Take a bite.

It wasn’t that long ago when a Walkman was the norm, a computer had the name IBM, Compaq, or Dell on it, and a cell phone was either made by Motorola or Nokia; times have changed and you can blame Steve Jobs. He didn’t invent the computer, cell phone or portable music player---he made them Apples. And America has taken a huge bite.

I have never met Steve Jobs, but I did have an encounter---one that I have told to anyone who would listen. I received an ipod for the holidays back in 2002---when they first came out. Back then they were the size of a cigarette package, could only play songs---up to 1,000 of them---and if you dropped or lost it you were out nearly $400. (Today that same unit holds more than 30,000 songs, plays TV shows and movies, and takes videos---all for half the price.)

The first ipod I received lasted 3 weeks as the hard drive crashed when I downloaded my second batch of songs. I took it back and received a replacement at the Apple store---no questions asked. The replacement lasted less than 4 weeks before it crashed. Yes, Apple had a few bugs to get out of it…but it still was very cool and the sound, when it worked, was fantastic. I had much better luck with the 3^rd ipod---it lasted a little more than a year before it crashed. But something happened that I didn’t like or expect---Apple said the warranty had expired because it was more than a year old.

Here’s where it gets interesting. I spoke with Apple Care---they are the ones who help you fix Apple products. When they too said, “I am sorry but it’s out of warranty.” I then asked if I could talk with a supervisor. She explained she was one. So I asked, “May I have Steve Job’s address at headquarters?” Very politely she gave it to me. So I wrote to him.

About 5 days later I received a call from Cupertino, CA. I thought it was a joke; sure enough Steve Jobs read my letter and had his personal assistant handle the situation. His name was Alan and he said, “Mr. Jobs would like to make sure you are a satisfied Apple customer.” I was floored. Sure enough after hearing my situation, Alan said, “Let me contact the nearest Apple Store and take care of this.” He did and I have continued to be a devoted Apple user having purchased every product they have ever sold. All it took was a phone call.

The photo above was taken in our living room. I thought it looked like a still life painting; more important it reminded me when you see something that you like, it’s perfectly normal to want to take a bite. I did and it was an Apple.

Thanks for stopping by.