Hopefully they will have authentic Apple employees and not Target employees running the place. You'll remember what ChumpUSA did to the Apple stuff there...
If by authentic you mean hired by Apple, paid by Apple, etc, then no. They will be Target employees just the same as Best Buy's Apple staff. Just the same as the pharmacy etc staff on the other side of said Target.
Will they be trained to actually know what they are talking about. Yes it seems that is the plan. And yes that training could be designed by Apple perhaps even run by Apple as a favor to Target. So they would be Apple Certified Sales Reps same as the Geek Squad has Apple Certified Techs to work on your Mac there. Same as the 3rd party authorized vendors are Apple Certified as part of their authorization. (but none of them are 'authentic Apple employees')
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Buying doggy treats and an iPad under the same roof sounds great!
Only you won't be able to. Los Angeles has several Apple stores so they don't need this Target arrangement and as the article says it's just in areas without an actual Apple Store (or even perhaps a Best Buy)
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I bet these will be strategically placed in larger markets that still lack an apple store. I think Apple realized they need a little more hands on reassurance to switchers and I don't think best buy is providing that.
Don't assume that Target will provide it either. The model for this seems to be Best Buy, not the Apple Stores. So this means folks that actually understand how the 3g sign up in an iPad works, not folks that will sit with you for half an hour and show you how to use it. Or even making a recommendation of which one you should buy based on your usage plans
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This is a very good idea. I wish some of the elitist people here would get off their high horse as if Apple is some premium god.
Oh I think that status disappeared about the time that Steve Jobs more or less told the pros that they were no longer the end all and be all of how Apple made choices (starting with killing Shake)
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My only hope is that Apple uses the same methods to run these Target-Apple stores like their standalone versions.
Apple won't be running these stores anymore than they run the Best Buy ones or 3rd party authorized shops. They make the deals, set up a contract with certain standards for displays etc but otherwise the home company is the boss same as always.
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They really need to have Apple specialists on hand.
But they won't. Anymore than Best Buy does.
As for your issue, that has nothing to do with the staff being Apple Specialists, Apple Certified etc. That was just an issue of laziness. You see that kind of mess all around many stores as folks just can't be bothered to pay attention.