Apple vs. Samsung

good questions you raise buddy...

hehe.... but this conversation can get tricky, or heated, as people have some strong feelings sometimes about one brand or another... 

for example, myself, I strongly dislike Apple - and I say that just to avoid using the word "hate" as it's a very strong feeling in itself and should not be used lightly... 

I assume you're referring to smartphones market... considering you've introduced in your comparison Samsung...

I'm referring to Apple, as a whole, as a computer manufacturer and also as a software developer... 

and, don't get me wrong, I used to work for Apple, back when Steve Jobs was with it... I hate it... I've worked over 9 months, until I quit on my own volition, despite all the advice from my wife at that time, my brother, my mom, my other friends... they were telling me that others dream of working for Apple, yet I am quitting... hehe... 

to me - and I'm an IT guy, all my life I've worked in the IT industry - there are many other companies better than Apple, and I say that by just working with the other companies...

like in my own particular case, I've worked with IBM, with Dell, with Cicso, Verison, Comcast, even FB (Facebook) and few other big names in the IT or the so called .com industry... 

despite what many end-users, aka final customers, may think, there are many other companies out there, much better than Apple... 

in my case, I just started working for Apple, coming from Dell Computers, back in 2010... just, by comparison, seeing it from the inside, how they do things, how they treat their customers, how they charge and over charge their customers for every little thing, it made me sick from my stomach... 

just do a YouTube search Apple vs. Dell and watch some funny videos and you'll see what I mean... hehe... 

here are just some basic examples, as it happens, here in the US... not sure anymore how in EU works nowadays... 



and I could go on and on, I've just listed some basic features for service and support, that sooner or later any end-user, any customer may need

I didn't even talk about the internal company structure, but for those of you out there loving Apple, let me give you a glance

With Apple:
- we were supposed to keep it strictly confidential that we work for Apple, like working for the CIA or something
- the only immediate family could know that we, in fact, work for Apple... why?? I have no clue... but, just think about, how many people you know in fact work for Apple..??... not many I bet...because they tell, they instruct their employees not to divulge that in public
- we were supposed to just do things, not think, not have suggestions, not have ideas, just do things and that's it, nothing more, I'm not even sure how their own people from the R&D work with this kind of approach
- we were having monthly meetings, just to pass on instructions for us, not to hear our feedback, or concerns
- room for career advancement, promotions - none, again, we were not supposed to think more than what our job description was stating
- workload heavy - understaffed, underpaid, overworked employees

and once again, me coming from Dell Computers... 

here is how it was with Dell
- Dell was encouraging us to be proud and let others know we work for Dell
- we were welcome, and even rewarded for new ideas, new suggestions, especially if those were implemented within the company
- we had a weekly meeting, and often the end of the meeting was open for questions, suggestions, feedback, concerns from the employees to the management team - and they were actually listening to our concerns, not just faking it, if our concerns were reasonable, they were looking into and taking actions... from simply replacing the coffee machine in the lunch room to a better copier-printer in the office, to even changes in the policies and protocols, if it will improve the workflow
- room for career advancement, promotions - yes, based on a fair assessment system taking in consideration seniority, performance and results
- just for my own case, I've started with them as an entry level trainer-instructor, in Austin, Texas, at their headquarter... well, if we want to be techincal and very accurate, it was Round Rock, TX that is a suburb of Austin, TX
- in no more than two years, I was promoted to Team Leader and given a team of 6 other trainers to work with
- they listened to my request to transfer to Houston, and they even compensated me with 50% of the relocation costs to Houston, even if it was my request to move there, not their own assignement for me
- then, 3 years after that, I was promoted to Trainig Manager, in charge of Training & Development operations and budgets, gave me at local level, in L.A. area only, at first 5 teams, with 5-7 trainers per team and assigned me to a new office in Los Angeles, this time they've paid 100% of the relocation costs and gave me a bonus to make the transition easier... 
- at that time, I've also handeled via VPN (Virtual Private Network) the training deparment for oversease operations, in Europe and Philipines, working in virtual team - kind of like we're working now here, except I was getting paid well for that then - working with over 4,500 people, other Dell employees from all over the globe...
- workload, heavy indeed, but we were not understaffed and definitely not underpaid, on the contrary, every OT - overtime pay - was approved if and when need it... in my case, yes, I was working over 50-60 hrs. a week, but it was worth it

in case you wonder, "so, if it was so good with Dell why to leave them..??.." it's a fair question, but with a simple answer

they deemed that the office in the L.A. area was not lucrative enough, not making enough revenue, as such they've decided to close it down... it gave us 6 months in advance notice to find other jobs until the last closing day... they've also offered to over 50% of our employees, myself included, the option to go back to either Austin or Houston, to continue to work for them...

