My happy trip to the apple store! :-)! Jag, Switch ads, etc
Well I went to the Apple Store Colorado today to help someone make the switch! Man that was fun! Anyway, while talking to one of the guys who works there I found out:
1. New Apple Store coming to Colorado by December, ie Cherry Creek neighborhood (very upscale)
2. Very shortly new Switch ads including celebs. (they had some of the people on the demo macs in the store, very cool)
3. 10.2 running on 17" iMac show models! Very sweet go check it out if you have an Apple Store near you.
4. Not as exciting but iPods will be available in a week! Woohoo, I'll be going back and will try to find out some more info, mainly on any new product announcements in the next month
Have a nice day!
crazylb1
[ 07-22-2002: Message edited by: crazylb1 ]</p>
1. New Apple Store coming to Colorado by December, ie Cherry Creek neighborhood (very upscale)
2. Very shortly new Switch ads including celebs. (they had some of the people on the demo macs in the store, very cool)
3. 10.2 running on 17" iMac show models! Very sweet go check it out if you have an Apple Store near you.
4. Not as exciting but iPods will be available in a week! Woohoo, I'll be going back and will try to find out some more info, mainly on any new product announcements in the next month
Have a nice day!
crazylb1
[ 07-22-2002: Message edited by: crazylb1 ]</p>
Comments
Yeah i live next door to Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, but to be honest I got tired of rainy day blues and the blue screen of death. I made the switch and am finally seeing the light.
Anyways....I wish they'd open one here in Washington.
<strong>2. Very shortly new Switch ads including celebs. (they had some of the people on the demo macs in the store, very cool)</strong><hr></blockquote>
Who!
So when an in-store Mac isn't being played on, they'll go to sleep and these "Switch" screensavers kick in.
Apple Stores are looking REALLY good right now. Lots of white, that's for sure (iMac, eMac, iPod, iBooks), but it's a very striking and clean look. One of the things I did was sit outside on a bench for a little while and just watch people walk by. Currently the two big window displays they have going is one for iPhoto (a HUGE mock-up of the iPhoto app window, about 5' tall or so, suspended from cables and supporting TONS of 8x10 photos in a mobile sort of design/style...very cool). The other big window display is the LCD iMac.
TONS of people would be walking by, glance over, stop in their tracks and - in some cases - open their mouths as if to say "oh my...wow...".
The window display iMac got LOTS of passerby attention, even causing perhap 30-40% of the people just casually strolling by to actually go inside the store and look around.
Can't stress how important it is to have ALL the Macs up and running, no missing mice or keyboard keys, frozen screens, bomb icons, etc. Everything words, is fast, is hooked to the Internet, etc. AND, actual, real-life programs are installed (Photoshop, Illustrator, FCP, Dreamweaver, etc.).
These stores are - in some small way - hopefully making up for the years of neglect and half-ass salesmanship Macs have received at Best Buy, Sears, Circuit City and even CompUSA.
Everytime I go to an Apple Store, I'm there for AT LEAST 30 minutes. I want to look at every display, every shelf, every peripheral, cruise around and take it all in, listen in on Genius Bar conversations, etc.
Never fails that I end up striking up a conversation with someone too. And, more often that not, they're a Mac newbie, or a fence-sitter or are seriously considering "switching". I always take the opportunity (if they ask) to show them a few things, give them a quick rundown of the products (consumer vs. pro), the iApps, etc.
I'm certain that I've probably been responsible - if only indirectly and in passing - for a Mac purchase or two in the past 4-5 months.
Someone here (in another thread) was talking about it and how nice it looked.
Encouraging news. There are WAY more CompUSAs than Apple Stores, so Apple's appearance/maintenance/attention it gets (or doesn't get, in some cases) has a larger impact and more visibility.
Exciting times right now. I was telling a buddy the other day that things really seem to be falling into place, regarding hardware, OS X, the whole overall Apple approach/philosophy, etc.
Be curious to see how things are a year from now. OS X will be, without question, THE OS (no more OS 9 or Classic needed...EVER), all the hardware will be AT LEAST G4-based and well over 800MHz, possible new iApps (or updated, even cooler versions of the ones currently in existence, perhaps a new digital device or two to accompany the iPod, more "Switch" ads, all-new campaigns in general, etc.
