Apple Stores Demonstrate That Retail Still Lives 416
WheezyJoe writes "Maybe OS X Leopard has its problems, but the New York Times seems to think Apple has designed the ideal techie retail store. A policy that encourages lingering, with dozens of fully functioning computers, iPods and iPhones for visitors to try, even for hours on end (one patron wrote a manuscript entirely at the store) has 'given some stores, especially those in urban neighborhoods, the feel of a community center ... Meanwhile, the Sony flagship store on West 56th Street, a few blocks from Apple's Fifth Avenue store, has the hush of a mausoleum. And being inside the long and narrow blue-toned Nokia store on 57th Street feels a bit like being inside an aquarium. The high-end Samsung Experience showroom, its nuevo tech music on full blast one recent morning, was nearly empty.'"
Apples and pears? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, that is a lame run-on. If you can't think of a good one to put in the summary, don't.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Apples and pears? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Apples and pears? (Score:5, Funny)
You must be new here.
Re: (Score:2)
I bought an Apple Airport Extreme at the Apple Store on Monday. Its not hard to see how they make retail pay: they build a product that fits into a shopping mall alongside the rest of the stuff on sale. Most computer companies don't even try. They build products with features chosen by marketers and designed by engineers.
The only problem with the Apple store is the cultish atmosphere.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Apples and pears? (Score:5, Insightful)
This might previously have been a problem for Apple, but now it's anything but. Any sort of "cult" feel (I'd venture to say more like "club" feel) works to their advantage. People on the outside want to know what's so special. It doesn't hurt that the trickle down effect from a large portion of vocal Internet community (i.e. bloggers) is in full swing. Even though Macs are obviously in the general minority, there is a feel that they're more than that.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Simply put, your "feeling" may
Re:Apples and pears? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'll buy "Club" feel way before "Cultish". They seem bright and inviting to me. As an accused cultist (stop calling me that!), I can say that from the inside of the Apple Store, the feeling is "why would people keep torturing themselves with that other kind of computer?" Lately, it's OK to look inside and find there's not much of a cult.
Re:Apples and pears? (Score:4, Insightful)
Just out of curiosity, what makes the Airport Extreme worth the extra $80 compared to a non-Apple 802.11n router?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Well, according to ArsTecnica's 802.11n router review [arstechnica.com]:
/., the 5Ghz support is probably the big one for you. It's pretty much a get-out-of-inte
# Sleek design
# Easy setup, great user interface
# USB port for shared printer or hard drive
# 5.0GHz 802.11n-only mode offers superior performance
# Gigabit Ethernet support
# Price-to-performance ratio
Guessing from your sig and he fact that you're asking on
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Apples and pears? (Score:4, Funny)
You might consider it a non sequitur... but then you'd also be wrong.
well, maybe (Score:5, Funny)
These people have never been to a Fry's. If you've never been to one, picture this: they sell porn and energy drinks within 20 feet of each other.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:well, maybe (Score:5, Interesting)
If Fry's could keep the products in the right place as opposed to being everywhere else except for where it ought to be they would probably have a pretty good techie store. They could also do a better job keeping the popular items in stock. I used to joke that Fry's carries virtually everything someone might want, they just don't have what you came to the store to buy in stock! Ironic, but true. They do a great job keeping adapters that have virtually no value to most customers, but products that sell like hotcakes they can't seem to keep in stock. Fry's employees a fair degree of idiots, but every store has a few geeks on the payroll. I remember one customer that complimented that I knew more than the Apple Store did about macs ironically.
The biggest problem I see that discourages one from wanting to buy stuff from the Apple Store is that their return policy sucks. That and their inventory of accessories is pretty limited. If you exclude the stores that don't carry Mac stuff the Apple Store ironically is one of the worst stores to look for Mac stuff. I know a lot of customers came into Fry's because the Apple Store pretends that no body would want to continue to use some of their older products. Want a battery for an older ipod? Not going to find it in an Apple Retail Store. Want anything for a lot of the older macs? You aren't going to find it at the Apple store. If the store is owned by Apple I kind of expect them to do a good job carrying stuff for their products. It is sad when they are sending their customers to go to MicroCenter or Fry's or MacMall for an APPLE product!
