More blah-blah from me. The gold version of the watch will account for only the tiniest percentage of overall sales. Most of us slugs will be buying the aluminum cheap-o version just to see if it's all that. Going nuts on a store re-design to keep one Crown Jewel safe is massive overkill IMHO.
"By Appointment Only" (like the Genius Bar) for gold could be handled privately and securely in the back. Just trick-out a small office with non-static carpet and a Jony Ive minimalist chandelier.
Having a store within a store is still a half-hearted measure. It's akin to having to wade through the racket of HMV before reaching the classical music section.
If Apple are serious about portraying the Apple Watch as a luxury item, they have to build their own retail stores for it, or offer it in high-end jewellers.
9to5Mac claims smaller ?Watch only stores could be in the works.
Does Apple really think it can repeat the iPod and iPhone phenomenas with the iWatch? If so, they're likely to be disappointed. The former entered a still-new technological arena and did well what others were doing badly. I know, for several years before the iPhone, I was looking for one that did precisely what an iPhone with apps does. All I could find were cell phones that shilled a cell companies for-pay services. Everyone was gushing about how thin the RAZR was. All I could see was that the stupid thing didn't even offer a way to take notes.
The iWatch is entering an arena that's so well-established that its last major event was the wrist watch of about a century ago. The watch is miles beyond a mature technology. Real change is perhaps impossible. Most of the innovations the iWatch seems to offer, such as displaying a pulse rate, are niche markets. Practice a bit and you can learn to take your own pulse in about five seconds the old fashioned way.
The watch is a new breed of technology. It's not just a watch. Will it transform the market like the iPod? Who knows. The iPod was ridiculed when it was announced.
I'm guessing they have ways of trying them on your wrist that are new and very creative. My mind runs to ideas such as the use of the kind of perspex box used in a clean room where you put your arm through an airtight cuff. Or perhaps holographic projections, although that wouldn't allow you to feel the weight.
edit: typo
Too convoluted.
Ahrendts comes from Burberrys. In luxury retailing, you most definitely get to actually try the item on. Watches, jewelry, etc.
She will have none of this holographic projection or clean room barometer cuff nonsense. That doesn't make the customer feel like it's worth spending the money, more like a trip to the dentist.
They will have fully functional demo units.
This isn't some fly-by-night cellphone store with plastic chassis instead of real phones.
Nothing's changed that matters. Judging by the pictures, these new Apple stores will still be far too brightly lit just like the old ones.
What pictures? Please provide a link to the pictures you are apparently referring to that supposedly show the new Apple store designs. Where are these Apple store pictures that look different than the file photo Apple store pictures shown in this article?
Nothing's changed that matters. Judging by the pictures, these new Apple stores will still be far too brightly lit just like the old ones.
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An expensive men's hat, like an expensive men's watch, shouldn't be treated as a mere gadget and passing fancy. It needs to be sold as a special, life-affirming experience. It needs to be sold as "this demonstrates who you are." You can't do that in a brightly lit store filled with people and gadgets.
The ?Watch will be sold out of the back of a vintage Bently Parked discreetly near by an ?Store by someone with a strong West London accent. Asking about "price" will earn you a soft "tut" from the proprietor..
The solution is obvious. The floor models will be outfitted with electric charges which will shock the customer if they try to exit the store with them. So they can just display them untethered in the middle of the store. It's all about conditioning the customer to correct behavior.
More blah. I'm glad you love your Samsung store. Please go back to Seoul and collect your paycheck now. I highly doubt your claimed Apple Store experience.
You're making the classic mistake of assuming people disappointed with Apple are automatically Samsung/Google fanboys.
I don't "love" my Samsung store. Excluding my work-provided Galaxy 4, I have one Samsung product in my entire house, a small TV probably 5 or more years old that does dual duty as a second TV and monitor for one of our Mac minis.
And yes, as recently as this past weekend, the local Apple Store looked tired. Busy, yes, but tired.
Having a store within a store is still a half-hearted measure. It's akin to having to wade through the racket of HMV before reaching the classical music section.
If Apple are serious about portraying the Apple Watch as a luxury item, they have to build their own retail stores for it, or offer it in high-end jewellers.
Disconnecting Apple Watch from Apple's entire retail ecosystem is a step backwards. All Apple devices must be under the same retail roof and that includes cars if they ever make that step. I think a backroom or large glass partition would do the trick. However I would've hoped Apple would've spent more time designing a buying experience specifically for the watch. We're too close to April now for there to be radical changes made to over 400 Apple stores. I would like to see a robotic assistant appear from the backroom holding the Apple Watch model a customer wants to try on based on the interaction they had with an iPad on the other side of the glass partition. All display watches would be powered on and with a bluetooth fence so no shenanigans can be pulled off by thieves without setting off alerts. Users have a full length mirror with camera behind it to snap and email them pictures for reminders and later purchase.
