If your iMac’s DVD drive stops working, it could take you a week to get it fixed…unless you have the extra-cost ProCare service, according to one blogger.
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From the monthly archives:
December 2005
It’s not clear how many iMac computers Apple is selling because of its included Photo Booth software, but it’s become popular with visitors, who use the software to snap their picture and e-mail it to friends right from the store. The photo album site Flickr and others have scores of Photo Booth photos posted, showing wild colors and strangely-distorted faces staring into the iMac screen in the midst of an Apple store. The only thing missing from the set-up–the curtain.
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Peter Burrows at BusinessWeek online has an Apple source who says the company has declared the Symbol portable computers and “EasyPay” program a success, and stores will continue to use them for quick customer check-out after the holiday buying season. The devices were introduced to help handle the holiday buying crush, but experienced occasional glitches in reading ATM and credit cards, or would crash. Read Steve Jobs’ take on e-mail receipts and Burrows’ other information, his evaluation of iPod Express, or my earlier evaluation of the iPod Express program.
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Thanks to Mark for a recon of the Perimeter Mall (Geo.), finding that the former B. Dalton Bookseller store on the second level will be vacant by Jan. 16th. He notes that it appears smaller than the Lenox Square store, but perhaps the same size as the North Point store in metro Atlanta.
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The changes wrought by democracy and free trade are no more obvious than in Hungary, a country formerly considered as far east in Europe as you could travel. Now, rather than being considered the last stop before Russia, the country is at the front of a huge economic boom sweeping the former Soviet Republics. It’s always been one of the most liberal of the former socialist countries, and joined the European Union in 2004. It’s no surprise then that the capital Budapest has a large Apple Center located along Andrassy Utca, the main shopping street of the city that resembles similar streets in Paris or Berlin. Thanks to Fred for photos of the Apple Center that show a Regent Street-like exterior with arches, wood flooring, black wood shelving, and the familiar white furniture.
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Another blogger tells the story of his sick iPod shuffle and how it was quickly swapped at an Apple store.
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The ThinkSecret Web site has info about this year’s Lucky Bag tradition in Japan and participation by Apple’s retail stores. The story also says Apple is considering an expansion of the Regent Street store in London.
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The holiday season is a critical period for any retailer, so it was understandable that Apple attempted to accomodate the crush of iPod buyers at its retail stores by creating a special sales area and wireless check-out capabilities they dub “EasyPay” on their Web site. But now that gift-giving is over, it’s time to ponder just how effective the iPod Express initiative was. read more…
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Ever since Apple announced a second Toronto retail store at Eaton Centre (Ont.), locals have been unsuccessfully searching the mall for a possible space. Speculation is that Apple will locate in the new expansion building to be shared with Ryerson University at Bay and Dundas Streets. Thanks to Christopher for photos of construction on this corner space, where retail space will occupy the ground floor.
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Macromedia’s Flash product manager Mike Downey visited an Apple store on Friday to buy a gift, and was “pleasantly shocked” to find staffers with portable computers for processing purchases. Read his official blog about his speedy visit.
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The iLounge Web site has a comprehensive report on iPod availability and sales in Kuala Lampur (Malaysia), finding that few in the city of 1,750,000 appear in public with iPods. The report includes lots of photos of Apple resellers, authorized and otherwise.
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I spent my last available Christmas eve hours in Apple stores to survey the buying patterns–and it was pretty obvious. Visitor traffic looked like an ordinary Saturday, but the computer display counters were completely abandoned in favor of the POS counters and the iPod Express tables. People weren’t browsing today, but instead were coming in, pulling out their credit cards and buying. Every POS position was staffed (iMacs and Powerbooks) and two persons were working the iPod Express table to process purchases quickly. The lines grew and shrank during the time I was there, with perhaps 12-14 in line at its longest. It seemed that the black iPod models were the most popular, since they were the ones most commonly out of stock, as indicated on the 30-inch Cinema Display.
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A mid-day power outage knocked out Apple’s inventory and management computer systems on Friday, and cut the company’s links to credit card processing networks. The outage forced retail store staffers to manually process credit card purchases for over 30 minutes, slowing the POS process to a crawl. Meanwhile, the already-long lines at some stores snaked out the front door, discouraging new customers from coming inside to make purchases. Friday was considered by retail analysts to be among the top three revenue days for the Christmas season, and any interruption in payment handling would mean lost sales from busy shoppers.
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A blogger has good things to say about his Powerbook repair after he took it to the Menlo Park (NJ) store.
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There has been on-going chatter about leasing activity for an Apple store in Vancouver (BC), to open some time during 2006. According to real estate sources, broker CB Richard Ellis is brokering a deal on a street-level space near the downtown Pacific Centre, possibly next to the Hudson’s Bay Company store. You may know that Vancouver hosts 8.5 million tourists a year, with almost 15% from Asia, Europe and South America. Tourists spend..get this… $3.8 billion a year in Vancouver, staying an average of four days and spending $110 per day. Shopping is the #1 activity of vacation visitors, followed by sightseeing and other cultural activities. If rumors of a street-level store are true, this would definitely be Canada’s flagship Apple store.
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