Anyone who ever worked at Fry's needless to say is going to post anonymous, because of the ridicule one would get if they knew who you were...
Re: (Score:2)
Re:well, maybe (Score:4, Funny)
They have no trouble keeping items in stock that no-one buys, but items that are in high demand are often gone? Damn you, laws of physics!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
ITYM "ironic."
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Frys Electronics (Score:5, Informative)
Re:well, maybe (Score:5, Funny)
And the employees still can't tell you where either is.
--
Franklin
Not a techie store (Score:5, Funny)
My local Big W store, on the other hand, has these self service checkouts. You scan the products yourself and put them on some kind of weight verification thing, then spend five or 10 minutes doing a credit card transaction. While my wife was trying to get that to work I took a look at another terminal where the POS application had apparently crashed, leaving an interesting windows desktop with a working touch screen mouse. The staff didn't appreciate my attempted repair though, in fact there were so many people keeping an eye on that broken terminal they could have run a whole line of manual checkouts.
Anyway if a real apple store opens here in Melbourne I might take a look but I can't see myself buying anything there.
Re: (Score:2)
Selling stuff which is not worth hacking.
Would you care to elaborate on that? That it just works aside, how is Apple's Intel based hardware any less worth hacking than the HPs and emachines sold at big box stores?
Anyway if a real apple store opens here in Melbourne I might take a look but I can't see myself buying anything there.
It sounds like your mind is made up, so you should be able to explain why. Is it that Apple's hardware costs more? Don't like Unix? Desire a warrantee that covers incidental damage? Dislike Apple's arrogant attitude? There are good reasons to chose other vendors... do you have any? If not, I'm glad to be of service!
(I very much hope that Apple will improve and invalidate these reasons)
the samsung "store" doesn't sell anything (Score:5, Informative)
Re:the samsung "store" doesn't sell anything (Score:4, Insightful)
apple stores sell apples latest products and you can get customer service there. On top of that if you are having problems with your mac or just want to learn some new software they have people who will teach you for an hourly fee of course, and are fairly patient.
When was the last time someone sat down with your mom and showed them how to use "random photo album software here" for an hour? when done that lady new more than i do, but then again i can figure out every thing I missed.
Nokia store on 57th Street feels like aquarium (Score:3, Interesting)
Other than being priced outside of the impulse shopping range, it had the usual Nokia coolness.
The point of the article is well taken, though; cel phones don't do much to engender community.
Re:Nokia store on 57th Street feels like aquarium (Score:5, Funny)
The Rainbow Connection (Score:5, Funny)
It's true. It's a great place to hang out. I know lots of guys that met their boyfriends at the Apple Store.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:The Rainbow Connection (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The Rainbow Connection (Score:5, Funny)
*plots*
Re:The Rainbow Connection (Score:4, Insightful)
Who'da thunk it! (Score:5, Insightful)
A policy that encourages lingering, with dozens of fully functioning computers, iPods and iPhones for visitors to try, even for hours on end (one patron wrote a manuscript entirely at the store) has 'given some stores, especially those in urban neighborhoods, the feel of a community center
Wait, you mean that a store that lets people freely do whatever they wish to do with little restrictions is more successful than a store in which you can just buy and leave? Who'da thunked it!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Who'da thunk it! (Score:5, Interesting)
Quite a while ago I was in a CompUSA and I saw someone plug an iPod into one of the demo machines, drag MS Office onto the iPod icon, and walk out with it. remember thinking that OS X made application installation and transfer easy, something that was great for users, but which retailers probably had not considered.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Who'da thunk it! (Score:4, Informative)
Are you joking? There is so much software for OS X, Apple would need thousands of computers just to have enough hard drive space to fit them all. They don't install everything, just a few of the more popular software packages, like MS Office.
No, they just need to install a few, common applications so they have something for users to try out.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Where do you trolls put your brains before you reply.
techie (Score:5, Insightful)
If I were going to buy a computer, the first thing I would do once I got it is open it up and see what I could improve down the road. This is probably why I've never been inside an Apple store. I think the NYT is using the word techie the same way they'd use the word "foodie." Foodies aren't cooks, don't necessarily know anything about cooking, but they do know what they like. And they'll tell you why.
