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

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

Are Audio Visual events in Brazil prepared for international?

This year BroadcastBrazil.com and some foreign visitors had been visiting some of the most important Audio Visual exhibitions in Brazil. AES Brasil EXPO, Church Expo 2015 and SET EXPO 2015. We also paid some attention to Church EXPO and the ABTA 2015 on the Broadcast Brazil’s blog. We are also familiar with the NAB and IBC exhibitions in which we attended ourselves past years.

AES Brasil EXPO and the Church Tech EXPO were planned on the same days. I am honest when i say that i did not really check far in front where exactly both were organised, i just checked AES on this a few weeks before the event would take place. I thought both events were located in the same exhibition building because of the dates they were held…. and i was not the only one it seamed. Than i found out that they were both on another exhibition location? For me as a visitor this is not really a problem, It just costs travel time…. in this case it cost me another day. But i think for the companies who hired some space in one of the both exhibitions would have preferred one location for both events… just to attract more visitors. Because even the big guys have a budget to spend each year and to be on both was impossible for them.

Trying to register AES Brasil EXPO 2015 as a foreigner was … special.
First thing to do is online register to attend the event for free, and that is also the start of…. some surprices. Because we put our selfs in the feet as a foreign exhibition visitor we attended the english part of the website which is given as an option on the top of the website by a little english flag. So far so good.

As ‘Attendant: we clicked on REGISTER NOW! This leads to a page in portugese for exhibitors.. ok? After some clicking thru the website menu we found another link to register. As you can see in that english menu that there are also options in portuguese?

We tried to register again. With some help of Google Translate we managed pretty wel. After filling in the form in a Safari browser on an Apple we had to stop because the form gave a ‘popup’ window that we were not capable to click away. Only a Forced Quit of the browser saved us. Let’s try Firefox than…. that worked much better. But … the links now leads us now to the Portugese register form? There they ask (of course) to attend by a ‘CPF number’ . As you may know… foreigner visitors, except foreigners who live in Brazil, do NOT have a CPF number.

We found out by clicking the other options in the same menu that not one result was something a foreign visitor to AES Brasil EXPO can use. It was available in Portuguese, or not available at all. It all seams that the website part for foreigners was not finalised yet.

After filling-in as much as we could in the portugese form, also by adding info like DDD 019 TELEFONE 12345678 we clicked CADASTRAR. And that the following happened. Nothing! No message… no reply by an email. NADA.

Meanwhile we contacted the event organiser by the contact form on the same website, after 2 weeks we did not get any answer from that side. We posted a message on the Facebook page of the event organiser … we got an answer…. in English. They said not to worry because i was registered!

Hi René! Don't worry: You are already registered! You just have to come to the AES Brasil Expo 2015 and show yr professional card or any personal doc at the registration desk in the venue. We deserve very nice time in São Paulo. Thanks for coming and any doubt, let us know, ok? Regards from Brazil!

They also promised to fix the problems on the website before the event. That is also good news.

So… All done… so let’s go to São Paulo. When we arrived at the AES Brasil EXPO it seams at the desk i was not registered at all and have to do a manuel one at the desk… with a pencil. Not one of the people behind the desk at Expo center North spoke english, so it was not easy for us to explain ourselves. It took time and it created a long line behind us with people who also want to enter this exhibition. It became even worse because other (not patient) visitors in the line said that we have to speak portuguese ‘here’. Really? I told them in my best portuguese that we do or best, but i am a foreign guest visiting this exhibition in Brazil.

For us this was a bad entry on this exhibition. Than we found out that it was….. small….. very small. We knew this exhibition from past years, but we would not expect that it had shrinked this way. The website problems were also never solved, the picture below was from a screenshot of the day the event started.

Besides these problems we also missed a FREE WIFI on location in which could be a good service for the visitors. Food and drinks were well arranged in the back of the event hall. And we still managed to network with visitors and companies

Onto the next one. Church Tech Expo on the other side of São Paulo.
The expo organised by Panorama was much, much better arranged. As on the website as on location all went very smooth…. no problems with online forms what so ever, The exhibition was also much bigger and diverse than the AES EXPO. We really enjoyed this exhibition where there was space enough to walk, to talk en look around. Some special things were there to be seen like some new OB-vans and Uplink SNG vans, Jibs, camera’s etc. etc.

Why AES Expo, Church Tech EXPO, SET EXPO and Photo • Image don’t combine in Brazil as one big exhibition on one location and around april each year? Maybe also add the Expo Music. It will be ‘THE Audio Visual and Broadcast exhibition’ for South America. Making it an International event and add people who can communicate in English and Spanish besides Portuguese. Arrange a website where all who are interested, from Brazil and outside brazil can easily register.

