Apple ProCare service revamp to offer less bang for buck
Mac users mulling an Apple ProCare license may want to buy into the extended training and repair service within the next 48 hours, as changes due later in the week will effectively double the cost of today's offerings.
The first $99 package will retain the "ProCare" brand and continue to offer Genius Bar reservations up to 14 days in advance, "Fast Track" priority same-day repairs, and general Genius Bar expedited service for up to 3 computers.
ProCare, however, will no longer include Apple's in-store personal training sessions, which will instead be broken out into a separate offering called "One-to-One." Interested Mac owners will be asked to fork over an additional $99 for the Creative-based training service, which will offer up to 52 one-hour sessions throughout the course of the year.
School teachers — not students — buying into the new One-to-one service will receive a $20 discount, bringing the cost of the package down to $79, those familiar with the changes say. On the other hand, there appear to be no cost saving opportunities available to customers who purchase both ProCare and One-to-one.
As part of this week's service shift, Apple is also expected to re-brand its complimentary Talk Mac computer consultation service under the "Personal Shopping" moniker and equip its retail employees with new Spring tee-shirts.
The moves by the Cupertino-based company are the latest aimed at boosting the revenue of its software and service segment, which has seen only a modest 6 percent rise over the past year. For the three-month period ending March, the segment generated about $345 million in revenues, down a percent from the December holiday quarter.
The high-margin repair and training services are often a subject of frustration for Apple retail employees, who are reprimanded by management for failing to push the offerings on new computer buyers. Apple Retail stores typically set specific ProCare and Apple Care goals (or "attach rates") which employees are expected to meet in a given period of time.
It's unclear how the service split will affect Apple's attach rate expectations.
39 Comments
Maybe this will finally mean there will be some focus between the two.
ProCare, however, will no longer include Apple's in-store personal training sessions, which will instead be broken out into a separate offering called "One-to-One." Interested Mac owners will be asked to fork over an additional $99 for the Creative-based training service, which will offer up to 52 one-hour sessions throughout the course of the year.
Will we see diplomas of the people giving us the "one on one" training seesions to show us that the instructors will actually be well versed in the subject matter? I only ask because I definitely do not want to be taught by the individual Apple Store staff that I encountered. It would not be worth even the $1.90384615384 (99.00/52.00)... to pay for his session!
Forget new Spring tee shirts, how about "springing" for knowledgable floor staff! See above rant!!
Will we see diplomas of the people giving us the "one on one" training seesions to show us that the instructors will actually be well versed in the subject matter? I only ask because I definitely do not want to be taught by the individual Apple Store staff that I encountered. It would not be worth even the $1.90384615384 (99.00/52.00)... to pay for his session! Forget new Spring tee shirts, how about "springing" for knowledgable floor staff! See above rant!!
Man, I could not agree with you more. Everytime I go into the Apple Store the sales people are bone heads. None of them have any clue, I swear, what a processor is. Our industry is moving toward the service aspect. Companies that offer spectacular service are finishing strong. Currently Apple's service is terrible, is this a way for their service to possibly get even worse? I would not pay any extra for service that sucks as it is. Gosh darn it just increase the price of computers by $100 and give free service of some kind, customers will be none the wiser, and it appears at though Apple gives complimentary service!
For the longtime Mac users like myself who really don't need training (I prefer to teach myself usually anyways) this is not bad, since I'm not paying for something I don't need. I would have liked to see it lowered in price, but yay for splitting up
I'm sure the ever important stock holders are happy
It really seems that the procare and 'creative' staff are more towards teaching people how to work a computer. I was in an apple store the other day and I heard a (rather) elderly gentleman with a Crative literally say 'I went to open iTunes and it dissapeared from my computer!' What had happened was he dragged his itunes icon off of his dock and didn't realize what happened.
Class is out. Back later
I highly doubt this will affect many people. You either used it for the training, or the technical support. I'm glad to see ProCare going back to its roots, and giving the One-To-One training its own service.
-Jay