So why am I writing this?
With the Apple representative(and lets be clear... by no means am I surprised), there was not a moment of pleasantry, promotion, or mutual interaction. For 30 minutes an interrogation ensued. "Why aren't you recommending the iPhone more? It makes you alot of money(and with the amount of back end Apple requires for the privilege of their device, my paycheck has decreased since its launch) ...tell me any objections you have." Not that he was listening to any objections brought forth. The smugness in the air was palpable and suffocating, leaving no room for conversation. Question after question led to role-play situations where no individual but the "Apple" himself was correct... No matter the topic. No matter the question. No matter the answer.
After talking with a co-worker of mine for 10 minutes, the representative uncovered that, my colleague does not recommend the iPhone over other products to the "techy" group. Post awkward silence, the rep asked my colleague to give his pitch to a tech savvy individual as to why other products were better. The pitch was presented, valid points were stated, and in turn, the rep was asked to give his opposing pitch. Fair? Of course... we were open to his pitch and willing to let him persuade us.
30 seconds of silence later
"I lost my train of thought."
Another 30 seconds passed.
"I, uhhh, can't remember what I was going to say, give me a moment."
A final 30 seconds went by.
"I don't know what to say, but I would love to speak with you at a later time about this topic. If you would like to give me a call to set up a time when we can go over the specifics of what I would like to say, I would be happy to spend some time reviewing it with you."
For the entirety of our interaction to that point, this gentleman had ridiculed our every word, told us we were wrong, that we needed to do better promoting the most popular phone in the world, that no competing product we use or promote has a benefit to it, and continuously put us on the spot to explain our position. And finally, after this exhausting and awkward exchange was over we replied in all fairness asking why his product was better...
NOT ONE WORD. The same representative that KNEW all other products were inferior, could not mutter a single syllable as to why his product reigned supreme. When asked in turn to do exactly what he asked of us, he froze. A direct employee of Apple, paid to promote the features and advantages of their devices failed to come up with a compelling argument, or any argument at all. The same man willing to attack any and all that did not sport an apple on the back, with examples that had little validity if any, had no response beyond his products were "amazing."
I have no problem if you use a product because you like it. If you bought something simply because you wanted it, even if it makes no sense to another. But don't go out and trash every product similar to yours if you can't give a single explanation as to why those products are junk.
