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I speak a lot to clients about the value of outside-in or bottom-up thinking. And this is a perfect case of what can happen when we ignore this advice.
Apple TV crosses boundaries inside Apple in some rather unusual ways. Something that more and more companies will be facing as they adopt new digital outreach approaches. In this particular case, it crosses three silos: hardware, software and the iTunes store. Based on my recent experience, it appears that no one has really looked at the entire process from the outside-in.
I had a movie fail to play. This is bound to happen sooner or later because, well, shit happens. Here's a quick breakdown of what occurred that leads us to the bigger issue:
1. I was refused phone support unless I purchased an apple care extended warranty. If I refused I would have to get support via email. Annoying, sure, but no big deal. So I paid the $60 as I was assured this would allow them to help me via the phone. And so they started helping me.
2. But this isn't easy for them. There is no way to get inside the guts on the Apple TV and no way for them to remotely access the device. So after we prove that I have internet access and the device is working, then we basically have no recourse but to download the video again. But here is where it gets good.
3. The people at Apple support are unable to help you with anything that touches the iTunes store. This gave me pause. The primary purpose of the Apple TV device is to purchase and rent TV shows and movies. And where are these purchased/downloaded from? The iTunes Store.
4. I am then directed to a webpage where I can submit a ticket to request that I be able to re-download the movie.
5. I asked how long this would take and was informed that the iTunes store responds to all requests within 24 to 48 hours.
The above process shows a lack of awareness for the context or experience the user (me) is going through. Let me paint the context of my experience (outside-in thinking.)
1. I get up in the morning of my big HD movie party and purchase a couple titles. I ensure that everything is downloading okay and then head off to work.
2. I bug my partner to check on it every once in a while and make sure the movies downloaded and that we didn't lose internet, power or upset the latency gods in any way.
3. I send out a reminder email to my friends teasing them with the hot new HD titles we will be watching tonight over popcorn, sake and beer.
4. I arrive home from work early and make sure everything is ready to go. The movies are downloaded and I don't think twice about it as they've always played fine in the past.
5. People arrive, the party gets kicked off, we all assemble to watch the first movie and blammo. It refuses to authorize.
This is the point in the story when I would contact support. It's also the point in the story where the current silo's and the process thinking inside Apple fail to map to an adequate solution.
If Apple wants to play in this space, they have to recognize that 24-48 hours may be fine for a song I downloaded and won't play but certainly not adequate when my friends are gathered and waiting to watch a show. I'm sure Apple TV is a very tiny share of purchases at this stage. And so these issues are likely not even appearing on the radar. (Note: it ended up taking over 4 days. Oy.)
Apple is anything but alone here. Almost every company on the planet is organized by internal disciplines that quickly become silos. To enter a new space that crosses silos, it's imperative we think of the context for the user and then map our interactions against this context with the aim to build our processes around the emerging insights. It's about mapping us to them. This approach allows us to re-think and re-prioritize across silos and position us for success by focusing on a positive experience for the audience.
How can you learn from this? How can you tell if your campaign, approach or solution is risking a bad experience?
- Create a story of how someone would use the experience you are creating. It doesn't matter if it's a new campaign site, product or online service.
- Write a story (or series of stories) in the first person, identifying key points of interaction along the way.
- Identify what can go wrong at each point of interaction (website is down, download fails, user is lost, etc.) Clearly identify factors both in and out of your control. Use this to identify a contingency and response plan.
- Now imagine that something goes wrong and the user contacts your organization through the worst possible channel. What has to happen for the experience to be rescued?
Where do you have no ability to save the situation? Where are you not in control? These are what I would counsel are the biggest risk points. And there are the areas where you are going to have to tell your story internally and start to bust down some silo walls.
NOTE: I was speaking with a good friend who used to be the chief technology officer of an agency we worked at together. He pointed out that it appears to be a very poor DRM (Digital Rights Management) implementation. If the system knows we purchased the item, it should allow us to download it as many times as required as long as the rules haven't been violated. ie: If there's a problem, we shouldn't have to go through the iTunes store.
TAKEAWAY:
Frankly, the Apple TV is ahead of it's time - both from a technology point of view, and more importantly, from Apple's inability to support it adequately. The good news is both can be improved and fixed. Let's see what Apple does.
