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Great to hear them reducing their on display peripherals. All they do is bring clutter to the beloved Macs.
 
They will still sell cases and bags, their devices need cases and the Sales Staff implore you to buy a case with whatever device you buy...

By getting rid of Third Party items they are pushing only Apple Products, they make 100% on Apple Products, Cases and Docks etc only net them 30% for the Sale, PLUS a 10% service fee of the (I think) the Wholesale price for allowing the Company to use the iDevice Name...
 
Another reason not to go to the Apple store. Every time they cut display items and increase service space, it gives me no reason to go there unless I'm buying a Macbook, iMac, iPhone or other hardware item. Sometimes its fun just to go in and browse. If the store it going to turn into one big customer service help desk, the thrill is gone.

call me old fashioned - when I go to a store, I want to see stuff!

Apple thinks you should be lazy and sit at home to browse the store.
 
Excellent move on Apple's part.

Sure, non-Apple products are fun to look at an Apple store but who in their right mind would pay Apple Store prices for the stuff?

Pay full pop for Photoshop plus local taxes? No way, B&H online is the place I go. The price difference is even larger for items like external hard drives. Apple might as well get rid of the stuff people aren't likely to buy from them.

If people have the money to pay for a mac, they have the money to pay for those non Apple products in their stores.
 
It amounts to Apple and Steve Jobs' ego pushing what they think the MASSES (not you or I... there's more people than that) should do. Ultimately Steve Jobs will want you to do all of your shopping through a bloated iTunes interface, if he has his way before he dies.

I doubt anyone's ego is driving the decisions relating to the Apple stores. You're talking about the most successful retailing outlets in the world based on dollars per square foot...not some local family owned store.

Whatever is behind the decisions is full of strategy and win.
 
Sad tio hear and witness...

I went to the Apple Store to see the hardware that made Their hardware worth buying... unlike others I did not go on the web to get the "cheapest" deal...

I hate how since the new MBA the Apple Stores are all about the "services" add-ons... my partner's amy experiences in getting the MBA's really sucked.... felt like we were buying a car! :(

It was about services... not the value add-ons...

Sent a email to sjob's and never got an auto reply.....

But what does he care... he got our money that weekend from a piss poor location...
 
ARE YOU PEOPLE CRAZY?

God, some of the biggest tools are in this thread.

Have any of you been to that god awful mac app store? Have you heard the rates that Apple is charging the dam developers? There is no way any other software distribution program can even COMPETE with the app store because it comes with every dam OSX. They're dumbing it the hell down, its ridiculous.

Anyway, my point continues: WHY ARE PEOPLE BUYING FROM THE APP STORE? Their rates ARE INSANE. Bioshock $40? what the hell? is it 2008? Bioshock on steam is ten dollars and in stores its 20. CIVILIZATION IV has been out for years and its selling for the FULL RETAIL PRICE. Civ V isn't even out on the app store for gods sake (it released months ago). Bit.TRIP BEAT was just released on the app store nearly around the time the second bit.TRIP game was released. Half of the "apps" (oh wait, remember programs?) that I use aren't even ON the app store. And most of them can be replaced by free ones if you spend two minutes online looking for them.


To name a few:

textmate
CSSedit
TotalFinder
Visor
Parallels
Hyperdock
MacFuse
HUGE companies that make awesome products like adobe, NI, etc.
and plenty more...


They're all "iOS apps". I would download one, and then think "what the hell is this, it seems like I can make this in a gui 'program-creator'". Most of the apps on the app store feel so bland, so useless and so half-assed I'm wondering if the developers are even trying. Most of them feel like a notepad with a couple shiny buttons with a shiny interface.
 
^+1

Its bad enough that a majority of the store is now a customer service wait room. Now I have no reason to go to the store period. They are removing the whole see it, touch it, experience it.....what's their next step getting rid of the stores and moving everything online?:confused:

Why would their next step be moving everything online if they're still to this day opening up stores around the globe?

They just wanna focus on their devices and that's it. Nothing wrong with that.

The article did say, the products will still be in stock for anyone who comes in and asks.

It's up to the customer to know what he wants. It's 2011.

When I worked at Best Buy, I worked in Mobile Phones... and 90% of the customers come in knowing exactly what phone they want, what SD card they want with it, what plan with what network... the other questions I got were, oh what kind of case do u recommend.. questions that have nothing to do with the tech...

This is all part of the technological evolution. You do your research, online, then you go in and get what u want. There's more customer service if need be, if you have any questions.. But the physical product doesn't need to be in front if showing it wouldn't make a difference.. in other words, why would you down stock external hard drives and put them on display for people? It's not like they have a user interface that people need to touch and feel and experience.

My .02
 
One day all they will sell is something like this...

