Well things are changing rapidly in China as it transforms into a high income region. The most recent statistics I found were from a year ago. I would not be surprised if the percentage is up a few ticks since then. It is really the percentage in the urban areas that is relevant as the vast population in the rural areas are not yet smartphone customers anyway.
As this article implied, the Chinese are fast adopters of Apple products. I think most people that desire to own the Apple products have already done so. This may change if Apple change its strategy toward the China market.
As this article implied, the Chinese are fast adopters of Apple products. I think most people that desire to own the Apple products have already done so. This may change if Apple change its strategy toward the China market.
I would not consider Apple's market penetration as static or saturated at all, either in China or the US. Teenagers are always coming of age and the halo effect, advertising and word of mouth will continue to expand Apple's market for iPhones and iPads.
I would not consider Apple's market penetration as static or saturated at all, either in China or the US. Teenagers are always coming of age and the halo effect, advertising and word of mouth will continue to expand Apple's market for iPhones and iPads.
There is no doubt Apple will continue to sell well in China. But I am talking about growing market shares in China.
The easiest solution to this problem is to require the Apple device serial number as part of the reservation and limit the reservation to one or two serial numbers.
I think we tend to get a First World sense of superiority on things like this, calling these guys names, when in reality, they are simply being good capitalists... Identifying a scarce resource, finding a way to corner the market, then acting as middle man for a cut of the action.
Not very different than DeBeers cornering the supply of diamonds and then setting the price, or Comcast taking advantage of a poorly designed regulatory system and leveraging their monopoly to rip us off.
Capitalism at its purest. I kinda admire these guys (at least as much as I admire any other corporate capitalists.)
It is, however, up to Apple to fix the system.
Capitalism at its purest? I think Adam Smith would cringe in his grave - though I understand that he never used the term Capitalism in his treatise. I thought an essential part of the morality of the 'Free Hand' of enterprise model was the notion of honesty, integrity?
This appears to be expoitation and vulturism. The system works fine without these middle men exploiting a 'gap in the market'. There is no gap.
The easiest solution to this problem is to require the Apple device serial number as part of the reservation and limit the reservation to one or two serial numbers.
There is no easy solution. For example a common reason to seek out Genius bar appointments might be because your iPhone won't turn on or won't charge hence you probably don't know your serial number. What ever method you devise to restrict the service to legitimate Apple customers will in the end actually inconvenience them. Apple's generous support services is something that has always set it apart from other tech companies.
Capitalism at its purest? I think Adam Smith would cringe in his grave - though I understand that he never used the term Capitalism in his treatise. I thought an essential part of the morality of the 'Free Hand' of enterprise model was the notion of honesty, integrity?
This appears to be expoitation and vulturism. The system works fine without these middle men exploiting a 'gap in the market'. There is no gap.
Capitalisam and 'morality' in the same sentence?
hahahahahahahha... oh god... please stop..... my sides ache!!!
Executives making 500 times the wages of their average employee is moral! REALLY!?
Health insurance companies standing between the patient and the doctor with a ladle out collecting ungodly amounds of money for contributing nothing is moral!?
Listen... of all of the arguments for capitalism, 'the morality of the invisible' hand is the most completely nonsensical. It is by definition (by its strongest suporters) AMORAL, which is the entire point. Don't put that messy idea of fairness into the sacred market.
I stand by my statement. These guys are the epitome of capitalism. Bless their little corrupt hearts.
Taking names on reservations, not allowing editing, and checking ID at the appointment would stop this. It is easy to justify the need to customers as it is for their protection.
For example a common reason to seek out Genius bar appointments might be because your iPhone won't turn on or won't charge hence you probably don't know your serial number.
When you register your product through your Apple ID- the Serial number is entered as well. And you set your appointment up through, guess what, your Apple ID.
Scalper books appointment in advance
User buys an appointment from scalper
Scalper cancels the original appointment thus opening up the schedule
Scalper reschedules for the same time slot under the name of the user
You are right that nothing can stop it 100%. And no one thing by itself will make much difference. But a combination of techniques could make it no longer lucrative for the scalpers. Based on the method described in the story, the first step would be to not allow the changing of details once the appt is made: name, device requiring service, email, etc. none of those things should ever change for a legit appt.. Sure, the scalper could try to cancel and redo a new appt; but that might not always work. Apple could introduce a random interval, say 5 - 30 min before a cancelled slot is made avail for rebooking. The scalper would spend so much time trying to reacquire the time slot that it wouldn't be worth their effort. Apple could also look more closely at the people making appts: IP addresses, etc. Again, not fool proof. But the goal is to increase the cost of doing business for the scalpers.
