The end of 2009 is upon us. In a few short hours we’ll be counting down to the new year with family and friends and it just seems appropriate to look back upon the last year with a little nostalgia. It’s amazing how far we’ve come.
2009 brought with it a new look and organization to the macsales.com website. We took your (our faithful customers’) feedback and we listened. The site is now easier to navigate, easier to checkout, and all wrapped in a pretty cool space-themed package.
The ways in which you can interact with us has also made some amazing progress in the past year. 2009 marked the first full year of the OWC Blog and the first full year of our installation videos being available on YouTube both consistently gaining in viewership and popularity. You keep reading and watching and we promise to keep producing them. 2009 saw the beginnings of @macsales on Twitter and our #TFTL (that’s Thanks for the Love) initiative, our launch of the OWC Facebook page, and just recently the start of our installation videos available on iTunes, as well as the “OWC Radio: by humans for humans” podcast hosted by Tim Robertson.
OWC also opened the Computer & iPod Upgrades & Service Center, the only iPod and iPhone repair service available in McHenry County, IL. The drop off service center, offers next business day diagnostic estimates for expert repair and upgrade services on iPods, iPhones, and both Mac and PC desktop and notebook computers.
And speaking of new structures, on October 19, 2009, OWC furthered their green initiative by becoming the first technology manufacturer/distributor in the U.S. to be 100% on-site wind powered by our new wind turbine.
This past year saw several new machines released from Apple and, in suit, OWC released memory products to match for each and every machine. All OWC memory is processed through the ‘MaxRAM’ Certification Program, which determines the maximum amount of memory that can be installed in a Mac and often exceeds Apple’s officially supported maximums. But we didn’t stop at just memory.
At the 2009 MacWorld Expo, Other World Computing released two new products to our lineup. The Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 “Quad Interface” 4-Bay Professional Grade Performance RAID Solutions and the OWC Mercury Rack Pro “Quad Interface” 4-Bay 1U Performance RAID Solutions. But we didn’t stop at the Expo, we kept innovating all year long introducing the OWC Express 2.5″ totally bus-powered storage enclosure, the USB 2.0 Display Adapter allowing up to 4 additional displays to be added to your Mac via USB, the OWC Value Line USB2.0 5.25″ Optical Drive Enclosure and the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini 2.5″ Hard Drive Enclosure. All in all, it was a great year. Each new line of enclosures, of course was released with several pre-built options so you can find the complete solution that’s right for you!
With almost too many new products to list individually, NewerTech announced a plethora of new products this year too! We saw for the first time the Charge & Sync+ Adapter, a very handy portable charger, battery pack, and sync solution for iPhone, iPod, cellphones, digital cameras, and other digital devices. 2009 also brought with it the Voyager Q and the Voyager S2, replacement batteries for the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines of computers, the Window Mount for iPhone 3G/3Gs, the USB to DVI/HDMI/VGA Video Display Adapter, the 3-in-1 Audio/Sync/Charging Cable, the USB Auto Charger, a full line of mini DisplayPort adapters, the FW800 to FW400 adapter, and a complete line of HDMI and eSATA cables.
But it’s not just the products themselves where we strive to provide the best service and value to our customers. In April, OWC added Carbon Copy Cloner to its suite of backup software included with every storage solution we sell. Our shipping hours were extended dramatically as well as our service hours! Customer Service and Sales can now be reached by phone as late as 10PM Central Time and via Live Chat 24 hours a day, seven days a week (except national holidays – we will be closed for New Year’s Day, but our normal hours and 24/7 support will resume on Saturday, January 2nd, 2010.)
And just because the year is over, don’t think our innovation is. We are constantly researching and developing all the tools you need to make your Mac even better, so you can expect the same from OWC in 2010 as we gave you in 2009. We wish you a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year’s to you and yours!
See you next year!
