separates them from their competition. 

With a bar set so high, one would think it’s OK to slip up once in a while. Perhaps they’ve earned a Mulligan or two in the marketplace. Only that they actually slip up more often than one would think (the antenna fiasco, battery issues, cracked screen, overheating – the list goes on.) My problem with the company is their detached closedness, secretive opacity and perceived arrogance associated with how they go to market. 

This is a company that projects aloofness and a superiority complex, which does not behoove a humble leader. I say that intentionally, because I don’t think they want to be humble. They absolutely believe they know better than their consumers and aren’t influenced by the market. 

I don’t even have a problem with that. I just wish the company would — occasionally — admit when they’ve made a mistake. 

Here’s the most recent one: My new iPhone 5 arrived on Friday, Sept. 28. Today (as I write this), it’s October 12. 

I still don’t have a case for my iPhone. 

The Apple store has nothing in stock. In fact, they’ve never received a single case. They also have “no idea” when they’ll receive cases. They are, however, very happy to sell you Applecare for $100 and a $49 replacement fee for when (not if) you drop your caseless phone and crack the screen.

Can you see what’s wrong with this picture?

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/185162/the-occasional-rotten-apple.html#ixzz29StZtSnh