I really do believe (AND, have been saying this for YEARS) that Apple simply needs to come out swinging a bit more than they have been in the past few years. Now that OS X has arrived and is pretty much "there" (and will be even more so with Jaguar), Apple is in a position (unlike, say a year ago) to take off the gloves and come out gunning for newbies, converts, switchers, frustrated Wintel users, etc. like never before.
Exciting times to be on the Mac side of the fence. At least I think so.
Have never been more excited and proud of my choice of computing platform as I have been this past six months.
[quote]Man, Apple just keeps rolling out the stores.<hr></blockquote>
Apple Europe - as usual - are completely braindead. There is to the best of my knowledge no Apple Store outside the US. And why would they open one say here in Berlin? I mean, the city only has 4 million inhabitants...
Apples marketshare over here is <2%... wonder why?
<strong>Originally posted by BrianMacOS:
Apple Europe - as usual - are completely braindead. There is to the best of my knowledge no Apple Store outside the US. And why would they open one say here in Berlin? I mean, the city only has 4 million inhabitants...
Apples marketshare over here is <2%... wonder why?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Do you really think that Apple Europe has anything to say in this matter?
Virtually nobody here knows Apple exists. I have taken a CRT iMac (running OS 9) into a rural-ish Tim Horton's (coffee and donut shop, probably more of those here than McDonald's, Burger Kings and Wendy's combined, good place to find average people) to keep track of race results. My experience is, forget an elaborate store, as long as it's on with someone who knows something about it, the thing sells itself.
Even though it's virtually discontinued and has been plastered all over the media in the US for years, the CRT iMac had huge appeal, since it is a beautiful machine, but nobody had seen it before.
In Europe, they would need an entirely new distribution system, and I'm sure they are interested in getting something going over there, but it is more challenging because of currency differences, crossing country borders, etc.
[quote]
In Europe, they would need an entirely new distribution system, and I'm sure they are interested in getting something going over there, but it is more challenging because of currency differences, crossing country borders, etc.<hr></blockquote>
As you may (or may not) know, at least the european union is one economic region with a single currency.
If I may add to your knowledge, other companies seem to be able to sell stuff in all european countries profitable as well...see, we even got fridges and color TVs here
Apple is just not interested in anything outside the US it seems.
little folder of 16 pages for soho and enterprises... Apple need this.
A web store is not enough.
<strong>Well it may be a cold day in hell by the time Apple opens one in Seattle/Microsoft area. I wish they would, because I think it would be the ultimate in your face switch store.
Yeah i live next door to Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, but to be honest I got tired of rainy day blues and the blue screen of death. I made the switch and am finally seeing the light.
Anyways....I wish they'd open one here in Washington.
The Computer Store at 45th and about Roosevelt in the U District is your best bet... and they're good enough and entrenched enough and *well liked* enough that Apple is reluctant to destroy one of the few bastions of Macland in Seattle.
OTOH, they are expected to open a store in the area by March 2003. Sorry, can't recall where I saw this... perhaps in one of the recent quarterly meetings.
<strong>what apple needs to do is open up a store in amsterdam... and instead of a genius bar, they can incorporate one of the local "coffee shops". then you can sit back and "relax" while watching iTunes visualizations on the big screen in back... that'd sure boost some sales.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Supposedly Apple is opening a store in the Netherlands. See <a href="http://www.spymac.com/index.php?id=P73"; target="_blank">http://www.spymac.com/index.php?id=P73</a>;
<strong>
Supposedly Apple is opening a store in the Netherlands. See <a href="http://www.spymac.com/index.php?id=P73"; target="_blank">http://www.spymac.com/index.php?id=P73</a></strong><hr></blockquote>;
No they're not and Apple has said it several times.
Three Dutch designer furniture stores will be selling Macs in the future.
<strong>
Supposedly Apple is opening a store in the Netherlands. See <a href="http://www.spymac.com/index.php?id=P73"; target="_blank">http://www.spymac.com/index.php?id=P73</a></strong><hr></blockquote>;
I would never trust SpyMac
<img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />