Support and Services of the iPhone and its Competitors

The iPhone, as well as other phone systems of comparable sophistication, are almost constantly being improved and upgraded, both in response to changing data levels and also customer feedback. The feedback from customers will differ depending on which platform they are using, and also perhaps what they are using the technology for. This paper looks briefly at the support services on offer for both the Apple iPhone and its competitor the Android phone, as well as if and how the efforts made on these services boost sales.

The iPhone service is now available in its latest incarnation, the iOS7.1 which, according to the website (iOS7.1, 2014) “is packed with interface refinements, bug fixes, improvements and new features.” Such an advanced platform will naturally require a host of supporting services from the producers of the iOS7.1 – which is called a “tangible good with accompanying services” by Kotler and Keller (2012) – and that support will come in the form of both internet and human-based help, depending on the severity of the problem.

Several strategies exist for getting around the limitations of inseparability. The service provider can learn to work with larger groups. The service organization can train more service providers and build up client confidence. (Kotler and Keller, 2012, p. 3)

There are advantages to either form of service – the internet service would allow for customers to find answers to their questions quickly and with a minimum of fuss not to mention cost) to the service providers, while a human backup to the preliminary support offered online would be beneficial to those customers who either did not understand the online information, or whose problem was not solved via that information.

Services are “highly variable” depending on who is providing those services, according to Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 3). The Android webpage is very much like the iPhone webpage with the initial focus on the possibilities of the platform used by the phones tablets and other hardware, before moving onto the specifics of each piece of technology (the user can click on the one they feel is most appropriate to their needs). This is perhaps an example of Kotler and Keller’s (2012, p. 8) “self-service technologies”, wherein the customer chooses the services they require for themselves, which should ideally make “make service transactions more accurate, convenient, and faster” for everyone concerned (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 8). It would be interesting if the support for customers was handled in the same manner, with customers being able to select the level and type of support they required.

Many companies are using the web to offer secondary service features that were never possible before. Conversely, other service providers, are adding a human element to combat competition from online businesses. (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 10)

The use of “self-service technologies” in this particular case could lead to an interesting way of “differentiating services” (Kotler and Keller, 2012, p. 9) in terms of which issues can be sorted via the internet and ‘self-service’ support and which require human input since as the Android operating system continues to grow, the potential for the service support to diversify is potentially unlimited.

It is important to note that while it allows customers to enjoy greater ease of access to a service’s support networks, the internet also allows customers and users of the various platforms (in this case iPhone and Android) to interact with each other online, as well as potentially find their own solutions to the problems they are faced with. Use of the internet is perhaps a way of fighting the customer inertia inherent in the use of a support service that is by definition intangible (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 2) but customer interaction outside of a controlled environment could also potentially be the spur that the support services of these platforms need to keep transforming “intangible services into concrete benefits and a well-defined experience” to keep their customers satisfied with the help they are receiving.

References

Kotler, P & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing Management (14th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education.

iOS7.1. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/uk/ios/ios7-update/

iPhone Support. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/uk/support/iphone/

Meet Android. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.android.com/meet-android/