I think the appeal of Apple computers is different (but related) to the appeal of the computers themselves.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The technology models are a bit opposite.
WinDOS PC vendors are centered around frankenstein systems where anything can be upgraded. Highly integrated systems are available but not the norm.
Apple is centered around highly integrated systems. Apple systems where you can upgrade anything are available but not the norm (and are redicously expensive).
Prices aren't ideal (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Prices aren't ideal (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Prices aren't ideal (Score:5, Insightful)
Its hard to decide from looking at newegg screenshots whether you want a glossy or matte screen on your next monitor, or whether the mouse you're eyeing is going to actually fit in your hand comfortably, or how that funky ergonomic keyboard feels, etc, etc, etc.
Tech savvy people shop at the boutiques/big boxes but buy at the online discounter. If that proves successful enough, and the boutiques and big boxes disappear... where are you going to shop? Are the online discounters going to open up boutiques so you can see and feel the stuff before you buy it? And if so... will you pay the markup they're going to have to charge to cover it... or will you shop at the newegg boutique but buy at 'hole-in-the-wall-online-discounter'?
Pure online works for products you've previously worked with, or where the specs alone are all that matter... like CPU's, or hard drives. But when choosing an HDTV, are you really going to be satisfied with buying it before SEEING it? When buying shoes are you going to be satisfied with buying it before trying it on? A good return policy helps... but you usually have to suck up the shipping costs, which can add up fast...
I find people who heavily advocate online dealers like newegg are usually leeching shopping touch it/see it services from local boutiques. Being able to see and touch a product before buying it has value... and its an issue newegg and the like haven't really addressed. While shopping at boutiques and buying online isn't sustainable - if everyone did it, boutiques would disappear.
Re:Prices aren't ideal (Score:5, Interesting)
I base my purchasing choice on 'value added'. If I walk into a shop and they actually know what they're talking about, help me look at different options and come to a reasonable decision about what to buy, then I will happily pay 10-15% on top of the best online price. A good example of this is musicical instrument shops - I went to buy some new cymbals the other week and spent 45 minutes with the shop's drum salesman and came away with a decent set of cymbals. Most high-street computer shops (like PC World in the UK) are staffed by idiots who don't know the difference between FSB speed and on-chip cache, and will answer 'yes' to almost any technical question if they think it will help make a sale. I have no problem at all with going to their store to look at the hardware then buying online.
If the staffed-by-idiots shops disappear, it won't be a problem at all. I went to the Stuff Show [bestofstuff.co.uk] a couple of months back and was able to play with all the hardware I wanted, talk with people that know all about it (in some cases the people who designed it) and can happily order from whomever I please.
I'm sure that if the online people drive the bricks-and-mortar shops out of business it will be because the bricks-and-mortar people aren't making the best of the advantage they have - the chance to interact with the customer in person and not just make a sale but build up the kind of trust that encourages repeat business. The way to do that is to have knowledgable people on the shop floor who have a genuine passion for technology and aren't afraid to admit that they don't understand something if necessary. I'm sure there are far more tech geeks around than music geeks, so if the music shops can manage it then the computer shops can too.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
While shopping at boutiques and buying online isn't sustainable - if everyone did it, boutiques would disappear.
I think that's the beauty of Apple's approach... their store has reasonable but not rock-bottom prices for folks who want to buy right there, and it also serves as a huge demonstration of Apple's products. Even if you leave the store impressed and buy your MacBook at Amazon, they still sell something.
More stores should stick to branding. My grandfather (a former Sears exec) is still convinced that the undoing of Sears was (at least in large part) due to their abandonment of branding.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
2) Apple sells everything at MSRP. That's "suggested retail price" or "full retail." Like Nordstrom does for clothing. Their markups are not "the worst you've ever seen," they're just "retail price." Apple doesn't discount in its stores, and they do have sales, but it's pretty rare.
