I broke down and bought an iPhone a month ago (OK, I begged my wife to let me buy it). I am a total gadget guy and I had to have one.

Anyway, the iPhone has two speakers on the unit for external sound. I put my iPhone in my cup holder in my truck and got some dirt lodged up in the little holes on the bottom. Then a couple weeks ago, I noticed one of the speakers wasn’t working. (You iPhone people might know where I am going with this) I couldn’t have a broken speaker on my month old sleek toy.

I called up Apple to tell them about my problem and possibly get a replacement. When I told the guy at Apple about my problem, at first he didn’t understand. Then he realized what I was telling him and he informed me that one side is a speaker and the other is the microphone. Honestly, I don’t know how he did it without openly laughing at me. Not only did he not laugh at me, he was extremely helpful about how to clean out the speakers and answering any other questions I had. I felt like I was the only person he had to talk to all day. When I got to the office, I checked my e-mail and he had sent me an e-mail with some additional information.

Those of you who have read previous blogs of mine know that I am an Apple fan. I think they produce incredible product. I have an iPod (along with my wife and 3 daughters), an iPhone, and I have sworn that my next laptop will be a Mac. However, I have officially made the switch from loyalist to customer evangelist. I have never been treated so well by a tech support person. It is the product combined with the cause, the position, the culture, the experience, and almost all of the other pieces of the navel model. In the end, Apple is one of the few companies that has put them all together.

Long live Apple!!!!!