Is Apple the Nordstorm of high tech?

Michael Gartenberg | August 31, 2006, 10:47 AM

Consumers don’t really care about things like Leopard or iPods. They care about music, web browsing, e-mail and the like. The platform is only a means to an end. They also care a lot about the experience they go through in buying these products and they care about the customer service they receive. That brings me to the point of this post. Over the last few weeks I have heard several anecdotes about Apple’s customer service. (I was involved in one of them directly). All the stories were stories that bordered on the stuff that urban myths are made of. They were repeated over and over to groups of people. They dealt with things ranging from MacBook keyboard problems, iPod failures and customer service during the purchases of a back to school system. In each case Apple did not please these customers, Apple delighted them. None of them fit the traditional Apple customer demographic, none were die hard techies. Just customers trying to work with their devices or purchase technology. They’re not customers anymore, each and every one of these folks is now an Apple fan.

In short, Apple has made the technology buying experience something that rivals the best consumer retail experiences. Apple has become Nordstrom for high tech. Ever shop at Nordstrom’s? If you haven’t, you should just for the experience. In fact, if you run a support organization, you should go to Nordstrom’s and shop for training purposes. There’s a great urban legend about Nordstrom’s that they actually took a return on snow tires. Years ago, I did a presentation for Nordstrom’s in Seattle and had a chance to chat with some of the family members who still are active in running things. Of course, I had to ask the question. “Is the story about the snow tires really true”. There was a pause in the room and folks looked at each other and smiled. Finally, one of the family responded. “I won’t tell you if it’s true or not, but here’s the thing, they’re not telling that story about Macy’s”

This is the reason that I think Apple is a real threat to a lot of folks. It’s not about technology, it’s not about what features are in Vista or are in Leopard (although those things are all important). What’s going to really matter is how much mindshare Apple is going to build as a result of these types of tales of support love. And regardless of whether they’re exaggerated over time or not, it’s not likely folks will be telling tales like that about Dell, Sony or Microsoft. And as you know, mindshare today, leads to market share tomorrow.