Apple sells cool. (Score:3, Insightful)
On-site tech support is key. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, the crowds suck. Yes, the stores just scream "rip-off margins." Yes, "genius bar" is a stupid name.
Still, the ability to schlep a system in and have the problem worked in most cases while-u-wait is what gets people into those stores. (Try that with a Dell or an HP sometime. Whoops! Hope you like shipping things. And for a real laugh, try bringing a sony product into a 'Sony Style' store for a support or repair issue.)
-Isaac
Re:On-site tech support is key. (Score:5, Insightful)
Get best buy to triple wages, and hire based on competence+skill and not certifications+willingness to be whores, and you will be able to do the same thing in the PC world.
Problem is it's far easier to justify buying a new $499.99 PC instead of spending $350.00 on fixing the thing. while a $2100.00 MAC is worth having $350.00 of work done to it.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, still a step above Best Buy, but the gap is sadly closing (and it's not because Best Buy's improving). Maybe it's because of the crowds.....
All in all, I've been less and less impressed with Apple over the past year or so as they've grown in popularity, and have clearly gotten lazy as a result. The le
Re: (Score:2)
I feel your pain, but this is a London-specific problem. The only way to get an appointment in the London stores without ProCare is to ring up AppleCare and
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Your repair took at least two days (one for parts to be shipped, another for the tech) versus going to a store and having the work done same-day. This matters for some people. (Granted, the availability of servi
loiterers (Score:5, Funny)
Isobella Jade was down on her luck, living on a friend's couch and struggling to make it as a fashion model when she had the idea of writing a book...
Ms. Jade spent hours at a stretch standing in a discreet corner of the store, typing. Within a few months, she had written nearly 300 pages.
Hmmm, I wonder how many guys struggling to make it as say, I dunno... a farmer, they let use their computers everyday for months?
Re:loiterers (Score:4, Insightful)
Isobella Jade's Portfolio [isobelladreams.com]
Effective Business (Score:2, Insightful)
the smell (Score:4, Funny)
The people working there, because they want to... (Score:5, Informative)
The people working there weren't being particularly helpful, not their fault, there's not much you can do about a bad hard drive but replace it and I had a couple people ahead of me... and I was coming down with a cold, and feeling generally miserable, and really wanted to get my hard drive replaced and get home... but I was also wishing that I was feeling well enough to hang out there longer.
What was clear to me, but not apparently immediately clear to the young man, that the big difference between the people working at the Apple store and the people working at the other geek stores in the area is that they wanted to be working at the Apple store. The fact that they were working for Apple was what made all the difference to them, and that made all the difference to their customers. They wouldn't have been motivated selling Dells.
Now I'm not really a big fan of most of Apple's products... I really wish they'd unbundle so I didn't have to put up with a Mac so I could run OS X. But you can see the feedback going on, between the people who are into the whole Apple schtick, and the people who run the stores, and the style, and everything, and it all works together amazingly well. The reality distortion field lives in that feedback, too, and for an hour or so I was rather enjoying it.
Re:The people working there, because they want to. (Score:3, Insightful)
Calling Business Week... (Score:5, Informative)
At the time, people didn't realize that the iPod was going to be so successful, but clearly the retail store was an important step for Apple. This opinion piece illustrates one of the problems of business experts who opine about a single step in a strategy, without having the vision to see how it fits into the whole. So Apple's gamble seems to have paid off. Here's to Apple sticking to a plan and seeing it through.
Re:Calling Business Week... (Score:5, Informative)
The article doesn't give profit numbers, but each Apple store averages $4-5K per square foot revenues per year, which is 6x Neiman Marcus, 4x Best Buy and 1.5x of Tiffany's [seekingalpha.com].
Not locked (Score:5, Informative)
Many I see are playing DVDs or maybe iTunes music. Once in a while Ive seen them with some FPS game. When I have seen Windows Desktops its either running 'just' the desktop, or one that has crashed to the desktop. Most of the times though I just see that fancy Aquarium screen saver.
Apple sure succeeds as contrarians (Score:5, Interesting)
I've come up with a new slashdot meme.
