'60 Minutes' to feature Apple's secret design lab, next-gen Apple Store mockup
Charlie Rose is going deep inside Apple to interview the company's top brass in a special set to include a sneak peek at Apple's "store of the future" with retail chief Angela Ahrendts and a segment featuring Chief Design Officer Jony Ive in his famously secret design studio.
CBS posted a pair photos to the official "60 Minutes" Twitter feed on Thursday showing Rose chatting up Ahrendts and Ive on Apple's campus. The feature is set to air on Sunday.
While the pictures don't reveal much, it appears Rose will be talking one-on-one with Ive in the designer's workshop. Apple normally keeps its design labs locked down, but opens the door to high-profile media outlets from time to time.
In 2009, for example, documentarian Gary Hustwit was allowed to film in the room for his movie "Ojectified." Most recently, Apple itself posted a picture of what appears to be a design labs meeting room to promote its Jobs at Apple microsite in March.
Rose is also getting a sneak peek of Apple's new brick-and-mortar store design language. Thursday's Twitter photo shows Rose and Ahrendts walking through a mock Apple Store appointed with a wide-open spaces, a high-flung ceiling, brightly lit wall graphics and Apple's iconic wooden display tables.
It was reported in February that Ahrendts would collaborate with Ive on an Apple Store redesign to better feature Apple Watch, but the initiative later morphed into a complete brand overhaul.
One of Apple's first "next-gen" stores opened in Brussels in September. Similarly designed Apple Stores are expected to open around the world, including state-side locations in San Francisco, Chicago and Memphis.
Rose is no stranger to Apple's executive team. The lauded interviewer sat down with Ive and fellow designer Marc Newson in 2013, and last year discussed a range of topics with CEO Tim Cook.
CBS posted a pair photos to the official "60 Minutes" Twitter feed on Thursday showing Rose chatting up Ahrendts and Ive on Apple's campus. The feature is set to air on Sunday.
While the pictures don't reveal much, it appears Rose will be talking one-on-one with Ive in the designer's workshop. Apple normally keeps its design labs locked down, but opens the door to high-profile media outlets from time to time.
In 2009, for example, documentarian Gary Hustwit was allowed to film in the room for his movie "Ojectified." Most recently, Apple itself posted a picture of what appears to be a design labs meeting room to promote its Jobs at Apple microsite in March.
Rose is also getting a sneak peek of Apple's new brick-and-mortar store design language. Thursday's Twitter photo shows Rose and Ahrendts walking through a mock Apple Store appointed with a wide-open spaces, a high-flung ceiling, brightly lit wall graphics and Apple's iconic wooden display tables.
It was reported in February that Ahrendts would collaborate with Ive on an Apple Store redesign to better feature Apple Watch, but the initiative later morphed into a complete brand overhaul.
One of Apple's first "next-gen" stores opened in Brussels in September. Similarly designed Apple Stores are expected to open around the world, including state-side locations in San Francisco, Chicago and Memphis.
Rose is no stranger to Apple's executive team. The lauded interviewer sat down with Ive and fellow designer Marc Newson in 2013, and last year discussed a range of topics with CEO Tim Cook.
Comments
Ever think YOU have Job stress??
Looks like the dudes in the background have the new North Korean iPad there. Different sizes too. Nice.
Having said that, Apple stores are still reported to have the highest sales per square foot of any physical retailer. So who am I to criticize them - they're obviously doing (almost) everything right. But except perhaps at the one-on-one sessions, nowhere in the store does Apple demonstrate how their different offerings work together. This isn't necessary for someone who already knows how it all works, but such people don't need to shop in an Apple store anyway. Each Apple product line is still segregated on its own set of tables. IMO, they should be constantly demonstrating how iCloud and sync works (in spite of its faults and bugs). And everything is still organized by hardware instead of possibly being organized by accomplishing a given task. In other words, and as just one example, show me how to shoot video on an iPhone out in the field while my iWatch is sending me messages, field edit it on an iPad and finalize the edit, post-process and share it on a Mac. Do the equivalent in the store of what's seen in many iPhone/iPad TV spots.
As far as "60 Minutes" is concerned, Apple isn't going to disclose anything they don't want to. Anyone who thinks that Rose is going to open a door and find a car, a consumer robot or the next MacBook Pro is fooling themselves. And what's that inside the cabinet that Rose and Ive are in front of? It looks like a table lamp base to me. Is Ive using the facility to design products for his home?
And who still watches "60 Minutes"? It's mostly geriatrics, no?
I agree the stores are more of a refinement than an overhaul. The biggest difference is moving from metallic walls and surfaces to more natural elements. Stone walls and floors, green elements (full on trees in some stores, living wall elements in others), and a reduction of clutter by removing window displays make the store seem a little more open and calm. But arguably the biggest change happening in that photo is the return of a big screen theatre area, and the removal of a dedicated genius bar. That screen has a lot of potential to be used for live in store demos. The workshops were recently restructured to incorporate some of the issues you brought up about showing how the products can integrate with each other. By removing the physical genius bar customers can now wait for their appointments, checked in, in a more spread out area. So I do see some improvements already coming into play here.
What’s so hard about running the power up through a leg? Get rid of the squiggle cords.
- http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700221567/Utah-company-holds-up-to-Steve-Jobs-vision.html
The following link shows what they look(ed) like underneath but I don't think that's the current underneath design of the tables (despite having no evidence to support this assumption).- https://www.flickr.com/photos/jahue/tags/appletable/
As for the power cord, if you go by and Apple Store at night you'll see a cleaning crew inside—mine is a block away from my house so I can't but walk by it frequently at odd hours. I wonder if they move the legs so they can clean thoroughly each day. If the power cord was in the leg it could some logistics issues with connecting/disconnecting.Of course, this doesn't mean the solution isn't insurmountable. Off the top of my head I could see that one leg, on the inside, has a cut out just enough for the power cord and enough room for a hand to get in there to connect and disconnect. You still make it a coil cable there so when detached it will recoil up a little (an inch or two would be fine) so that you can then move the table around without fear of bending or breaking the connector. They cold also include a clamp for the leg internally so that you can't forget about the plug and still move the table. With this off-the-cuff idea, the problem they would have still have with all current stores would be the location of the power outlets. I'm fairly certainly all of the Apple Stores I've been in had cement foundations so to move the power outlets to accommodate the new plug location in the tables would be more trouble than its worth.
Additionally, even if one thinks that my instant idea is good, there could still be untold issues that has caused Apple to discount it as a working concept. I have to think Apple has also considered that solution so if they aren't doing it they are must have found some logistic, safety, maintenance, or cost issues that make it less than ideal than the current solution.