Why does the media love Apple and trash Dell?
I'm not a big fan of surveys, so I don't quote them often. But a recent Consumer Reports survey about PC manufacturers listed Apple as No. 1 in tech support, with Lenovo second, Dell third, and HP dead last. I should also say that Dell came in second in desktops.
I thought the headline should be "Survey says leading PC maker HP dead last in tech support." But that's not what happened. The media hailed Apple, trashed Dell, and gave HP a pass.
Horror stories about Dell's support are all over the blogosphere. Why is that? I mean, why does the media give Dell such a hard time?
Because perception is reality. But aside from being a pithy statement, what does that really mean?
Well, according to Merriam-Webster, perception is "physical sensation interpreted in the light of experience."
As it turns out, I have a great deal of experience with Dell. And while I think the quality of some of Dell's computers seems to have declined in recent years, my experience with its tech support has been quite positive. That's my experience.
So what is it about the media's experience that makes them love Apple, ride Dell, and cut HP slack? I guess the media has learned through experience how to get eyeballs. That doesn't make them bad; it's just how they get paid by advertisers.
Eyeballs seem to gravitate to winners and losers. Clearly, Apple's hot these days, so it's easy to understand why the media loves Apple. Apple's a winner.
And while HP's operating results have been strong in recent quarters, its tech support appears to be subpar. And since that makes HP neither a winner nor a loser--it seems to fall somewhere in the middle--that means no eyeballs. So HP gets a pass.
But Dell, well, Dell's another story. Dell has fallen on hard times lately. Its growth engine has stalled amid stories of executive dysfunction, battery problems, and degradation in tech support. Michael Dell has returned as CEO to fix the mess.
These days the media loves to trash Dell, not because Dell's a loser, but because it's a former winner that, as of late, has fallen from grace. That, to the media, seems to be even better than being a loser. A winner that falls off a pedestal (that the media helped put Dell on, mind you) gets lots of eyeballs.
So, the next time you read a blog that seems to be "piling on," remember, that's just the media doing its job. The media isn't paid to reflect reality, it's paid to get eyeballs. And if bloggers perceive that they'll get eyeballs by dragging Dell through the mud while hoisting Apple on the highest pedestal they can find, well, that's just what they'll do.
And if that bugs you, well, you only have yourself--actually your eyeballs--to blame.
As for Dell, it only has to worry about the perception of its customers and shareholders. But what if its customers and shareholders are also influenced by the media? Uh-oh.
- Topics:
-
Apple
- Tags:
-
Dell,
-
Apple,
-
HP,
-
Michael Dell,
-
tech support,
-
Consumer Reports,
-
eyeballs,
-
blogosphere
- Bookmark:
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
GE Interest Plus
You fail to explain why Apple doesn't deserve their ranking. You fail to explain why Dell deserves a better ranking, other than your own personal experience. And you distort the article you say "trashed Dell" by failing to read the entire article, which talks about the perceptions of Dell's customer service and how the company can work to correct those perceptions.
And surely you appreciate the irony of using a flamebait headline in a piece denigrating the media for their "eyeball grabbing" ways. So then, you'll agree to forgo any compensation you received for writing this particular piece, since you were doing the public a service by exposing the media in such a fashion?
These media stories don't come from thin air. I to thought dell was pretty good until my parents had an issue with a sound driver and the tech had them format the pc, and my wifes 720 xps was replaced with because it smelled like smoke and Dell replaced it with lower grade internal parts then she had initially. It was weeks getting this worked out with taking discussions with techs from Canada, India and someplace in South America.
On the other hand my Apple experiences are not only good but fun. My Mac Book Pro failed I walked across the street to the Mac store got a Genius and 20 minutes later my memory was replaced and I was on my way. While I waited I took in a free class (or part of one) on my iPhone. Mac has gone out of their way to be not only cool, not only tech smart but my technology partner. When was the last time you went to a free class on Dell or Microsoft?
It's not customer support its customer expirence and Mega Corporations mostly don't get it.
This year I've spent 10K at least with Apple. Money that would of easily gone to MS and Dell had they realized I had options and treated me as a customer and not a inconvenience.
Just to avoid further misinterpretations of my post: the point was that the media, specifically the blogosphere which is primarily commentary, has learned from experience how to get eyeballs. I didn't think that was "exposing" or denograting anything or anybody. I do it too, of course. Every business "sells" its "product." If it doesn't, it fails. Period.
Moreover, I wasn't referring to any particular article. Tom Krazit's right - I didn't read his article. The one I did read was Erica Ogg's and I thought she was spot on and found all the comments fascinating.
My own subjective experience tells me that, as of late, the media loves Apple, trashes Dell, and gives HP a pass. That's just my experience and my opinion. It wasn't meant to critique anybody's article. I just thought it was an interesting topic to discuss.
Furthermore, I never said or meant to imply that I thought Dell deserved a better ranking or that Apple doesn't deserve its ranking, either. I believe the statistics are fairly accurate. The point in describing my experience with Dell was to demonstrate how subjective experience can be, nothing more. My new notebook is a Sony. So there.
Steve Tobak
Among the two I can easily see why more are interested in what Apple does.
What has CR Magazine's compilations of user experience to do with media perception? This is reality reported by users, in fact, thousands of users. Not a single user experience (yours) which you seem to think is so important.
Was it a slow news day and nothing worth wile to write about? That's my perception "physical sensation interpreted in the light of experience" of your article.
Second, if you think the MEDIA trash Dell, you should see how Dell OWNERS trash Dell! Spend some time in their forums someday - back when I was making a choice between an iPod and a Dell DJ, the forums told me all I needed to know - the DJ was awful.
Third, anyone who has dealt with both support systems much KNOWS Dell has a clearly inferior support product. I bought a Dell laptop last year and will never buy another from them. Contrast that with the 5 Macs I've had (average service time - 5 years) and the great support I've received when I needed it (including a free repair, courtesy of a Genius Bar tech, for a problem I openly admitted I may have caused myself!).
Lesson to all: blaming customers for their feelings towards you is a bush-league move, whether you're the RIAA, Dell or CNet.
With my HP computer, I had 3 problems in the first year or so, but the problem is actually Windows XP issues. I can't blame HP. No hardware problem.
With my Dell laptop a couple of years ago, I spend an hour to uninstall all the bloatware. And just right after the warranty, things stopped working. I had to switch a keyboard and buy new ram.
Where I work, we use Dell's too. We have a Dell technician coming to the office every month to fix the same workstations over and over. Another problem is that when they attempt to fix hardware, they don't supply new hardware, they supply refurbished hardware. And there's reasons why that hardware was refurbished in the first place, cause they don't work! For example, there's one workstation which we had to switch the ram with more refurbished ram 4 times even though, after the first 2 times, our tech hypothesized that it's a motherboard problem. After the 4th time, Dell thought maybe our own tech is doing it wrong, so they send their tech. So he installed the ram, deemed there's no more problems, left, and came back in 2 days (with the computer running fine for 1 day) to swap out the motherboard!
I lost all trust in Dell, despite their good and fast service. It's the frequency!