When I was young, I thought you had to be incredibly stupid to buy a MacBook pro.  I couldn’t comprehend why anyone in their right minds would buy a $1400 Mac when they could just buy any other laptop, which does the same job, for less than half the price. In my first year of university I quickly found out that just because two products do the same job does not mean they have the same value. In first year I bought A Dell I was very pleased with it. It took my class notes and played movies, which is the only thing I used it for. I felt like a geniuses in comparison to my friend Andy, whom I mocked for spending $1400 for a Mac in comparison to the $ 650 I spent for my Dell that did the same job.

(Happy singer Adele)

My contentment lasted for about a week, I soon discovered my Dell’s battery could not last an entire class and I found myself fighting over plugs in class with other PC students, while the Mac students who had a much longer battery life enjoyed uninterrupted lectures. This resulted in Andy mocking me for my troubles in class due to my short battery life, but all hope was not lost as Andy’s mac crashed in the second week of school. He had to go into the Apple store to get it repaired, thus he was without a computer for two days. I had a good laugh at his expense until week 3 when my dell crashed and I had to ship it off for repairs, after a 2 hour conversation with a very annoying automated machine. The repair took 3 weeks and my dell never worked properly again.

(Sad singer Adele)

After a year of both hardware and software issues and annoying conversations with automated machines I decided to pack it in and get a Mac. After getting a mac my whole life changed. I discovered that the value of Apple’s products was actually worth the additional cost to me. This was due to Apple’s approach of relationship/value marketing instead of transaction based marketing. When I bought my Dell there was the transaction and very little communication between Dell and me, unless I was having technical difficulties. In contrast when I bought my Mac they continued to email me with new offers for not only their laptops but cellphones and music players as well.

Originally I didn’t pay much attention to these emails but when I started having issues with my Mac and took it into the Apple store I received such great customer service that a part of me felt as though I owed it to Apple to read their emails. My Apple geniuses Frank was really kind, fixed my laptop in a timely manner and when he was done asked me if I was interested in any of their offers sent to me via email. As a result of Frank’s excellent customer service, I read the email offers and am now a loyal Apple consumer. I am now a proud owner of a MacBook, iPhone, and iPod. Apple through their great customer service has created a value for me that matches the price and has turned me from an Apple heckler into a complete Apple consumer.