Does Apple really think it can repeat the iPod and iPhone phenomenas with the iWatch? If so, they're likely to be disappointed. The former entered a still-new technological arena and did well what others were doing badly. I know, for several years before the iPhone, I was looking for one that did precisely what an iPhone with apps does. All I could find were cell phones that shilled a cell companies for-pay services. Everyone was gushing about how thin the RAZR was. All I could see was that the stupid thing didn't even offer a way to take notes.
The iWatch is entering an arena that's so well-established that its last major event was the wrist watch of about a century ago. The watch is miles beyond a mature technology. Real change is perhaps impossible. Most of the innovations the iWatch seems to offer, such as displaying a pulse rate, are niche markets. Practice a bit and you can learn to take your own pulse in about five seconds the old fashioned way.
Another one of those self-proclaimed experts who are completely oblivious of the reason why they're just posting opinions like these rather than running Apple themselves. Apple's success is all about seeing possibilities that most people would dismiss as illusory. Between your judgement or my judgement vs Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Angela Ahrendts and the rest of Apple's top execs, I'll go with their's.
For the very well-to-do who want to buy the luxury/gold apple watch standing on a carpet the company should create a carpeted store in ONE location. Perhaps in the new campus that's being built now. They can travel there to buy one on the carpet. Or buy it online.
Nothing's changed that matters. Judging by the pictures, these new Apple stores will still be far too brightly lit just like the old ones.
When I buy, I want to view what I'm considering in an environment like that I'll be using it in. That most emphatically isn't with banks of florescent lights overhead. I don't do brain surgery in my home office.
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Does Apple really think it can repeat the iPod and iPhone phenomenas with the iWatch? If so, they're likely to be disappointed. The former entered a still-new technological arena and did well what others were doing badly. I know, for several years before the iPhone, I was looking for one that did precisely what an iPhone with apps does. All I could find were cell phones that shilled a cell companies for-pay services. Everyone was gushing about how thin the RAZR was. All I could see was that the stupid thing didn't even offer a way to take notes.
The iWatch is entering an arena that's so well-established that its last major event was the wrist watch of about a century ago. The watch is miles beyond a mature technology. Real change is perhaps impossible. Most of the innovations the iWatch seems to offer, such as displaying a pulse rate, are niche markets. Practice a bit and you can learn to take your own pulse in about five seconds the old fashioned way.
If Apple wants to learn how to sell iWatches, they should watch the opening scene to the movie Twelve O'Clock High. An American officer visiting London after WWII buys a hat and praises the store owner for the enjoyable assistance offered.
An expensive men's hat, like an expensive men's watch, shouldn't be treated as a mere gadget and passing fancy. It needs to be sold as a special, life-affirming experience. It needs to be sold as "this demonstrates who you are." You can't do that in a brightly lit store filled with people and gadgets.
Men's hats, we've now forgotten, were once the mark of a man. They told who he was and what his place in society was. To a lesser extent, watches serve a similar role today. I'm not sure Jony Ive and others at Apple quite realize that. They seem stuck on seeing the iWatch as mere fashion, here today and gone tomorrow.
How quaint. You still think that the AppleWatch is a watch. Hence your misguided monologue above.
I think the Apple Watch looks amazing and I can't wait to get my hands on one.
But one thing that is unique to the watch which has never been a feature of any previous Apple product is the notion of a 'luxury item'. And that seems very 'off-brand' for Apple.
Yes, most other Apple products are justifyably priced at the top end of their categories - they should be, they're beautifully designed and engineered. They're not luxury though.
But selling an 18 carat gold watch priced at $5000, turns an incredible piece of technology and design into a status symbol. Steve was never interested in status symbols. He was passionate about building tools to help people unleash their potential. I just hope the arrival of a figure like Ahrendts, who is used to promoting luxury brands, doesn't cause Apple to lose that vision.
The whole concept of these stores has to change or be updated to reflect current reality. So I'm really hoping that this is the start of a total revamp. I find the overall experience off putting when I walk into my local store. Extremely crowded, disorganized, training happening where sales are being made, noise and just a general bad vibe. I did my last couple of Apple products online due to finding the current store more than I can stand.
Comments
"By Appointment Only" (like the Genius Bar) for gold could be handled privately and securely in the back. Just trick-out a small office with non-static carpet and a Jony Ive minimalist chandelier.
9to5Mac claims smaller ?Watch only stores could be in the works.
That's probably complete speculation but it would make sense.
How small will this store be if it only sells Apple Watches?
The watch is a new breed of technology. It's not just a watch. Will it transform the market like the iPod? Who knows. The iPod was ridiculed when it was announced.