1. Apple decides to enter the [something improbable] market
2. Apple kicks ass at it in defiance of all logic
3. Turtleneck sweater
4. Profit
What really pisses me off is my current XP laptop is certainly going to be the last Windows unit I own so I'll be forced to make the jump on the next one to Ubuntu or OSX. I've grudgingly settled for Microsoft products because it's a shitty platform that also happens to support most of the software I use and shitty support is better than nothing. With OSX I'll still be able to run XP in a VM. Shit. Looks like I'm going to finally become one of those Mac weenies I used to make fun of.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The second you say you like your Mac, people ask you if you are one of 'those people'. If you tell someone you are really happy with your new Toshiba laptop they think about it. If you say the same things about a Mac it must be because you are a fanatic
Come on in, the water's fine! (Score:3, Insightful)
What really pisses me off is my current XP laptop is certainly going to be the last Windows unit I own so I'll be forced to make the jump on the next one to Ubuntu or OSX. I've grudgingly settled for Microsoft products because it's a shitty platform that also happens to support most of the software I use and shitty support is better than nothing. With OSX I'll still be able to run XP in a VM. Shit. Looks like I'm going to finally become one of those Mac weenies I used to make fun of.
I bought my first P
Why they work (Score:5, Insightful)
2. Open, bright. Stores are well-lit, spacious, have an inviting entrance, and allow visitors to browse.
3. Products sell themselves. Rather than relying on salespeople to pressure customers to purchase goods, the stores consistently showcase the products and let the customer try it in order to make the purchasing decision on their own terms. Salespeople are there to answer questions, not push visitors into buying.
4. Availability of customer service. The customer-oriented services (Genius Bar, Studio, kids' area, demos) demonstrate that Apple is interested in making the shopping experience comfortable.
Now, bear in mind, Apple is in it to make money. That's just the reality. But the company's philosophy is that money is made by creating the best possible product and the best possible consumer experience. They don't do these things out of the goodness of their hearts; rather, these things are the consequence of the particular business model they have chosen. That their motives are sometimes misunderstood is unfortunate, not because of how it reflects upon Apple, but rather, how it is symptomatic of the fact that we as a society of consumers have become so jaded by the way the rest of corporate America approaches profitability in a free-market system that we DO get confused when a company DOESN'T believe that the easiest way to make money is to rape us for every last penny they can lie, cheat, and steal from us.
So, to be certain, the Apple Retail Stores are a classic example of retail design through careful analysis and re-evaluation of consumer behavior. They don't do these things because they make you feel good; they do them because, as a way of increasing profitability, it just plain WORKS. For instance, in-store cameras do not merely monitor visitors for security purposes--these are used to analyze traffic flow patterns, how long people spend in the various sections of the store, and so forth. This data is then used in research towards redesigning the stores or figuring out how marketing efforts should be distributed.
Finally, regarding those who have missed the point.... Every time I've been to Fry's I feel like I want to scream. Customer service is HORRIBLE; the crowds are rude; dealing with exchanges/returns is downright insane; and most of all, the whole place reeks of cheapness. I feel like I can't trust whatever I buy there, and even if I were to, I don't feel like I've saved much if anything at all. I'd rather buy online. And the whole "techie" thing--let's be honest, Apple isn't interested in marketing to the uber-nerd DIY hacker, whose "can I take it apart and customize the crap out of it" mentality runs counter to Apple's "we want to make everything work together seamlessly, including the shopping experience" philosophy. You may take great pride in those hacker skills, and that's great, but the article isn't about you. It's about the consumer who would've gotten a cheap-ass Dell not because they wanted to spend as little as possible and put Ubuntu on it, but because they just don't know any better. After all, this is the age of consumer electronics.
"Genius" bar (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd like to buy a wireless keyboard and mouse.
I'm sorry, we don't have any.
Don't have any? It's an Apple branded product. Are you out of stock.
Kind of. The new ones are coming out soon so we sent all of our old ones back.
You sent away all of your old model stock long before you got a shipment of your new models, leaving you unable to sell anything?
Uh, yeah.
How long have you been out of stock?
A week or two.
How long do you expect to remain out of stock.
We were supposed to have them by now. But probably another week or two.
