Apple’s App Store; a briliant way to get nothing?

Ok, I admit, this is a personal frustration. But personal is the way of the web these days. And in fact, I know there are many more that have faced the same problems. Just browsing Twitter on #Lion and #Lionfail show enough of that.

So, what am I talking about? It is about buying a larger software package through the App Store. To be honest, I I haven’t used the App Store much to buy software. However, I did buy a couple of apps for Mac. None of them were very big, but functional enough. However, yesterday I decided to take the plunge and purchase Lion. The first time ever for me to purchase an operating system that did not come with DVD’s. Yes, I even bought Snow Leopard on DVD.

Apple’s idea is that everything can be updated through a simple process of downloading. But at 3,5 Gb there are risks. In the good old days of the internet downloading had its risks. You would avoid bigger http downloads choosing other alternatives. A little later we got downloaders that could resume the download. You would expect Apple to at least incorporate some of that technology. However, after my seventh attempt at downloading Lion, I long back to the days of booklets and DVD’s. Yesterday I tried it five times and every time the download got stuck on ‘waiting’. This mornings’ three attempts all stranded in ‘unable to reach the server’.

Offering a new cloud based service is great. Honest. But as one of the worlds’ leading technology companies Apple might have been able to create a better experience. Or not? Is this the new Apple strategy? Is the waiting and the failing downloads Apple’s online equivalent of newly released products being out of stock after lining up at the store for hours? Either way, as a customer I feel insulted. I get pulled in to make an effort to purchase a product and then I get nothing. Well, I get the bill. Because that part is sorted by Apple. As soon as I click the “buy now” button, it charges my credit card. And the rest is up to my own patience. Apparently.