I'm not alone. Here's a couple other points of view:
- My article on craphammer
- Dvorak Uncensored, "5 reason's why the Apple TV sucks"
- Article on gizmodo
Image source: niallkennedy
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Comments
I empathize with your situation, especially w/ friends looking on!
That stated, I've had a rather problem-free experience w/ my Apple TV, rentals and all. The only problem I've encountered has been network-based; much I think is to be blamed on my cable ISP (I get flickering TV reception, too).
Besides the waiting for new movies to become available on iTunes, my only gripe has been 24-hr viewing window.
But I must state that the "diamond in the rough" I've discovered is video podcasts. With growing variety and quality, these nuggets are starting to consume over 50% of my Apple TV usage. It's been a pleasant surprise.
/
Posted by: D9 | 06.26.08
Much to do about nothing! Ok, if iTunes had a 99% success rate, you might have a real issue (and Apple probably would have already addressed it). But the truth is that the iTunes music store works 99.99999% of the time (ok I don't know that for sure but work with me here). What you experienced was unusual in the extreme from what I can tell and you should have just sent the email about the failed download, asked for a credit back and re-downloaded immediately! Problem solved.
Compare this to the alternatives like netflix. You get the email about your movie being shipped, you verify that it made it to your house and you put it in only to find a scratch that makes it not work! The difference here is that this happens 5% of the time and you might have checked the disk before hand.
I've had my AppleTV for over a year now and have purchased/rented over a hundred titles, watched multiple hundreds of video pod casts. I don't think I have a more reliable video delivery system in my house (DirecTV included). So sorry you had a corrupted download (it's going to happen to me too someday), but it is far from enough of an issue to say AppleTV is not ready for prime time. IMHO.
Posted by: Doug Petrosky | 06.26.08
Apple pretty much has made one failing device after another but because of strong branding they are able to ride off into the sunset with un-happy users hard earned money year after year.
It is most peculiar how an Apple user’s dissatisfaction is reset through massive pressure created by the cultish like brand community that it has become.
Posted by: Levon Guiragossian | 06.26.08
Doug so what you're saying is, the Apple product is golden, and if it fails, it's the customer's fault?
Gotta love those Apple evangelists ;)
Posted by: mack collier | 06.26.08
@Levon:
Yeah, most peculiar...sort of makes you question whether your assumption has any validity to it!
Posted by: sidney howser | 06.26.08
Hi Sean,
As an IT guy who regularly lurks around the blogs here, you've finally sucked me into commenting. It's easy to miss the fundamentals here because of the Apple focus, but absolutely, you're spot on. I agree the process/responsibility/domain/expertise/etc. tradition is a tremendous challenge for those seeking to be innovative and agile. It hits both product development as well as product delivery. Apple is a fascinating example, because from my view, they've conquered the silos on the development side with some uber customer experience focus, but they totally can't execute on the customer support side (the delivery side). But in some ways, that's a bit of an Apple tradition that goes pretty far back.
For the rest of us, interesting lesson to be thinking about. With a marketing hat on, I think this is my responsibility to cross the silos in the customer's eyes, because you have one killer example of how that customer experience is a key marketing opportunity. HBR quality material here. Great stuff.
Posted by: Jeff Boles | 06.26.08
Apple, at least to me, has of late become a like a shiny new car. It's sleek and beautiful on the outside with every conceivable bell and whistle, but open the hood and the damned thing has no engine!!
I've heard too many horror stories about the iPod, the iPhone, their Airbook and lest we not forget the ill-fated Newton to give Apple more than a mere second of my time. I simply sit back, wait for the engineers of Apples competitors to come up with the "same" product only at half the price, better quality and better support (i.e. the new crop of iPhones clones from Samsung and LG).
Now I've read they're going after Blackberry users (primarily an older, business oriented, demographic). "Is that an iceberg I see?" said the captain of the Titanic. This has got catastrophe written all over it. GenXers and GenYers might have the patience to put up with Apple's BS, but as a 40-something business owner, I don't have time. When I need to make a call or I'm waiting for an important email, I don't want to deal with BS.
I give Steve Jobs a ton of credit. He pulled Apple out of near extinction. But Apple needs to polish up its act if it wants to continue to keeps its disciples loyal.
Posted by: Dawn | 06.27.08
@d9: I also love the device. And I am going to go look at the video podcasts. I've been amazed at how my device uses it to watch youtube when there's a perfectly good computer sitting right next to the TV.
