Batteries Running Out of Steam

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This is one week for anyone who has held out against buying a laptop to finally feel good about that decision

Not only has Dell had to deal with a recall of tons of batteries made by Sony, now Apple has joined the fold with an announcement of problems with Apple notebook batteries.

Some may say this is nothing but an unusual problem that is unfortunate for everyone, but I’m beginning to wonder. Dell has had a boatload of problems for quite some time now, the recall of a battery being very visual and thus very “news-making”, but there are deeper issues in Dell that are rooted in customer service ultimately.

I’m not going to even attempt to put forth a solution for Dell, or Apple, or Google, or AOL or anyone who finds themselves on the 5 o’clock news for a crisis they couldn’t or wouldn’t foresee. What does bother me is the underlying environment that spawned such a problem. And that is something that every company, not just computer manufacturers, have to sit back and take a look at the big picture and start to re-assess where they might be headed themselves and how that reality fits with the rosy picture of what people insist on calling Web 2.0.

Now I’ll go back to commending myself for not giving into that urge to buy a laptop for those plane trips or getaway vacations or to keep in touch while I’m in Borneo – I had my vacation and my time off on the plane and I didn’t miss anything too vital … the world didn’t miss me and I didn’t even have to worry about my shoulder bag blowing up if my laptop hadn’t been recalled yet … and yeah, sorry, I never got to go to Borneo except in my dreams … maybe next year

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