iWant
I stopped in at the Apple Store at a local mall today to pick up a new USB cable for the old iPod mini I use to listen to podcasts in the car, and was reminded what a truly unique environment the Apple Store is. Mind you, this wasn’t the glass-encased Fifth Avenue flagship; it was just a run-of-the-mill mall version. But the Apple Store really is a retail experience like no other, and truly does an amazing job of creating demand. Part of it is the open, airy feel of the place, and part of it is the high staff-to-customer ratio, which means that you never have to wait more than a few seconds to get help. But the main thing is that all of the company’s products, from the tiniest shuffle to the biggest Mac Pro with 30” Cinema Display, are out there, completely touchable. Compare shopping at the Apple Store to any other consumer electronics chain, and it’s like night and day. While other stores keep high-end and highly pocketable products behind glass, forcing you to ask a sales clerk for access, you can go hands-on with everything in the Apple Store, and spend as much time as you like trying out the gear. I swear that I almost walked out of there with one of those 30-inch displays and a MacBook. But, of course, as seductive as that retail experience is, it also helps to provide a reality check. As much as I like the form factor of the MacBook, I could never see myself buying one—that thing’s got the worst keyboard I’ve seen on a computer since the PCjr, and having the time to try it out in-store only helped to confirm that. And the 30-inch display only served to remind me of how lousy those iTunes Store videos look on a big screen (plus it was $2K, which is a little more than I can spend on a display right now). Still, I did leave seriously wanting an 80GB iPod—though the fact that I left without it should be considered some kind of victory. I left the store carrying nothing but my $19 USB cable, and I’m happily filling that old mini with podcasts right now.