@Doug: Ahhhh. There she is! I was waiting for a reply like this. The issue, Doug, is that Apple is not prepared for the design context of supporting this device adequately. Something they will likely fix. This is a process issue, not a device issue. I will repeat myself in saying it's not about the device, it's about what is required to support a device like this.
@Levon: Great point. I believe I have just witnessed and felt said pressure, Levon. ;)
@Mack: I feel dirty. ;)
@Jeff: Hey Jeff. Great points. I love it when conversations get people to put 3 hats on: technical, process and marketing. It often leads to great thinking and innovation. I think of Dell and how horrible they were at customer service and of the amazing turnaround by focusing on service. Be wild to think of what would be possible at Apple if a similar service and process mindset were applied. Thanks for de-lurking, btw!
@Dawn: The funny part about me slamming Apple's to-market-execution and support is that I love their products. The Newton was a crazy mistake but I read somewhere that the project has allowed them to leapfrog their technology of late in a bunch of directions (to bypass pen input on a mini-tablet like the iphone, for example.) I think Apple is a brilliant product design and branding company. They get way too well how to build products that market themselves. But I agree, they've got to apply the same thinking to their service delivery if they want to continue to play as they move from laptop to far more omnipresent elements in our homes and daily lives. (cell phones, tv, etc.)
Posted by: Sean Howard | 06.27.08
@Sidney
I would suggest you re-read my sentence as it has multiple points. In all fairness "...sort of" makes me question the validity of your response to my response.
Posted by: Levon | 06.27.08
@Levon:
I did read your post and I quite firmly stand by my assessment that your post has no validity. Plus, I'd sort of expect you to understand sarcasm.
Where has Apple failed in selling 40 millions Macs, 150 iPods, sold 5 billion songs, rated yearly at the top of customer satisfaction and sold nearly 7 million phones in its first year
Branding doesn't just happen and it alone will not build success...a worthy product must be at the center. Otherwise, Windows, Palm, Tivo and Netflix deserve no less of a scathing assessment.
It's one thing to have an emotional opinion, but by no means expect it to be accepted as fact with no semblance of practical merit.
Posted by: sidney howser | 06.27.08
sidney has a point. What major company doesn't have some dissatisfied customers and in this era, express that dissatisfaction on a blog? But Apple would not be where they are now if they sold poor products with bad support.
Mr. Levon seems to have a faulty chip on his shoulder!!! ;-)
Posted by: Jack Sparrow | 06.27.08
@Jack Sparrow: Great handle, btw. I fully concur, for what it's worth. Apple makes GREAT products. To give Apple their due, however, they haven't always been so great on the support front. Compared to many computer companies, I'd say they are generally good on the support front. But they have had significant issues on the support front. Regardless of this, let me say that their phone support of the AppleTV has been actually impressive. Only when we cross the line to the iTunes store does it break down. The challenge being that almost any issue with the device will likely have to cross into the iTunes store. And it appears the model of support there is based on a different use/audience that is likely not a good fit with the Apple TV device from a customer experience POV.
Posted by: Sean Howard | 06.27.08
@Sidney:
My post has plenty of validity - I point to the millions of re-calls that Apple undergoes with many of its product launches and lines each year (from ipods to faulty batteries in the PowerBook to the very topic of this post).
Posted by: Levon | 06.27.08
the batteries weren't made by Apple, and many other computer sellers issued the same battery recalls. What other recalls are we talking about? The nano (I think) having an easily scratched screen? That's just cosmetic, not functional. still a worthy customer complaint & reason for recall, but not remotely close to being a "faulty" or "failing" device.
I'm not cultishly devoted to Apple, but I really think that's an unfair and wildly inaccurate assessment of the company's track record.
Posted by: patricia | 06.27.08
I hereby concede to an inability to keep the focus on the issue as raised. May the pro apple / anti apple flame war gods be appeased. ;)
Posted by: Sean Howard | 06.27.08
Apple by all quality assurance means is and will always be responsible for secondary components in their products that they deliver and sell on the marketplace. I will remind you that 1.8 Million Powerbooks is no small re-call by any standard. Yes, a very easily scratchable screen is something you don't expect from something priced as it is.
Posted by: Levon | 06.27.08