In doing so:
- It will safe costs for the exhibition event organisers and companies who exhibit
- It will bring more foreign companies to Brazil to exhibit
- It will bring more local visitors but also from neighbour countries
- The conference will bring a more diverse group of speakers
- It give opportunities for companies to work abroad

We at Broadcast Brazil think that the Audio Visual exhibition organizers in Brazil have to level up and try to do this. It will be better for everybody in our business What do you think?

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

For dates on next years events of the mentioned Broadcast events in this column, check our Industry Agenda.

mentioned:
AES Brasil EXPO
Church Tech EXPO
SET EXPO
NAB
IBC
Expo Music
Photo • Image

Tags: Congress

I remember before the Worldcup Soccer started the international media told that Brazil would not be ready in time. I visited the Itaquera stadium in São Paulo 1,5 month in front of the start of the Worldcup myself and that did give me more trust that all will be finalised in time. Of course lots of things had to be done, but Brazil would manage this, I never doubted that. I was afraid of Brazilian audio visuals and companies not getting jobs at the Worldcup because of their knowledge of English, because of the import-tax they have to pay for professional equipment while foreign companies just import their equipment temporary and not paying the import tax. Was I wrong? No, I was right and that is sad.

Several foreign companies and broadcasters took major parts of the Worldcup AudioVisual work. Like the Euro Media Group. They bring equipment, people (120) and their OB-vans to Brazil because their price is maybe better than Brazilian companies and that is weird. A company like NEP from the USA has an OB-van in Brazil, they work together with the Brazilian company Casablanca Online.

Ok…Globo SporTV had a new OB-truck you say? but they have money (a lot) and very important connections. Also in smaller productions we heard that most foreign ENG crews brought their own people and equipment to Brazil. Of course Brazilian audio visuals and companies were working at the event and even sometimes for foreign companies but still the 'sharks' did far better I think. There is always involvement of foreigners.

We are curious at Broadcast Brazil if you did work at the Worldcup, what was your function and if your payment was alright.

Next big event will be the Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro in already 2 years, now we all know what's about … be prepared, Let somebody with connections in Brasilia mention the position of the Brazilian Audiovisuals and stop this 'temporary import' for such events so also the locals get a chance. For all other i can just say.. rehearse your english till you are on a good level. When you try to work at big international events like Formula 1, UFC , X-Games and such let yourself pay in wages compared to foreign ones. They expect the same quality so let yourself pay for it i the same way.

UPDATE 30 of March 2015:
BBC -Worldcup leaves Brazil with bus depots and empty stadiums

UPDATE 25 of March 2015:
Rapid TV News - Globo profits dip despite Worldcup

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

mentioned:
World Cup soccer 2014
Euro Media Group
NEP
Casablanca Online
Olympic Games

As you can maybe find out already by my name, i am born in Europe. Netherlands to be more specific. For all those years i was in a luxury position i found out as soon as i arrived in Brazil. The availability of good tools, good equipment, quality power delivery and qualified audio visuals was not on the level that i was used to back in Europe. Last years Brazil is growing, growing rapidly in economics and also in availability of better tools and professional equipment. And that is good, the country and people deserve it. But it still misses something. Most Brazilians will think i mean the lack of 'technical' education. This is true, but Brazilian are catching up really fast and easy in our kind of business. Of course the education of technicians must being leveled up next coming 10 years. The influence of foreign companies and the up coming 2 major events ' World Cup and Olympic Games ' will push this forward for sure.

No.. what we miss here is a very good level of support towards clients as we have in Europe and also in United States. Some of our foreign Broadcast Brazil members were perplexed several times by how they were treated as a client sometimes. I will not name the brand or name of these companies at both sides, but i will mention what's about. case 1 A foreign videoproduction company is in need of a Professional ENG set for serveral weeks. Good business for any rental company. This foreign company send out 10 emails to several rental companies in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. They got one reply ….. yes i said 1 ……. with the message that they do not rent to foreign companies without also send their own production people on site. solution: The foreign company decided to bring th equipment from Europe. case 2 A foreign video production company needed some professional HD video cable for a project in São Paulo. As they found out that the a cable manufacturer in which they know from their Europe location also had an office in Brazil, so it looked like a good idea for them to order in Brazil. This cable manufacturer is known worldwide as very trustfull, fast and professional. They did a order by phone for cable and plugs. Than it all went wrong… the local deliver did not call back (he was busy at an exhibition he told later) … did not answer the emails or SMS messages. When they were almost at the end of the deadline they finaly got a reply from the local CEO, and suddenly it seamed they could not sell the order to a foreign company because of some local rules. The video production company proposed several options to pay them, even by the European or American office of this company, but the CEO just did not want to have this trouble it seams. solution: Meanwhile the video production company needed the cable for their project in São Paulo…. they ordered it at the europe office, The Europe office shipped it in 2 carton boxes by standard mail to Brazil and it arrived within a week….. for far less costs than they would have payed in Brazil. case 3 This is another worldwide know company, their business is professional audio mixers and audio equipment for studio and PA. This is the story of another foreign production company entering the Brazilian market. They bought a professional mixing desk in São Paulo. The mixer came with a 110V power supply. The company is not only working in São Paulo so they were in need of a compatible 220V power supply. After some mails and phonecalls the deliverer and also the manufacturer in Brazil just said that they do not have it, and that this foreign company must get it somewhere else.

