Kiran Jonnalagadda’s Blog

When Apple debuted the iTunes Music Store in 2003, I enthusiastically signed up and downloaded music. I had a check card with a US billing address that I made gleeful use of. I loved the store. And yet, something didn’t feel right. It took me a while to articulate what.

I was no longer in the US at that time and my checking account was rapidly depleting. Apple wouldn’t accept an international card. Their licensing terms with the music labels only allowed selling music within the US, they said. Fair enough, but something still nagged.

Apple made (and still does make) excellent computers and iPods, but selling music was a different game. It was no longer a one-time transaction for the hardware, but a regular, sustained interaction for your content fix. And US only. iTunes updates now came thick and fast, but my new Indian billing address was no longer welcome. I could only sit by and watch what I could have had access to. Meanwhile, the rest of the iLife suite and Mac OS X felt ignored while all attention went to iTunes.

I knew what was bothering me then. Apple was seeking a tighter and more direct, long-term relationship with their customers, but in the process ignoring anyone in a market where it was too much effort to set up a relationship. This wasn’t how it was with a Mac. Apple’s computers were severely marked-up in India at the time, but you could get one abroad or pay extra and get it locally. Beyond the barrier of price, you would get the exact same Mac experience as anyone else anywhere in the world. All the software there was for the Mac was available to you too.

This would have been a trivial ’plaint about music licensing, but 2007 rolled around and with it the iPhone, sold locked with a carrier contract, US only. Apple once again not just selling a fantastic device, but making the business deals that ensured a great user experience. Where they had no deals, you got no device.

As of Jan 2010, you still can’t buy music from the iTunes Store or buy an iPhone 3G S in India. Apple can’t work out suitable deals, so you as a customer are irrelevant to them. Meanwhile, you can still buy a Mac at a price that is now nearly the same as in the US, and all the apps you want for it are still available. It seems like Apple will have you as a customer only if (a) they can guarantee the quality of the all-round experience, or (b) are willing to abdicate that responsibility. There’s no middle ground.

And this is the crux of it. As Indians, we’re used to technology that isn’t quite right for us, whether it’s the address book that insists you split your initials into “first name, last name”, the app that wants dates in MM/DD/YYYY format despite your locale settings asking for DD/MM/YYYY, or in general software that is overpriced in US dollars, compelling everyone to use a pirated copy. It isn’t for us, but we use it anyway and step around the quirks. We’re cool with that. Now here’s an entity that essentially says, “this is very cool, but it’s not for you and we don’t know when it will be, so you’re not getting any of it.” That’s plain arrogance.

Apple has spectacularly bungled the iTunes Store and iPhone’s presence in India. Everyone agrees that they are due to launch a tablet later this month that will be more of the same, with the device’s experience tightly bound to content distribution. I bet they will bungle this too in India.

If there’s a weak spot in Apple’s business model for a competitor to take a stab at, this is it. But Nokia, that elephant in the room, has lost its mojo. If only Google regarded Android as anything more than an engineering wet dream…

My Mac’s display died without warning one day last month. I was using it when blocks of randomly coloured pixels appeared on screen, obscuring the display. Rebooting didn’t fix it, nor did turning the power off to let it cool several hours. One of the internal fans had flaked out earlier and was in the habit of refusing to spin up every once in a while, so I suspect a burnt chip from overheating. I can no longer see enough of the display to boot up and login, but the machine continues to be fully functional when accessed over the network.

Being occupied with other things, I put the machine aside a few weeks and finally opened it last weekend to take a look inside. The right side fan was dead. It appears have to lost its magnetic charge as a result of my previous attempts to clean it and no longer spins comfortably when flicked with the finger. I couldn’t tell what was wrong with the graphics, however, so decided to call Apple Support. The machine is a little over three years old and well over any sort of warranty period.

Apple’s phone support directed me to the Ample Imagine store at Forum Mall in Koramangala. They said they’d have a look and tell me if it was fixable, but would charge Rs 750 for the inspection. I agreed and left my Mac with them. They called back yesterday and said they’d have to replace the logic board at the cost of Rs 35,000. Given that this is nearly half the price of a new Mac, I decided to save my money and use the machine as a display-less network server. This should have been the end of the affair, until I went in today to pick it up and noticed the job sheet:

The engineer’s comments said he had tried resetting the PRAM and connected an external display, but since that didn’t fix it, he had decided it was a logic board problem and suggested I get a new one.

What? That’s it? A diagnosis costing Rs 827 (750 + taxes) without even opening the machine? For all I knew, some chip could have had its soldering melted and come loose because of the overheating. It could even be just a loose connector on the board. Who trains these guys?

Now, there’s something to be said about this particular model. My Mac is a first generation Intel and unlike all Apple laptops that came before and after it, this one is not user upgradeable. It can’t be opened without literally cracking open the case, a process which leaves visible scars in the front, below the trackpad. I went through this process two years ago when upgrading the hard disk and spent over an hour gently tugging and wriggling a screwdriver to pry it open. An Apple engineer not aware of this history should have called me to confirm he could do this because of the risk involved, but no one called. There’s no way anyone could have opened it and failed to record that in the job sheet. They quite certainly didn’t.

This incompetence is appalling. I feel like I’ve been scammed of my money. These engineers seem to be trained to make diagnoses for machines within warranty, but not for anything requiring a real examination. Dear Apple: if you want to be a serious contender in India, you had better get your act together.

And for what it’s worth, I’m now on my own trying to get this fixed. I suppose I could start ordering parts off eBay and try my luck with guessing exactly what is broken, but it would help to have (a) real expert diagnosis and (b) a way to avoid wrangling with Indian customs when importing parts.

Do you know anyone I should be talking to? Or, know anyone with a dead MacBook Pro of the same period (Intel; pre-Unibody) who’d be willing to palm it off to me for spare parts?

I’m not as badly off as I could have been because I made a serious habit a couple of years ago of backing up everything, including having backup machines (currently an ASUS Eee PC 1005HA running Ubuntu Jaunty), but the machine’s absence is clearly felt, and I don’t have the budget for a new Mac until next year.

Update: As of January 2010, the Mac is working again. I got a new (used) logic board off eBay and opened the Mac to replace it, then figured I should test assembly on the old board first, just in case I damage anything. Surprise, surprise, the old board worked again! The new board however didn’t, so I sent it back and got a refund.

I went to Futura on KR Road, where they printed me an A3 sheet full of stickers. Eighteen copies. Anyone who wants one, ask me IRL. First come, first serve.

My laptop will be three years old two weeks hence. When it goes to its grave, I want it to go bearing signs of a full life. There is much acreage inchage left to be covered. The sloppy positioning is intentional, though I wish the Helvetica sticker were somewhat more artistically sloppy.

Because LiveJournal doesn’t allow fancy mouseovers and stuff, click for the picture’s home at Flickr where there be notes.

PS: No, I will not disgrace my desk with something as fuddly duddly 2.0-named as “MacBook Pro”. This isn’t even April 1. Apple should know better than to make such cruel jokes.