On Fri, 9 Jan 2009, Brian Rost wrote:
> Nowadays we are so spoiled with upgrades and updates for free that we
> expect it even though the mfr gets no return on their investment unless
> they are continuing to ship the product.
=====================
not necessarily...
let's look at two examples: a sony HR-MP5 and a kawai SX-240. i've had
both with old OSes, the sony a few years after it was discontinued, the
kawai ∗many∗ years since it was discontinued.
i called sony, and after spending hours trying to find a department where
anyone even had access to verify that such a thing as an HR-MP5 was, at
some point, made by sony, and even getting through to an engineering
group, i was no closer to getting an updated PROM. customer service from
roland, yamaha, korg, etc are in this league.
compare that to kawai... i called their toll-free number, within a minute
i was talking to troy, their US product specialist (i was in NJ at the
time). i gave him my address, he sent me an updated EPROM for the SX-240
and requested that i send back the old EPROM so the can re-use it, which i
was more than happy to do. i could also mention that, a few years (???)
after the k5000 was discontinued i brought a bug to troy's attention, and
shortly afterwards (a week or so?) they released an upgrade (OS 4.04,
which is somewhat fitting as the final OS for the last synth they ever
made).
of course, kawai no longer makes synths, but if i were deciding between a
new roland synth and a new kawai synth, the customer service would steer
me towards kawai.
so overall i would say that this level of support can't (and shouldn't) be
measured in terms of ROI like marketing & advertising, but rather in
indirect terms of customer loyalty and customer retention.... which in the
long run as a much better return than marketing & advertising.
another factor is just that the technology now makes it feasible for end
users to upgrade their toys without the need for a screwdriver, so any
company that's not on board that train is shooting themselves in the foot.
holding out a software update just because someone bought in early is
∗really∗ dumb... if the update is available, the smart thing to do is give
it away. access (virus) took that to a (presumably) profitable level by
offering software upgrades for free, and anyone could upgrade to the level
that their hardware supported... but they also offered hardware upgrades
for a fee.
--
...atom
________________________
http://atom.smasher.org/ 762A 3B98 A3C3 96C9 C6B7 582A B88D 52E4 D9F5 7808
-------------------------------------------------
"Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe,
and sometimes I think we're not.
In either case the idea is quite staggering."
-- Arthur C. Clarke