Apple services in Brazil

The title of this column is maybe not right, but…. read on.
Past years we heard about some … crazy experiences with Apple services in Brazil. To prevent any lawsuits from the Brazilian companies against our website we will not mention their company names and locations. Our first experience is a kind of consumer experience… the second one is about a professional services that is needed for Apple video edit and animation workstations at a company that produces corporate videos for major companies.

The consumer experience.
Some time ago an iPhone 5 started to suffer from bad batteries. This device was about 2 years ‘old’ at that moment. The iPhone was bought in Europe. The owner moved to Brazil and is living there. At the same time Apple started to replace defective iPhone 5 batteries back in 2014… for free… worldwide. On the Apple website you could check if your iPhone 5 could get this free battery replacement by adding your serial number on the Apple website. Yes… this iPhone 5 could get new ones for free.

The consumer made an appointment with a Brazilian company that is pointed out by Apple on their own website. So we are talking here about an official Apple iPhone repair center. The consumer traveled off for a 3 hour trip by busses, metro and taxi. This official Apple repair center welcomed the consumer, got his phone and started to work on it. After a 30 minute wait they came back with the phone telling the consumer that they cannot change his battery because the phone was bought abroad. The consumer explained he is a foreigner and that he bought the iPhone in the country that he lived at that time. They said that it is not possible to exchange the batteries in the ‘foreign’ iPhone 5. Sadly they also erased the whole phone because of privacy reasons they said, without asking the consumer in advance. The consumer could't use his phone anymore that day because his backup was only on iTunes on his computer at home and not in his iCloud.
Great!

The consumer went of for a second option, another official Apple service center nearby. Over there he was also told that they do not repair foreign phones. This store told the consumer that it would be better to go to the official Apple Store. After a 1,5 hour trip the consumer arrived. One of the so called Genius Bar people told him the same thing… with an addition. The repairs of foreign Apple phones is forbidden by Brazilian Law (Anatel). The ‘Genius Bar’ person also told the consumer that he could get the new free batteries in Europe. Ok, let’s buy a R$3000 plane ticket than to get some free batteries .. crazy!

So… the consumer who was entitled to get free batteries for his iPhone 5 by Apple did not get this ‘worldwide’ service of Apple because of a specific Brazilian law in forbidding that. Nothing of this is mentioned on Apple’s website… they even point you as consumer out to these official Service centres to get the free replacement batteries. The consumer was now forced to go to a 3rd party who installed some new batteries in his iPhone 5 and they have worked since than without a flaw. The consumer lost at least one whole day by communication, traveling and such and in the end he has to pay for these new batteries. We are honest that Apple contacted the consumer to help him out after this, but yeah… batteries were there and iPhone 5 worked. The help from Apple came too late.

—————————————————————————————————

Service for audio visual professionals.
The second story is from an international postproduction company with edit suites in Brazil, specialized in producing corporate videos for big companies. At their Brazilian edit suites Apple’s are running FinalCutPro X and Motion. The machines they use are high spec and will costs about R$ 15.000 till R$ 20.000 each. Because the Apple products are of very high quality you can use them for editing and such for more than 6 years this postproduction company tells us. After those 6 years they can still be used for a lot of other jobs within the company.

One day one of their edit-machines did not start up any more. The machine was an iMac 27” inch from 2012, almost 6 years old. The machine was normaly left on 24 hours a day… was never turned off for more than a year for sure. But… it had a problem. The company called 2 official Apple service centers in a big city in Brazil. Specialized in repairs and official recommended by Apple on their website.

The phone call was short and clear. The employee explained that they not repairs Macs that are older than 5 years. When they were asked if the iMac must be thrown into the trash than they did not answer… or even trying to give a solution for the Postproduction company who spend already al lot of money in buying these iMac's.. Service with a smile again! By one phonemail the Apple service center lose a client.

The Postproduction company was also forced to turn to a 3rd part repair center and they solved it. After an inspection by the company the ‘old’ iMac was repaired, cleaned and also got a new Harddisk installed for R$ 1500 within 2 weeks. They also installed a new operatig system for free.
Amazing service from this 3rd party repair center.

Conclusion.
It seems that the official Apple centers, repair centers and even the Apple stores themselves cannot deliver the service Apple promises worldwide… even when it is guarantee or a refund for free replacement batteries. As we know a lot of Brazilians buy their phone, laptops and tablets in the USA or Europe and bring this to Brazil after their holiday. If they cannot be repaired by Apple… what will or can Apple do? What can Apple do if we talk here about a special Brazilian law?

The regulation of ANATEL is the basis of any and all commercial contract involving Smartphones in Brazil. If the device is not homologated by ANATEL a repair or refund is forbidden by law. This counts for all Smartphone brands, also Samsung and LG.