And so you have nothing to sell people who really want to give you money for a wireless keyboard and mouse, any wireless keyboard and mouse, until then?
No. Sorry.
I can see why they call you geniuses.
I wasn't so impressed by the service (Score:3, Insightful)
Second, it's nice to have a support section (Genius Bar), but if I have to make an appointment and wait for two hours to talk to someone to ask a simple pre-sales question which the sales staff couldn't answer, I'm definitely not going to be impressed.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That all said, I still get uncomfortable in
Re:You can smell the pomposity (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
You don't like to go in because you feel like you don't belong? Unless your apple store is very different than the one local to me, that's all in your head. Same with the lingerie department.
Not just that I don't belong, but that I feel like I shouldn't *have* to belong to something. It's just a tool, like a hammer. If you don't like the lingerie analogy, then imagine walking into a Christian fundamentalist church as an atheist.
Re:You can smell the pomposity (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not a bug, it's a feature. They know their target demographic.
They don't alienate 52% of the population. (Score:3, Insightful)
Now that you mention it, I see a much higher percentage of women in the Apple store, than I do in the CompUSA a few blocks away. There isn't a Fry's in NYC, so I can't compare to that although earlier posts have hailed it as a tech mecca. I wonder what percentage of Fry's customers are women?
Re:They don't alienate 52% of the population. (Score:5, Interesting)
Really, it's a cross-section of society you're unlikely to find anywhere else.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
i think you're just insecure because you apparently take issue with the fact that some of the employees look a bit scruffy....which isn't even remotely relevant. grow up.
The issue isn't the scruffiness itself, it's the *motivation* behind the scruffiness. It's an affectation -- same as the reason most people get tattoos or piercings, it's to convince others that they have some sort of style by copying the style of others. What irritates me is the shallowness, it's all about style over substance -- same
Re:You can smell the pomposity (Score:5, Funny)
Dear Sir,
I wish to complain on the stronglest possible terms about the previous entry about aliens wearing womens' clothes. Some of my best friends are aliens, and only a FEW of them are transvestites.
Yours faithfully,
Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong, Mrs.
P.S. Lingerie is actually VERY comfortable.
Re: (Score:2)
Now if you were gay or a chick or a teenager trying to be hip, that would be a different story.
I once went into one wearing my grubby leathers because I rode the bike that day, and I felt a little out of place too. Not that I'd buy a Mac or iPod anyway...
Re: (Score:2)
Obviously he is, else he wouldn't be so disturbed by it.
Re:You can smell the pomposity (Score:5, Interesting)
But I brought in a malfunctioning iBook 14" to the Apple Store.
1) They looked up the service history, saw it'd been brought in before (once for the same problem, once because I tripped with the ethernet cord plugged in and broke the port).
2) Instantly declared the computer a lemon before the lemon clause of the warranty was involved.
3) Instantly told me they're replace the iBook at no charge.
4) (Here's the part that sets them above every other computer makers, and most retailers) Walked into the back of the store, brought out a brand new 14" iBook with a faster processor and more RAM than mine had, and gave it to me.
5) Then he noticed that the one from the back didn't have a wireless card, so he pulled it from my older iBook, put it in the new one, and verified it all worked before giving it to me.
Boom. Done. Instant new laptop, no charge. Sadly, I'm no longer an Apple customer, but their retail/service experience is beyond compare. Imagine getting that level of service from Dell or HP-- you're lucky if the guy on the phone even speaks English!
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:You can smell the pomposity (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, why would you ever expect someone to fix their mistake? The nerve of these people, setting the customer right after something went wrong! They're going out of business in no time if they keep up this level of customer satisfaction.
Re:You can smell the pomposity (Score:5, Interesting)
A few reasons, some of which are Apple's fault and some of which aren't. The problems that are Apple-related:
1) Apple doesn't make a tablet. I've worked with tablets for awhile, and I was sold... after seeing how good the text recognition in Vista is, I was sold twice over. Now I have a slick little HP convertible that I can draw cartoons on if I'm bored, or fold the screen around and work with a database app. I could do this on an Apple by adding an expensive Wacom tablet, but it wouldn't be portable.
