I recently came to realize that loyalty includes an element of submission. If I'm loyal to Sony, I'm going to have to quit thinking about the MacBook Air.
My last three laptops have been Sony Vaio computers, and they have served me well. The company has behaved in a supportive, predictable way. They're not perfect, but they have certainly earned my trust. 

Of course, Sony is not my friend. They're a supplier. Will they really notice when I'm gone? Probably not. I'm not significant to them, but I certainly will never be signficant to Apple, either. 

On the other side of the table, Sony earns my loyalty by thinking about my needs. I really need a laptop that weighs little but has a pretty big screen. A big part of my job is moving data from one application to another. If Sony stops making those type of computers, then I will leave without any twinge of guilt. 

FutureLab: Why your organisation is not customer-centric, 2012-Sep-8, by Maz Iqbal

…when the customer talks about a company being customer-centric he is talking about and pointing at a company that shows up for her as being in business ‘for the sake of contributing to/enriching the lives of customers’…