in my case, despite what it may appear at the first glance, I didn't like living in Austin and Houston is an OK city, yet too close to the golf, with high humidity and on the hurricane path, so it's not like I'm crazy about Houston either... 

and, once you get a taste, a real taste of the West Coast in the US, especially L.A. or San Fran area, it's kind of hard to think of any other place to live... hehe... 

on top of it, during those last 6 months of the grace period, some of us - myself included were recruited by... well, you've guessed, by Apple, who heard that Dell will close shop, so they started recruiting some of us... 

thus, on my end, I said to myself
"OK, it's Apple after all, not bad, Dell was good, but Apple is not bad either..." and I get to stay in L.A. with a job lined up... so why not....

from outside, as an outsider of Apple, I didn't know that much, like I had the chance to experience from inside later on... 

hence, I didn't take the opportunity to move back to Houston or Austin and still stay with Dell, and I've tried with Apple and stayed in L.A. .... decision that turned out not to be a wise one on my part...

so, if you ask my opinion, what I like more..??.. is anything but Apple... 

my entire life, I only had one Apple product, an iPhone, and that's just because they gave us a 25% employee discount, but we still had to pay for it, deductible from our paycheck... 

that is not to say I didn't use or I don't know how Apple products work, especially computers and workstations - not at all, for 9 months, I've used only Apple products, at work, every single day... I still don't like them, compared with Dell... 

by the way, with Dell we had a 50% employee discount, if we pay for the item in one payment only, not on a payment plan... if we choose to pay in time, deductible from the paycheck, it was also a 25 discount...

so, to end my long dissertation... 

do I like Apple products..??.. not really, sorry Apple fans, but I can't swallow them well... 

from a smartphone and/or tablet point of view, I prefer only Android devices, and with it, Samsung, or LG, or maybe LG first and then Samsung, all tho' Motorola is not bad either... I now own and I'm happy with LG... (and of course, Apple is not so much on my list)

from a computer point of view, desktop and/or laptop, I personally favor and use only Windows based with Intel inside computers... I also don't swallow well the AMD processor, it's not a good fit for me...

but I guess that's because I started off the college with IBM, they were the first to hire me and give me a chance to prove myself as worthy of attention... hehe... so I may be biased towards Intel, but those are really great processors, no kidding... 

I only own and use Dell, nothing else but Dell... I've tried HP, Toshiba, and others out there... I used to sell computers, on and off, half of my life, from high-school, to even now, as we speak...

now, I'm on my laptop, of course, a Dell and at home, I have a Dell XPS as my main desktop and an Alienware - that is owned by Dell if you guys didn't know that - that is my so called gaming computer, for intense graphic overloads... hehe... like GTA V, NFS and others... hehe... 

I'm not kidding when I say I'm a gamer, my girlfriend can attest to that, especially considering she's not extremely happy about it... hehe... 

so, I'm sorry buddy or I'm sorry for all of you Apple fans out there, but Apple is really low on my list, Apple is really not my thing...

now, please don't hate me for that... you know that saying, "don't hate the player, hate the game..."

yep,

no kidding about that... it's a dumb policy if you ask me, but hey, what do I know, I was not in the management team with Apple, so I have no clue, till this day, I still don't understand why they ask their employees not to divulge in public they work for Apple... 

now, I don't know if that's a company wide policy, but with our office, the L.A. area, this is how it was... 

we had some R&D labs on the campus, and some research was done inside the premises, very secretive even for us not working directly in the labs, so I assume they wanted to keep it below the radar as a maybe corporate espionage countermeasure - but, I'm just purely speculating, still to this day, I still don't understand why they instructed us not to divulge we worked for Apple...

quite odd if you ask me, after all, we were not working for the CIA or some cover operations agency... hehe...