Apple Store weaknesses
Okay so I have a paper that I have to write about the Apple Store, and I have to include 3 weaknesses. I have two, but a third is very hard to find since the store is well thought out and presented. I have stated price, and flexibility as two weaknesses. I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts on other areas for improvement for the Apple Store.
Comments
You may have an easier time writing about Microsoft instead...
Sebastian
USA or international?
Okay so I have a paper that I have to write about the Apple Store, and I have to include 3 weaknesses. I have two, but a third is very hard to find since the store is well thought out and presented. I have stated price, and flexibility as two weaknesses. I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts on other areas for improvement for the Apple Store.
I'd go for the accusations that they're putting other Mac resellers out of business, but I don't think those first two really qualify at all.
Selection is poor, price is high, BTOs are not serviceable under applecare onsite, bad music on the speakers (which is always too loud), employees are not knowledgeable enough for my taste.
There is also other stuff like backorders on old replacement parts taking way too long. My PM G5 has been waiting for a new mobo for about 3 months now.
Okay so I have a paper that I have to write about the Apple Store, and I have to include 3 weaknesses. I have two, but a third is very hard to find since the store is well thought out and presented. I have stated price, and flexibility as two weaknesses. I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts on other areas for improvement for the Apple Store.
Maybe this is just a personal preference, but I find it too noisy...Face it, Apple is a Botique store like Sony Style EB Games and Foot Locker...those places are reasonably quiet to a point where I can focus and pay attention to what interests me. I find that the Keystone Indianapolis Apple store is just so loud that I cant hear myself think, louder than Best Buy.
I'd go for the accusations that they're putting other Mac resellers out of business, but I don't think those first two really qualify at all.
I would counter that with the argument that before the Apple Store opened, the closest place I could go to test drive a new Apple product was in Chicago...or wait 6 months till the local school gets one then cash in a favor for a "preliminary evaluation
Okay so I have a paper that I have to write about the Apple Store, and I have to include 3 weaknesses. I have two, but a third is very hard to find since the store is well thought out and presented. I have stated price, and flexibility as two weaknesses. I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts on other areas for improvement for the Apple Store.
1.
Easy: Think Global. Only the US Store AFAIK has TVShows and Movies. Major developed countries (Europe, UK, Australia, Japan) not only do not have US content, they have no local content.
2.
Are there provisions for subtitling if US TV Shows and Movies are purchased (eventually) in non-English speaking countries?
3.
Movies are limited at this stage to Disney. A browse of http://www.apple.com/trailers will show you how important it is for Apple to be able to sell movies from other studios on Apple Store.
4.
Support for iTunes7 and Quicktime7 - latest versions start to close out the opportunities/ streamlined use of iTunes Store on older hardware. My Pentium-4-M (not Pentium M) 2ghz laptop 512mb RAM has "stuttering" issues when playing back iTunes songs, particularly when opening complex pages at the same time in Firefox 2.0
5.
Bandwidth. The iTunes Store is heavily dependent on broadband connections, particularly moving into further growth areas of more TV Shows and a decent/ expanded Movie and DVD/Back Catalogue offerings. Additionally, in preparation for HDTV (another weakness, alongside lack of iTV streaming SDTV or HDTV), bandwidth requirements for iTunes Store is only going to go up.
One would plot the average broadband speed and penetration across major developed and developing nations and look at where the bottlenecks might exist - bottlenecks will reduce satisfaction and enjoyment of iTunes Store, particularly TV and Movies which *do* take quite a while to download even if one has a clean 512kbits/sec download connection. In developing countries, a lot of the time 1mbits/sec connections are promised, however, the trunk lines in and out of those countries have limited bandwidth compared with places like US/ UK/ Japan/ Australia.
6.
Concerns about Credit Card usage. You have to provide Credit Card details just to Sign In into the iTunes Store -- to have an account. People are concerned about privacy, security, etc... I have not tried the iTunes Store Gift Card approach but we've got one ready to try out, it should *NOT* require any sort of credit card info (that's the whole point of iTunes Store Gift Cards).
6.
Concerns about Credit Card usage. You have to provide Credit Card details just to Sign In into the iTunes Store -- to have an account. People are concerned about privacy, security, etc... I have not tried the iTunes Store Gift Card approach but we've got one ready to try out, it should *NOT* require any sort of credit card info (that's the whole point of iTunes Store Gift Cards).
Due to me being a High School student and all, I don't have a Credit Card. I signed up using a Redeem Card and buy all my music with those
Sebastian
That's been the complaint I've heard the most; people having to wait hours and never having their problems actually fixed.
Genius Bar Genius Bar Genius Bar.
That's been the complaint I've heard the most; people having to wait hours and never having their problems actually fixed.
They do take quite a bit of time, but they do fix the problem, or at least they fixed mine
Sebastian
Due to me being a High School student and all, I don't have a Credit Card. I signed up using a Redeem Card and buy all my music with those
Sebastian
Cool. My mum and I got my Dad a $20 iTunes Store card for Christmas. That's great for a lot of people who don't want to give out their credit card details or younger people with no credit cards. Hopefully it's easier for my Dad anyway to just use the gift card...
Side Note: That's why that report of "iTunes sales slipping" because they tracked Credit Card usage was total BS. There was ZERO information on *actual* revenue or number of songs/ shows/ movies sold.
Cool. My mum and I got my Dad a $20 iTunes Store card for Christmas. That's great for a lot of people who don't want to give out their credit card details or younger people with no credit cards. Hopefully it's easier for my Dad anyway to just use the gift card...
Side Note: That's why that report of "iTunes sales slipping" because they tracked Credit Card usage was total BS. There was ZERO information on *actual* revenue or number of songs/ shows/ movies sold.
Yep, it is a good way. Just not a convenient way to make purchases however
Fortunately Safeway is just across the street so oh well
As for iTunes sales, it was quite obvious, especially since Cards and Gift Certificates are in the Top 10 Apple Products Sold... well since a week ago anyways
Sebastian
Genius Bar Genius Bar Genius Bar.
That's been the complaint I've heard the most; people having to wait hours and never having their problems actually fixed.
I agree. It takes WAY too long to get helped if you have a problem. I don't even bother taking my computer there anymore. It takes a good half hour just to get anyone's attention.
In addition, the sales reps are completely clueless. One girl didn't told me there was no such thing as a wireless Mighty Mouse. I wanted to punch her in the face...
In addition, the sales reps are completely clueless. One girl didn't told me there was no such thing as a wireless Mighty Mouse. I wanted to punch her in the face...
So you like punching girls huh?
The water-based finish that they put on the maple floors is unsuitable for high traffic areas, making the floors look like crap in short order.
Looks better than the old carpet you'd find in some old-skool Apple resellers (in various countries) going back say 3-6 years.
Okay so I have a paper that I have to write about the Apple Store, and I have to include 3 weaknesses. I have two, but a third is very hard to find since the store is well thought out and presented. I have stated price, and flexibility as two weaknesses. I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts on other areas for improvement for the Apple Store.
Those arguments are not very good. What class is this paper for/what major are you? Are you talking about online or retail?
Here are some weaknesses:
Those arguments are not very good. What class is this paper for/what major are you? Are you talking about online or retail?
Here are some weaknesses:
Also: Apple-branded accessories are sometimes outrageously priced... I guess that could be part of the price argument steph4285 listed before.
[*]Apple makes people pay extra for cosmetic changes (i.e. Black MacBook)...
Black MacBook, to nitpick, is not purely cosmetic. There are distinct hardware improvements over White MacBooks.