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Dear Apple, It Better Be Worth It

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This article is more than 6 years old.

Like millions of other Apple fanboys (and girls) around the world, my alarm went off at a ridiculously early hour this morning, waking me up just in time to open the Apple estore app on my iPhone (7 Plus) and order this year’s holy grail of Cupertino-designed tech: the iPhone X.

That was how it was supposed to work, at least. As is often the case with Apple’s new product launches these days, reality proved a lot more frustrating.

Like any fanboy worth his window sticker (okay, I don’t actually have an Apple window sticker on my car, but there is a whole box of them in my desk drawer), I had dutifully logged on to the Apple Store on Monday to get pre-approved for my iPhone upgrade. The successful completion of that challenge granted me an email informing me that I could complete my purchase by opening the Apple Store app at precisely 3:01 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday morning.

Apple made sure I did not forget our tryst.

It automatically set an alarm for T-minus one minute in Calendar. Then, as I waited for my car’s oil to be changed Wednesday afternoon, I received an email reminder. Finally, a pop-up alert interrupted my dinner to remind me not to be late. By the time I went to bed (checking my alarm one more time and advancing it to 2:56 a.m., just to be on the safe side), I was starting to feel like I was having an affair. I would have felt guilty if my wife’s iPhone had not gone off at just that moment with a little reminder of her own from the technology giant (thanks, Apple, for inserting yourself so completely into our boudoir).

My alarm went off on schedule (score one for Apple), and I impatiently waited for five minutes.

Actually, that’s not true. I opened the Apple Store app at precisely 2:59 a.m. (a.k.a. 11:59 p.m. Pacific) because, well, you know … Hope springs eternal. And in the case of the Apple Store app, so do cheery little messages informing aspiring iPhone X owners that “We’ll be back.”

At least they seemed cheery initially. After all, I had jumped the gun. It was still only 3:00 a.m. But when I reloaded the Apple Store app at precisely 3:01 a.m., I got the same message.

Then I got it French.

Then in Mandarin.

Then in Spanish.

By 3:05 a.m., I could say, “We’ll be back” in a dozen different languages. Nog even geduld … Já voltamos … Torniamo subito … I was beginning to feel like I was in a casting call for some sort of multilingual reboot of The Terminator.

In desperation, I tried logging on to Apple’s website. Initially, I got the same frustrating message. So did my wife, who quickly decided that she really didn’t need a new iPhone that bad after all and went back to sleep (Luddite!).

I was not so easily deterred, but I was starting to get pretty darn disappointed. And after a few more reloads of both the app and the website, that disappointment started to turn to annoyance.

So, I did what anyone would do in such circumstances: I turned to Twitter to vent my frustration.

There, I discovered hundreds — nay, thousands — of people were dealing with the same exact thing. There were already memes being created, along with hashtags like #imlost and #wtfapple. Now, I was angry. Clearly, what we were dealing with here, was a major systemic failure in Apple’s online ordering system — one the company should have anticipated and prepared for better than it actually did.

Then, just as I was about to give up and start Googling reviews of Samsung Galaxies, it happened. My umpteenth refresh of Apple’s web store finally displayed the button I had been looking for all morning: Pre-Order Now.

So, I did.

And it switched me back to the Apple Store app to complete my order.

And then it crashed.

Really, Apple? Really!?!

At this point, a lesser fanboy might have given up. But I had not endured the ergonomic agony of the hockey puck mouse just to stop now, when I was so close to the latest iteration of Apple’s promised land.

So, I reloaded.

And then I reloaded again.

And then, there it was: my new iPhone X in Space Gray with 256 gigabytes of storage, available for pickup at my local Apple Store on November 3! And there was much rejoicing.

I completed my order. At least, I think I did. Apple gave me an order number and a time to show up to claim my prize. But the promised confirmation email still has not arrived. Nor has my wife’s, who was of course roused from her putative attempt at slumber by my aforementioned rejoicing. She had to make do with a November 3 ship date, since all the in-store units were claimed by the time she made it through the same complex choreography of loading, crashing and reloading.

So, we’ll see. Will it be there when I show up? Or will Apple leave me jilted at the altar of technological bliss. I guess I’ll have to wait until November 3 to find out.

All I can say, Apple, is that it better be worth it!

So What?

If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably wondering what any of this has to do with business leadership or strategy.

A lot, actually.

No company can afford to take its customers for granted the way Apple has with this whole pre-authorization, pre-ordering process — at least, not for long. Part of Apple’s whole brand promise is that the products and services it offers “just work.”

In this case, it didn’t just work. Instead, Apple made the process of buying a new iPhone only mildly less frustrating and painful than buying a new car. If it continues to do so, the company will force longtime loyalists like myself to reconsider.

This is what happens when companies forget that the way they deliver their goods and services is just as important as the goods and services themselves. Amazon’s success is a testament to this truth. I hope for Apple’s sake that it does not become the cautionary tale that bookends Amazon’s success.

(Full Disclosure: I own shares in Apple)

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