You are right that nothing can stop it 100%. And no one thing by itself will make much difference. But a combination of techniques could make it no longer lucrative for the scalpers. Based on the method described in the story, the first step would be to not allow the changing of details once the appt is made: name, device requiring service, email, etc. none of those things should ever change for a legit appt.. Sure, the scalper could try to cancel and redo a new appt; but that might not always work. Apple could introduce a random interval, say 5 - 30 min before a cancelled slot is made avail for rebooking. The scalper would spend so much time trying to reacquire the time slot that it wouldn't be worth their effort. Apple could also look more closely at the people making appts: IP addresses, etc. Again, not fool proof. But the goal is to increase the cost of doing business for the scalpers.
Sounds like a good plan but the scalper could write a script that tested the availability every second through a proxy server. But like you say no single solution exists, especially one that retains the friendly and easy access to the Genius Bar for all Apple device owners. Once you make legitimate customers jump through hoops to be authorized, Apple becomes just like any other serial number checking tech support system.
Good approach, i think online appointment system is one the best system.Online system is beneficial and time saving.I appreciated you.We are providing online facilities In which Physician Scheduling Software, Online Doctor Appointment System, Online Booking System for Doctors, Therapists scheduling Software, Online Massage therapists booking system etc...i wanna discus on this topic.Thanks for sharing this information.
Just an update of the information: the 10-40 yuan fee is a fake price. I contacted a few of them and the real price is 100 yuan, which is quite a lot when you know that a bowl of rice noodles costs about 10 yuan.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
Well things are changing rapidly in China as it transforms into a high income region. The most recent statistics I found were from a year ago. I would not be surprised if the percentage is up a few ticks since then. It is really the percentage in the urban areas that is relevant as the vast population in the rural areas are not yet smartphone customers anyway.
As this article implied, the Chinese are fast adopters of Apple products. I think most people that desire to own the Apple products have already done so. This may change if Apple change its strategy toward the China market.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tzeshan
As this article implied, the Chinese are fast adopters of Apple products. I think most people that desire to own the Apple products have already done so. This may change if Apple change its strategy toward the China market.
I would not consider Apple's market penetration as static or saturated at all, either in China or the US. Teenagers are always coming of age and the halo effect, advertising and word of mouth will continue to expand Apple's market for iPhones and iPads.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
I would not consider Apple's market penetration as static or saturated at all, either in China or the US. Teenagers are always coming of age and the halo effect, advertising and word of mouth will continue to expand Apple's market for iPhones and iPads.
There is no doubt Apple will continue to sell well in China. But I am talking about growing market shares in China.
The easiest solution to this problem is to require the Apple device serial number as part of the reservation and limit the reservation to one or two serial numbers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GQB
I think we tend to get a First World sense of superiority on things like this, calling these guys names, when in reality, they are simply being good capitalists... Identifying a scarce resource, finding a way to corner the market, then acting as middle man for a cut of the action.
Not very different than DeBeers cornering the supply of diamonds and then setting the price, or Comcast taking advantage of a poorly designed regulatory system and leveraging their monopoly to rip us off.
Capitalism at its purest. I kinda admire these guys (at least as much as I admire any other corporate capitalists.)
It is, however, up to Apple to fix the system.
Capitalism at its purest? I think Adam Smith would cringe in his grave - though I understand that he never used the term Capitalism in his treatise. I thought an essential part of the morality of the 'Free Hand' of enterprise model was the notion of honesty, integrity?
This appears to be expoitation and vulturism. The system works fine without these middle men exploiting a 'gap in the market'. There is no gap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kharvel
The easiest solution to this problem is to require the Apple device serial number as part of the reservation and limit the reservation to one or two serial numbers.