So, this Column is not to complain about Brazil. Because in all 3 cases it is about .. people. Can be the lack of knowledge in a foreign language, can be the lack of experience with foreign companies, or the knowledge in how it all works with tax rules in Brazil between foreign companies. Meanwhile in all 3 cases a Brazilian company lost already a client, for now and the future… they all 3 missed an opportunity. Main thing… this will almost ever happen in United States nor Europe, there they always will try to help their client, even when it is difficult. The Americans call it 'service with a smile'. I hope big and small companies in Brazil in the Audio Visual area will catch up in time because there is a big opportunity here. The opportunity in getting foreign clients and earning some good money. The Smile Brazilians have already, now we need an excellent service towards foreign clients.

My word:

Do not be affraid, go for it.

Educate your people in the english language, learn in how you can being payed by foreigners. Because in 6 months a record of Audio Visual companies will arrive for the Worldcup and they need your service, equipmet and people.

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

mentioned:
World Cup soccer 2014
Olympic Games
Establish Brazil

Tags: Column, marketing

My first column for Broadcast Brazil is about formats… no… i am putting it not right here. It is mainly about the speed of development in this last 10 years of audio visual formats and what this means for Brazililian Audio Visual companies.

When i started my work in Broadcast we have had some formats. U-matic, C-format and Betacam SP. The company where i worked for at that time had to switch their recorder between edit-suites and OB-vans all the time. The Betacam recorders where pretty expensive and my boss just did not have financial possibilities enough to keep them in one place. But life was easy and clear in the analog SD (standard definition) time and as a company you had the chance to earn back these recorders by renting them as much as possible for the next 5-8 years… or even longer.

In 1993 we got Digibeta, Betacam SX in 1996 , Mpeg IMX in 2001. Meanwhile HD (high definition) was set into the market. Last 6 years HD became the standard for most Broadcasters, also in Brazil where the XDCAM HD format is used by TV Globo. In some parts of the country they still shoot and edit in SD but this is changing rapidly in Brazil.

Last 5 years the industry also pushes a 3D format to Broadcasters and consumers, but is seams that this is not something that will stay much longer… why? I think because of those glasses you need to put on….. but also because 1 new format just started to become mainframe…. 4K, and the first 8K demo's could already been seen at the last 3 versions of the IBC exhibition in Amsterdam.

In the last 10 years most broadcasters needed first to step from SD to HD, some of them just managed this last year. Even a big event like Formula 1 has it's first year of HD, besides the camera's on the cars which are still SD. The first 4K equipment enters the market rapidly, it means that broadcasters have to invest heavily again?… by knowing the 8k format can be available in some years from now. I think for most broadcasters this is too fast, the investments are too big. Not only the equipment but all what is connected to it has to change. This means some troubles ahead for a lot of companies because, who has a bag of money or a sponsor can invest in these latest formats. The ones who cannot will see their company shrinking or even disappearing.

With the Worldcup 2014 Brazil coming up a lot of Brazilian audiovisual companies have to step up to at least HD. With the tax the government puts on pro-equipment it is already difficult to invest in Brazil. In 2016 the olympic games will be held in Rio de Janeiro and of course this needs to be transmitted in 4K.. some major companies will push this for sure. I think that most Brazilian Audio Visuals do not have that bag of money again in 2016 and will loose a lot of opportunities to foreign companies (the sharks) . For the local market i think it is more honest to transmit the Olympics in HD, just to give the Brazilian Audio Visual world some support so they can be the event at this very important event for the whole country.

videos:

Tags: SD, HD, 4K, 8K

Introduction:

René Schaap works in the Broadcast industry for almost 30 years. Starting as an ENG sound-engineer in the Netherlands. The dutch company where he started stationed him at all kind of jobs and projects: ENG, EFP, Studio and Satellite Uplink what made him an engineer who could solve problems on location and finalise audiovisual projects with a 100% result.

His jobs made him work on big events like the Formula 1 and for big Broadcasters like the BBC and TV Globo Brazil. It also took him on a trip all over the planet bij these projects in all kinds of countries, and of course a lot of adventures.

Nowadays he is managing director of Connecting Media. This company is specialised in Interactive webcasting, broadcast, web and mobile. By living in Santos, he is running the Brazilian office and partly the dutch office.

René was a finalist in the documentary festival 'Curta Santos' and was 2 times nominated for a 'Streaming Media Award' with Connecting Media. read more about him on het personal blog www.reneschaap.nl.

We need more Guest Columnists at Broadcast Brazil, if you want to share your thoughts, join us.

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

Tags: Column