Frustration with Apple

Currently the press and the investment community have nothing but praise for Apple. My personal experience may be an indicator that Apple is listening too closely to all the positive buzz instead of thinking about the consumer's experience with the company.

I purchased an IPod for one of my children in April. I think I spent $250. I bought a case to protect it, but the case I purchased didn't cover the screen itself. Well, in late September, apparently my son put the IPod in his backpack along with his school books, binders and associated stuff. The screen on the IPod got damaged.

I went to our local Apple store. First of all, I was told I needed to make an appointment with a specialist. It was approximately 2pm and the next appointment was 6:15pm that evening. Then I asked about the screen. I was told that the standard procedure was for the consumer to turn in the damaged unit and recieve a refurbished one for $99 - $129. I was told the refurbished one wouldn't carry a warranty. The Apple rep who told me this then said I'd be better off trading in the damaged unit for a 10% credit against a brand new IPod. He then went on to describe the features of the new IPod, which recently came out. I siad that I wasn't interested in a new IPod after having spent $250 only 6 months earlier. My comment didn't seem to phase him, but I'm bloody frustrated. Next time I'll buy a case that protects the screen as well as the body, but I feel Apple should produce a product that's less susceptible to damage (there is no visible dent, so I think the impact was small and the rep said it doesn't take much to damage the screen) or strongly suggest purchasing a cover that protects the screen

Can business learn something from colleges about creating demand?

I recently sent my first child in college. The process of selecting colleges to apply to, applying and enrolling has made me focus on the remarkable pricing power colleges have. How many businesses can raise their price and see demand increase? (The NY Times ran a piece in the Spring of 2007 about a college whose annual tuition room and board was approximately $35,000 when the "norm" for private colleges was more in the range of $40,000 - $45,000. The college decided to raise its fees and saw an increase in the number of applicants).

The lesson? For businesses serving consumers the lesson I've determined must be: provide a product or service that makes you think you or your child will be improved in some way (make you think you look better, feel better or are more appealing to a prospective employer)

The benefit can't be percieved as "internal". Those benefits aren't percieved as being as valuable as benefits someone else can see. Adult education schools like those conducted by communities are described as self improvement or for fun. The prices they can charge are significantly less than the prices colleges charge for courses that lead to degrees.

Some of my favorite business/investment websites

I'm a reasonably active investor. My primary interest is in stocks. Here are some of the sites I visit to help me make my investment decisons:

1. Morningstar.com - requires a subscription fee, but worthwhile analyst reports
2. Yahoo.com - I do most of my monitoring of the market at this site. I particularly like the analyst upgrades & downgrades. Like most financial sites, the message board is worth very little.
3. Forbes - well presented website. I'm an avid reader of the magazine and consider the reporting to be top quality. I don't spend as much time on the site as I'd like to. I appreciate that Yahoo includes stories from Forbes, which gets me to click through to Forbes.com
4. SeekingAlpha - some extremely well written analyses
5. Blooomberg - top quality stories. I watch Blooomberg TV when I'm on the treadmill in the morning. Top quality guests on the TV show. The website features the video from some of the interviews.
6. TheStreet.com - I go to the site primarily to watch the Jim Cramer videos. What can I say? I think he's smart and entertaining.

An example of how to survive as a retailer in a world full of big box stores

Geography - I live in a densely populated part of Connecticut. Several local hardware stores seem to be thriving. There are Home Depot stores 10 miles in one direction and 15 miles in the other. but the hassle of traveling 10 or 15 miles on heavily traveled roads leads me and others to frequent these hardware stores.

Service & Price - Recently I shopped for a snowblower. I ended up purchasing one at my local garden store for the same price I would have paid at Home Depot yet the garden store assembled and tested the unit and delivered it! I hope the garden store is thriving. I have both the snowblower and my lawn tractor serviced there. In fact, its my understanding that if you purchase John Deere equipment at HD, it recommends you have it serviced at a local JD dealer.

Why Jim Cramer's stock picking performance doesn't matter

A lot of energy is being put into analyzing Jim Cramer's stock picking performance. I don't care. Cramer is very entertaining and the value to me is learning about what he cares about and how he conducts his analysis.

On Line Subscription based revenue Model for Charlie Rose

At the moment Charlie Rose is selling individual episodes. I'd appreciate it if he'd offer a subscription model, say for $50/annually where the subscriber would get access to his back library of shows combined with access to very recent shows.

The next big thing

Self directed vehicles. If you've followed the news, its clear that self directed vehicles are coming. Will they be widely deployed in 15 years? 30 years? Imagine the impact - truck driving will cease to exist as a job, there should be far less accidents since most accidents are the result of human error which will mean less fatigue for people and leisure time in the car, but less business for auto body shops. We'll also see the creation of vehicles intended for transporting goods only - pizza delivery vehicles. The result will be more consumer choice and retailers will have to retool their operations to focus on orders placed remotely that the consumer wants delivered - to start with there will be jobs for "pickers" who fill a shopping basket and load the goods into a delivery vehicle, but later retailers will reduce the size of their stores. They'll open distribution centers to serve consumers who place an order over the internet and who want the goods they purchase delivered and have smaller stores where they'll display merchandise and have a few of everything available for immediate purchase - these stores will be more like showrooms. If you can get everything delivered does that mean that cities will be less appealing? There will be smaller vehicles that only hold one person. Can someone design a modular vehicle that can hold one person normally, but can be expanded to hold more as the need arises? Will soccer moms let their children be driven to soccer practice by an unmanned vehicle? Self directed lawn mowers will be smaller since there won't be a need to carry 200+ pounds of man around the lawn. The demand for self directed vehicles will only increase if undocumented workers/illegal immigrants are forced to return to their birthplace and if the shortage of truck drivers continues

Searching for #2

To paraphrase Jack Welch, you want to be #1 or #2 in your industry, so who is #2 to Simoniz in supplying cleaning materials to the car wash industry? I saw a Simoniz truck recently. The tagline printed on the truck read: "In car washes everywhere". I wonder who's #2. If there's no clear #2, this seems like an opportunity for an entrepreneur.

Even Whole Foods feels pricing pressure

A single Whole Foods cookie from its own bakery used to cost $1.29, but the price was recently dropped to $.99/each. Who would have believed Whole Foods would feel pricing pressure?