The “Internet scale” input-to-profit function is most certainly not linear. Introducing linear cost centers would cut into the profit margins that essentially

The “Internet scale” input-to-profit function is most certainly not linear. Introducing linear cost centers would cut into the profit margins that essentially define “Big Tech” these days. Yeah Apple retail and the Genius Bar in particular is an interesting case. Apple clearly invests a lot on the customer experience in those contexts. I would argue that’s a value add to their massive hardware sales. Apple is a much more “traditional” company than most FAANG in that sense. Its web services/ dev relations divisions have the same old modern internet scale company customer service problems though. Edit: Apple’s text/phone support for hardware purchases is also excellent.