2) Apple doesn't make an affordable desktop with swappable video cards. Sadly, I'm one of the sadly World of Warcraft-addicted, and although it's virtually the only PC game I ever play, I can't spend the Apple premium for a computer that I can't even upgrade to run my favorite video game better. (I was running it on a dual 1.8 ghz G5 with a Radeon 9800 before, but that machine's too wimpy to really run WOW well with the expansion.)
3) OS X does a really, really, really crummy job of handling unreliable wifi networks. Like, you know, the one I'm connected to right now on my commuter train. At least Windows won't freeze up utterly when it can't ping a share; OS X did that regularly. And don't even get me started on Apple's
The last item is actually Microsoft-related, although it'll get me flamed on this board: Vista's really good. Seriously, I like it, it runs my old games I gave up back when I moved to Apple in the first place and it's definitely a move in the right direction usability-wise.
Also I'm bitter that Apple *STILL* hasn't replaced all the features of OS 9 in OS X. You can't put out version 10 of a product with fewer features than version 9! I don't know how Apple supporters justify that.
I still use the big G5 tower as a fileserver for my media files. It's got RAID-1 300GB drives in it. Other than that, no more Apple in my house.
That said, I obviously like Apple, I have nothing against them, they just aren't selling to my demographic.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
But a Mac Pro is super overkill for this. I don't need 87 Xeon CPUs (or whatever the hell they put in them to make them so expensive), I just want to play WOW. But I can't justify the expense when it costs literally three times what a suitable Vista machine costs. I don't know what you do with it, but for playing World of War
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It wasn't fixed 4 months ago when I finally threw up my hands, said "enough of this shit" and vowed to switch. It's great that it was finally fixed, but come on! OS 9 handled unreliable networks better. Windows 95 handled unreliable networks better! That's the kind of bug there's just no excuse for... there's some very basic QA failure happening at Apple right now.
Re: (Score:2)
You're projecting a lot, and when you drop in terms like "initiation", "Kool-Aid" and "better than thou" it's pretty clear that you've got issues with how you relate to a company.
Re: (Score:2)
It's tough to make a large dent in such a huge market. But Apple's market share is growing relatively quickly. It looks like so far this year they had a 40% increase in compu [thestreet.com]
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know why that was modded "Flamebait", maybe by a fanboy? Because what he says is true:
I thought it was just my perception while in the store. Well, over christmas I talked to my sister and her husband, (two of the most non-tech savvy people I know, a marketer and a lawyer.... I know). I assumed, being the slave to fashion that my sister is, that she'd have bought an iPhone right when they came out.
Instead, it turned out that both of them commented on the attitude of the Apple store sales
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
That's funny, all of the people I've met who work at an Apple store are incredibly well dressed. But your anecdotal evidence is clearly more accurate than mine.
Oh, well, this would explain it. You need to grow some self-esteem so that you can become comfortable with your sexuali
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I thinking pretty much any computer in an apple store can play any game out there.
They sell third party product, there just focused on apple product. D'uh
EVERY place that deals with consumers have a controlled environment and a carefully calculated 'user experience'.
What is wrong with a store making being there pleasant and consumer friendly?
Re: (Score:2)
But it's not an open, egalitarian marketing plan. You become part of their maze when you enter, purchase, and exit.
It's not a big box retailer; it's very highly confined in its atmosphere. If it's a test about whether the mouse gets the cheese. The cheese is somewhat tasty. I own Macs. But I'm not in any way enslaved to Apple ove
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Apple stores are needed, because they did a great job in killing off their VAR and retailer friends (with a few notable exceptions) in the 1990's and early 2000s. They NEED their own retail; they have a limited product line, insufficient SKUs, and are trying desperately to hold margins high.
I can't blame them for that, but it's a fragile system.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Another way to look at it is "their VAR and retailer friends" were killing Apple. The Apple-specialist retailers were almost uniformly horrible in terms of customer service - think Comic Book Guy meets shady mechanic. The big retailers were indifferent at best - except for some abortive efforts with CompUSA there were no Apple 'boots on the ground'
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bad vibe (Score:4, Insightful)