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You don't have to translate tit for tat what Zappos does. Both businesses are different at a more granular level, but great service is a universal language. I

You don't have to translate tit for tat what Zappos does. Both businesses are different at a more granular level, but great service is a universal language. I know the guy at the local PC store on a first name basis. Why can't I have that same relationship with my PC vendor and not deal with yet another call center that is overseas? Why do I have to deal with 100 fucking SKUs at DELL that all have some random numbers? You know how Steve Jobs decided the Mac product lineup? A 2x2 grid: columns for desktop+laptop and rows for consumer+pro. Don't blame Microsoft so much. Blame the OEMs.

pyre 17y ago
> Don't blame Microsoft so much. Blame the OEMs. I'm not blaming Microsoft for anything. In general computers have more points of failure, which means more support calls. While having a simpler line-up prevents you from overloading the customers with too much choice, you also end up in the boat where people will go elsewhere if one of your pre-built machines isn't exactly what they want. Apple has people griping about this stuff all the time, but people that want the 'Mac Experience' can't really go to Dell to get it. As far as a generic PC goes, they can just hop over to Dell to get it. Though I guess you could get around this by offering customization options that Apple doesn't have, but then you run into additional labor costs (which a larger competitor like Dell might be able to cut significantly).