Worse it is for Audiovisual professionals who has to turn to a 3rd party when their edit tools are older than 5 years. Of course there will be user experiences from Apple owners who are different than the ones mentioned in this column, but still… just for you to know that nothing is granted, even when you spend your R$’s on a quality Apple product. It would be honest from Apple to mention this on their Brazilian website and also point out maybe to some 3rd party repair centres who can help out to repair these expansive quality devices. We will mention already one 3rd party developer who works very professional and gives a honest good price, iTec-Solution in Santos. If you know also a good quality Apple 3rd party repair centre… contact us. We will be happy to mention them here.

Apple delivers a great service worldwide, but cannot give it in Brazil

would be a better title for this column.
Meanwhile Anatel is not resting in their hammocks, read this article from MacMagazine, Anatel começa a bloquear celulares irregulares.


René Schaap
More info you can find on his LinkedIn: br.linkedin.com/in/connectingmedia follow him on Twitter René_Schaap

mentioned:
Apple
Cnet article - Apple will replace your defective iPhone5 battery for free
Anatel

3rd Party Apple repair centers:
iTec Solution Santos

Tags: Column, Apple, Anatel

If you start making a difference, more people will follow.

As this is the first column of 2018 i would like to start to wish each and every one you a great new year full of chances and new opportunities, to chase your dreams and step out of the ordinary and fulfill your wishes in business.

That said; let’s take a look at the new year. This year is election year, which means a lot, depending on the outcome, more than ever before. The country is on its knees but there are positive signs for the next year. At the end of last year people already spend more money on gifts, more people got jobs so there is light at the end of the tunnel. But the outcome of the elections will decide if that light keeps growing or if it will diminish. I like to see the glass half full rather than half empty, seek opportunities and go for it. Election year in general also means more jobs in the media industry as all the politicians needs there commercials, promo videos and so on, that’s another positive point.

At the moment I am abroad and I always get surprised about the development elsewhere and the fact that Brazil needs these changes too.
Today I want to use as example the equipment from EVS Broadcast Equipment. This company develops soft- and hardware for the broadcast industry. They started back in 1994 with equipment for replays. Nowadays it is the most used system in the world for replays, live editing and recording and they develop new soft- and hardware all the time.
Last week I was part of the broadcast team for Camels 2018 in Saudi Arabia. This is one crazy event about camel races, camel fairs and everything that involves camels in the middle of the desert near Riyadh.

There I used for recording a so-called Xfile system. It’s a system that allows you to record feeds and restore clips form the EVS server to Hard disks for example.
This system also allows you to streams directly to HD’s. You can stream up to six feeds at the same time to several destinations. Copying this would take a lot more time, so it is very handy and time saving. And time is money, so a very good solution.

In Brazil I have never seen this system being used while it exists in the OB vans. Operators don’t know how to use it so they stay behind from the rest of the world.

Operators who are using this system are being invited to work all over the world and they gain a lot of experience and can improve the workflow and quality of TV making. That is a missed opportunity. It requires little effort and it’s really worth it.

Opportunity !!

Last year we even searched for english speaking EVS operators in Brazil for a client, there was non to be found!!

This is just an example but there could be many more projects like these and it all starts at the attitude. No one gets anything done by saying that won’t happen. We just have to make it happen and it all starts at your very self.

If you start making a difference, more people will follow.

So let’s start the year positive by thinking about opportunities and making market for all of us! To an excellent new year from all of us at Broadcast Brazil!

video:

Tags: Column, Crisis

Pay-TV, Pay-tv, But what are we paying for?

This time I want to talk about the rights on pay-tv. In Brazil there are many pay-tv channels not to talk about the sports and movie channels. All those channels people have to pay for to watch as the name describes. 

But what are we paying for?

Let's pick GNT for example. This is one of the biggest pay channels in the country and yet they show so little. People pay for reprises. Some programs have 2 seasons a year and they are being repeated over and over throughout the year. And that's the case for almost all channels. If you see the programming for a week the same episode passes sometimes 3 to 4 times.

It's a vicious circle. Because of this people will more and more move to platforms as Netflix where they can watch tons of new content every day and these pay channels will lose more viewers and make less money. That’s a real threat. So pay channels need to invest more in new content, especially now it’s crisis in Brazil and people will spend more time watching tv at home instead of going out.

That brings me to another part of pay-tv. In Brazil among a growing amount of other countries people have to pay to watch live sports. We have nowadays FOX sports, ESPN, Esporte Interativo and SporTV in Brazil. Besides those channels there is as well Premiere. Premiere is a pay per view channel where you can watch only some soccer matches. These are matches from the same championship as the matches that pass on SporTV and FOX sports for example.

For example, a viewer from Rio de Janeiro can’t watch in many occasions the match of their favorite team from Rio. Those matches are blocked for the state of Rio but in the rest of the country you can watch those matches on SporTV. So the matches are only blocked in the state of the home team or the state where the match is being played. The viewers who want to see the match of their favorite teams are obliged to buy the game at the pay per view channel even if they bought a package of sports channels at their provider. That is for me the biggest example of screwing your viewers. You can see all soccer matches except for the ones that you really would like to see. Imagine a Chelsea fan who pays monthly to watch the matches in the premiere league but he can watch all matches except the ones from Chelsea. To watch a match of Chelsea he needs to buy a pay per view.

