14 DAY TRIAL // A seemingly inexplicable shutdown of Apple’s online store today has resulted in a new support section for customers looking to have all their questions answered by users of Apple's products and services just like them.
Appropriately named “Answers from the community”, the new forum works on the Q&A concept allowing anyone to ask a question and wait for the right answer to arrive.
The platform seems to be pulling some questions and answers from Apple Support Communities, the company’s full-fledged customer forum.
For example, one person asked on March 18th, “iPad or Macbook Pro 13" for a college student”.
“i am a pharmacy major student and i have a HP laptop..its pretty old and its 15.6" which is really huge, i never take it to college with me because it is heavy. so i was wondering what should i get the Macbook Pro or the iPad,” reads the post.
In typical manner, Apple fans flocked to provide a good piece of advice. The Best Answer (as moderated by Apple) was:
“As much as I love my iPad, I think I'd go with the Macbook if you can only pick one. As a college student, you can expect to do plenty of writing, and the dedicated keyboard on the Mac makes that much easier. Since portability is important, perhaps the 13" Macbook Air is worth considering?”
Another person asked something similar: “Would you buy an iPad to replace a laptop or in addition to a laptop?”, to which the obvious answer was “In addition. Maybe in the future, but right now an Ipad doesn't replace a laptop.”
Naturally, there are all kinds of sections (iPhone, Mac etc), not just for iPad-related questions.
For example, Shereen A from Sunnyvale asks a long-burning question on the iPhone section: “How long does the battery last on the 4S?”
Anyone care to offer their Best Answer there?
And there’s a categories section to the left where you can choose Q&As based on real-world scenarios and usage.
The advantage is that users have this forum one click away from their purchase on the Apple Online Store.