There is no easy solution. For example a common reason to seek out Genius bar appointments might be because your iPhone won't turn on or won't charge hence you probably don't know your serial number. What ever method you devise to restrict the service to legitimate Apple customers will in the end actually inconvenience them. Apple's generous support services is something that has always set it apart from other tech companies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pembroke
Capitalism at its purest? I think Adam Smith would cringe in his grave - though I understand that he never used the term Capitalism in his treatise. I thought an essential part of the morality of the 'Free Hand' of enterprise model was the notion of honesty, integrity?
This appears to be expoitation and vulturism. The system works fine without these middle men exploiting a 'gap in the market'. There is no gap.
Capitalisam and 'morality' in the same sentence?
hahahahahahahha... oh god... please stop..... my sides ache!!!
Executives making 500 times the wages of their average employee is moral! REALLY!?
Health insurance companies standing between the patient and the doctor with a ladle out collecting ungodly amounds of money for contributing nothing is moral!?
Listen... of all of the arguments for capitalism, 'the morality of the invisible' hand is the most completely nonsensical. It is by definition (by its strongest suporters) AMORAL, which is the entire point. Don't put that messy idea of fairness into the sacred market.
I stand by my statement. These guys are the epitome of capitalism. Bless their little corrupt hearts.
Taking names on reservations, not allowing editing, and checking ID at the appointment would stop this. It is easy to justify the need to customers as it is for their protection.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phone-UI-Guy
Taking names on reservations, not allowing editing, and checking ID at the appointment would stop this.
I doubt that would work.
Scalper books appointment in advance
User buys an appointment from scalper
Scalper cancels the original appointment thus opening up the schedule
Scalper reschedules for the same time slot under the name of the user
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
For example a common reason to seek out Genius bar appointments might be because your iPhone won't turn on or won't charge hence you probably don't know your serial number.
When you register your product through your Apple ID- the Serial number is entered as well. And you set your appointment up through, guess what, your Apple ID.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
I doubt that would work.
Scalper books appointment in advance
User buys an appointment from scalper
Scalper cancels the original appointment thus opening up the schedule
Scalper reschedules for the same time slot under the name of the user
Good trick!
When a reservation is canceled there could be randomized delay before if shows as available on the schedule.
The scalper has a big risk of not being able to reschedule.
If it is close to the appoint time it could be offered to a walk-in
You are right that nothing can stop it 100%. And no one thing by itself will make much difference. But a combination of techniques could make it no longer lucrative for the scalpers. Based on the method described in the story, the first step would be to not allow the changing of details once the appt is made: name, device requiring service, email, etc. none of those things should ever change for a legit appt.. Sure, the scalper could try to cancel and redo a new appt; but that might not always work. Apple could introduce a random interval, say 5 - 30 min before a cancelled slot is made avail for rebooking. The scalper would spend so much time trying to reacquire the time slot that it wouldn't be worth their effort. Apple could also look more closely at the people making appts: IP addresses, etc. Again, not fool proof. But the goal is to increase the cost of doing business for the scalpers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wiggin
You are right that nothing can stop it 100%. And no one thing by itself will make much difference. But a combination of techniques could make it no longer lucrative for the scalpers. Based on the method described in the story, the first step would be to not allow the changing of details once the appt is made: name, device requiring service, email, etc. none of those things should ever change for a legit appt.. Sure, the scalper could try to cancel and redo a new appt; but that might not always work. Apple could introduce a random interval, say 5 - 30 min before a cancelled slot is made avail for rebooking. The scalper would spend so much time trying to reacquire the time slot that it wouldn't be worth their effort. Apple could also look more closely at the people making appts: IP addresses, etc. Again, not fool proof. But the goal is to increase the cost of doing business for the scalpers.
Sounds like a good plan but the scalper could write a script that tested the availability every second through a proxy server. But like you say no single solution exists, especially one that retains the friendly and easy access to the Genius Bar for all Apple device owners. Once you make legitimate customers jump through hoops to be authorized, Apple becomes just like any other serial number checking tech support system.
Good approach, i think online appointment system is one the best system.Online system is beneficial and time saving.I appreciated you.We are providing online facilities In which Physician Scheduling Software, Online Doctor Appointment System, Online Booking System for Doctors, Therapists scheduling Software, Online Massage therapists booking system etc...i wanna discus on this topic.Thanks for sharing this information.