At this moment, especially, pay channels need to think what is important to them; happy customers or a lot of money. Because if they continue like this the money option is ending and that will result in less and less customers, read viewers, to whom they can sell their content and commercials.
Because…….

Brazilians are crazy about sports, but they are not crazy!!

Links:
Telecom and Pay-TV Services Markets in Brazil Set to Grow at 2.3% CAGR During 2017-2022

Number of subscribers of select pay TV providers in Brazil from April 2016 to April 2017 (in thousands)

Roeland van der Manden
More info you can find on his LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/roeland-van-der-manden , Check his website or follow him on Twitter AmsterdamProductions

mentioned:
GNT
Netflix
FOX sports
ESPN
Esporte Interativo
SporTV

Tags: Column, Sport, payTV

It is crisis in Brazil. And also for some of us Audio Visuals it is not easy. We can see that a lot of equipment is for sale at the moment… a sign that some companies and freelancers struggle to survive in Brazil. Last year was a good year because of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Big and small companies where able to get some pieces of the huge olympic pie. Not only foreign companies but also a lot of Brazilian companies, their co-workers and the freelancers.

But for this year and the next years it will be less… for all of us.

How to survive this Brazilian crisis is of course a little bit of luck involved, but… you need to work hard to get that luck on your side. Look for foreign clients and jobs at our JOBS page is one example. Work on your professional network on LinkedIN and visit broadcast related events. Learn more about your jobs by watching Webinars by Broadcast related companies as we mention a lot on our facebook and Twitter timelines every week. YouTube, a huge free source of knowledge. But there is more that also works for the local Brazilian market. By showing a practical example you may can add it to your workflow. It are these little changes that will do it. Some years ago we wrote already a column about the same subject so we add another case.

case 4
Past weeks we had an electrician at work at our venue, a small father and son company. They needed to do some re-wiring. After some days they were done, they did a nice job and worked hard. But…. All over the place they left dust, dirt, little pieces of wire, tie-raps, little pieces of tape etc etc. So we asked them to please clean that up. Their answer was: That is not our job!

When i worked with my father some 30 years ago also as an electrician in Europe, My father teached me this lesson. When you leave the place you worked, the place must look cleaner than when you arrived. That was a smart piece of marketing, because his clients spread the word to others, that my father did his job very well and that he left the place cleaner than before he came. The result is that my father with his tiny company was never without work.

Work hard and smart.

For us audiovisuals it is also in this small things. Do not charge your clients if they wants some little extra’s from you. Be very flexible with charging hours you worked to your clients. Make and keep backups of your footage for example and keep it, when they need it.. you will be the hero that you have kept it and you can even charge money for it than. When you are on location be prepared, so bring more than you need in cables, microphones, lenses and even power.

This type of ‘marketing’ will get you in front of your competition. Sometime things may look it is not your job or not important, but if you pamper your client by giving them an awesome service, being very flexible and delivering an outstanding quality… they will spread that word to others. It also means that your price is of less importance because they trust fully in you and your product. My message to you all is:

Start with it.

When you make it easy for your client and deliver an outstanding result, he will come back for sure. The return will take some time but it is worth it.


René Schaap
More info you can find on his LinkedIn: br.linkedin.com/in/connectingmedia follow him on Twitter René_Schaap

mentioned:
Olympic Games
Service with a smile
Jobs
Industrial Agenda

Tags: Column, marketing, marketing

The jogging dead

The end of the summer break is near. People are coming back from holidays, schools are opening its doors again and the new TV season starts!  That's for me the best part of the end of the summer, beside the so desired temperature drop. 

Last week already some programs started the new season but the big majority starts after carnaval. Saia justa, papo de segunda among others will open the new season in the second week of march. As you can see, GNT is a favourite at home. Pedro pelo mundo is one of our favourite programs. I like the way the program is structured and the places they visit. But sometimes I wonder if this is Pedro at his most exciting, probably it's just the way he is. But he could be a little less monotonous and put some more emotion in his show. 
I hope we will see some new programs this year, not just a new show but something never seen before on Brazil's pay TV. 

I was by far the most bizarre thing I have ever seen on TV

And than there was off course the second part of the seventh season of The Walking Dead. Many people were looking forward to the restart of the serie. But it was what happened before the new episode that caught my attention. And not only mine but of many others as well as I saw later on facebook.  Fox was showing all the previous episodes of the series in a marathon. The episodes were speeded up by thirty! percent. Why? According to FOX there wouldn't be enough time to show all the episodes in real time. What? Not enough time? How do you mean, isn't that just a case of starting earlier?  I couldn't even understand the serie because they spoke too fast. It was by far the most bizarre thing I have ever seen on TV. The person who came up with this idea should be very ashamed! 

Tags: Column