I'm guessing they have ways of trying them on your wrist that are new and very creative. My mind runs to ideas such as the use of the kind of perspex box used in a clean room where you put your arm through an airtight cuff. Or perhaps holographic projections, although that wouldn't allow you to feel the weight.
edit: typo
Too convoluted.
Ahrendts comes from Burberrys. In luxury retailing, you most definitely get to actually try the item on. Watches, jewelry, etc.
She will have none of this holographic projection or clean room barometer cuff nonsense. That doesn't make the customer feel like it's worth spending the money, more like a trip to the dentist.
They will have fully functional demo units.
This isn't some fly-by-night cellphone store with plastic chassis instead of real phones.
Nothing's changed that matters. Judging by the pictures, these new Apple stores will still be far too brightly lit just like the old ones.
What pictures? Please provide a link to the pictures you are apparently referring to that supposedly show the new Apple store designs. Where are these Apple store pictures that look different than the file photo Apple store pictures shown in this article?
The ?Watch will be sold out of the back of a vintage Bently Parked discreetly near by an ?Store by someone with a strong West London accent. Asking about "price" will earn you a soft "tut" from the proprietor..
The solution is obvious. The floor models will be outfitted with electric charges which will shock the customer if they try to exit the store with them. So they can just display them untethered in the middle of the store. It's all about conditioning the customer to correct behavior.
More blah. I'm glad you love your Samsung store. Please go back to Seoul and collect your paycheck now. I highly doubt your claimed Apple Store experience.
You're making the classic mistake of assuming people disappointed with Apple are automatically Samsung/Google fanboys.
I don't "love" my Samsung store. Excluding my work-provided Galaxy 4, I have one Samsung product in my entire house, a small TV probably 5 or more years old that does dual duty as a second TV and monitor for one of our Mac minis.
And yes, as recently as this past weekend, the local Apple Store looked tired. Busy, yes, but tired.
Having a store within a store is still a half-hearted measure. It's akin to having to wade through the racket of HMV before reaching the classical music section.
If Apple are serious about portraying the Apple Watch as a luxury item, they have to build their own retail stores for it, or offer it in high-end jewellers.
Disconnecting Apple Watch from Apple's entire retail ecosystem is a step backwards. All Apple devices must be under the same retail roof and that includes cars if they ever make that step. I think a backroom or large glass partition would do the trick. However I would've hoped Apple would've spent more time designing a buying experience specifically for the watch. We're too close to April now for there to be radical changes made to over 400 Apple stores. I would like to see a robotic assistant appear from the backroom holding the Apple Watch model a customer wants to try on based on the interaction they had with an iPad on the other side of the glass partition. All display watches would be powered on and with a bluetooth fence so no shenanigans can be pulled off by thieves without setting off alerts. Users have a full length mirror with camera behind it to snap and email them pictures for reminders and later purchase.
What does that even mean? Tired? I guess you want signs screaming for attention: Look at me, the iPhone 6!!!!
Originally Posted by Inkling
Does Apple really think it can repeat the iPod and iPhone phenomenas with the iWatch? If so, they're likely to be disappointed. The former entered a still-new technological arena and did well what others were doing badly. I know, for several years before the iPhone, I was looking for one that did precisely what an iPhone with apps does. All I could find were cell phones that shilled a cell companies for-pay services. Everyone was gushing about how thin the RAZR was. All I could see was that the stupid thing didn't even offer a way to take notes.
The iWatch is entering an arena that's so well-established that its last major event was the wrist watch of about a century ago. The watch is miles beyond a mature technology. Real change is perhaps impossible. Most of the innovations the iWatch seems to offer, such as displaying a pulse rate, are niche markets. Practice a bit and you can learn to take your own pulse in about five seconds the old fashioned way.
Another one of those self-proclaimed experts who are completely oblivious of the reason why they're just posting opinions like these rather than running Apple themselves. Apple's success is all about seeing possibilities that most people would dismiss as illusory. Between your judgement or my judgement vs Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Angela Ahrendts and the rest of Apple's top execs, I'll go with their's.
How quaint. You still think that the AppleWatch is a watch. Hence your misguided monologue above.
Be interesting to see if this is a step forward...or a step back.
I think the Apple Watch looks amazing and I can't wait to get my hands on one.
But one thing that is unique to the watch which has never been a feature of any previous Apple product is the notion of a 'luxury item'. And that seems very 'off-brand' for Apple.
Yes, most other Apple products are justifyably priced at the top end of their categories - they should be, they're beautifully designed and engineered. They're not luxury though.
But selling an 18 carat gold watch priced at $5000, turns an incredible piece of technology and design into a status symbol. Steve was never interested in status symbols. He was passionate about building tools to help people unleash their potential. I just hope the arrival of a figure like Ahrendts, who is used to promoting luxury brands, doesn't cause Apple to lose that vision.
The issue is the tight spaces of most Apple Stores. There's barely enough room to show off the current product line.