NCDC ramblings and first week with an iPhone

I arrived at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and proceeded to the speakers ready room to obtain my badge, conference materials and, if the truth be known, get a much needed cup of coffee. In the past few days I've crossed 10 timezones and am having trouble with jet lag. While there, I met an old friend, Melinda Kendall, Czar of LinuxWorld, GridWorld and the Next Generational Datacenter Conference (NGDC) for IDG World Expo. We used to work fairly closely together while I was at IDC. It was great to see her. I'll post again as I learn more from the suppliers presenting at NGDC.

Ramble over to the Apple Store

Once I had obtained my conference bag, obligatory speaker chotskies (hand outs, gifts and the like), and speaker badge, I wandered over to the Apple Store to get some help from one of their "Geniuses."

"Why am I visiting the Apple Store?", you may ask. Although I enjoyed working with the HTC Advantage, I had so many troubles with Windows Mobile 6 and the device itself that I decided to eBay the thing and purchase another phone. The iPhone intrigued me and so I took the plunge.

It appears that the device I purchased had a few technical glitches. Most of the functions the device offered worked just fine. The map/GPS function only worked intermittently. After speaking with a very helpful support person from Apple and taking steps to isolate the problem, I was told to drop in at the Apple Store on Stockton Street in San Francisco to get face-to-face help from one of the Apple "Geniuses.

The Apple Store

My first take was that the store was very, very busy. People were shopping for Mac systems, iPods, iPhones and accessories. On the second floor, a class was being presented on PhotoShop. The audience seemed enthralled with what could be done with a home snapshot. The Genius Bar was packed. For a moment, I thought that I had mistakenly walked into a Starbucks store having a free coffee day.

So, I checked in to let them know that I was impatiently waiting. All of the Apple Employees were friendly, helpful and, how can I say it gently, "unique." When my name was called (yes, they mangled "Kusnetzky"), I spoke with Collen Brown.

Collen and I reviewed all of the steps that had been taken to isolate and repair the problem. He also reviewed the online notes left by the hotline specialist I had chatted with earlier. Collen went to the back room, picked out a replacement phone, transferred my SIM card, activated the new iPhone and sent me packing. I synchronized the phone with my laptop when I returned to the hotel to reload my huge contact list, calendar data and the like.

I wish I could have recorded the transaction to show to contacts at Dell, HP and Lenovo a thing or two about good customer service. The transaction was quick, it was friendly and I was never made to feel that I was causing them a problem for them by asking for support. Good job Apple!