2d6kygw.jpg
 
If people have the money to pay for a mac, they have the money to pay for those non Apple products in their stores.

Maybe, but the person also has to be willing to part with the money to be of any use to Apple. Just because I have the money to pay for a Mac does not mean I'm also willing to pay list price for non-Apple peripherals I can get on Amazon for 30% less.

But you also assume that all Apple owners are loaded w/ cash rather than struggle to make enough money to buy the computer and worry about the extras later.
 
One day all they will sell is something like this...

2d6kygw.jpg

I'll wait for the second version, and still complain about the spec.

I'm sure half the space in some of their stores is taken up by uncontrolled breeding/cloning of their staff. Went in the Apple Store in the Trafford Centre (UK) last Thursday during the day and counted no more than 7 customers and at least 23 blue-tops. Yes, you can argue that they need this number of staff for busy weekend periods, but to be honest I've found some 3rd-party peripherals to be more effective than some of the shop floor staff.
 
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Another reason not to go to the Apple store. Every time they cut display items and increase service space, it gives me no reason to go there unless I'm buying a Macbook, iMac, iPhone or other hardware item. Sometimes its fun just to go in and browse. If the store it going to turn into one big customer service help desk, the thrill is gone.

I agree. Apple doesn't bring out new hardware that often so I tend to go in and browse the peripherals when I'm passing. Without them I wouldn't have any reason to go in at all. If they want to save space how about selling mobile printers and scanners instead. They don't take up as much space and could be displayed on the side shelves. There must be lots of other small mobile gadgets they could sell. All helps to generate revenue and keep mac users coming back into the store.
 
ARE YOU PEOPLE CRAZY?

God, some of the biggest tools are in this thread.

Have any of you been to that god awful mac app store? Have you heard the rates that Apple is charging the dam developers? There is no way any other software distribution program can even COMPETE with the app store because it comes with every dam OSX. They're dumbing it the hell down, its ridiculous.

Well, it's Apple ;) Everything from one source: music, movies, hardware, software, peripherals, etc; it's been sjobs' goal from the beginning, was Apple's downfall in the 90s and will be Apple's downfall again.

Anyway, my point continues: WHY ARE PEOPLE BUYING FROM THE APP STORE?

Hey, I need stupid people to keep the companies that make the stuff I steal in business.
 
Plug a few of the printers in to the Macs. Allow people to see the quality of the printers output.

Software, it's all installed on the machines anyway. People can try it out there, doesn't matter what the box looks like.
 
Great, just what they need, more space for these people. Last time I was in there I waited a good 7 minutes to pay for something I picked up off the shelf because everyone was busy "helping" people with their products and questions. And I was next in line the whole time.

They really need a dedicated checkout.
 
I totally understand why they are doing this, but I like to check out the accessories and read the boxes of software titles when I'm in the store.

Soon the place will be so cool that they won't have front doors on it and there will be no stock inside.
 
In a way this type of story is a little silly as coverage goes. Retail changes as times change. Its just a bit like covering a change in trash can liners or in store lighting.

I suppose the significance is the trend toward disappearing shrink wrapped software but duh..... really duh

Of course its going away, it will be years and years before its gone though and entirely digitally sold.
 
Their rates ARE INSANE. Bioshock $40? what the hell? is it 2008? Bioshock on steam is ten dollars and in stores its 20. CIVILIZATION IV has been out for years and its selling for the FULL RETAIL PRICE. Civ V isn't even out on the app store for gods sake (it released months ago).
You cannot find the Mac version of Bioshock for $10-20 anywhere. Mac games rarely if ever come down in price. This has always been the case, and it is not an App Store issue, rather it's due to the licensing costs mac porting houses have to pay. Civ V will never be available because it requires Steam.

Apps that modify the OS like TotalFinder, Hyperdock, and PathFinder will never be on the store because they use private APIs, which are not allowed.
 
I rarely go into the Apple stores, even for repairs it's easier for me to go to the place where the equipment is sent to be fixed, which is a 15 minute walk from where I live.

I did pop in to get some external drives the other day, but they only had some that cost twice as much as some that were available at Maplin, so I just went there instead. When I told the sales person the price difference he even said I was so much better off going to Maplin.

As for software, the choice and prices do seem a little unusual to me, I was picking up a friends MacBook last year after a logic board failure, and I saw some chap asking how much Civ IV costs (no prices on the box), I think the sales person said £29.99, the customer looked a little shocked, I nosily popped over and told him it was on a Steam sale for £4.99 at the moment. My good deed for the day :D
 
Yeah, THIS, exactly ....

If they can't fit all of their products on their shelves, then maybe they need to look into getting a BIGGER store?!

Honestly, the Apple stores I've been in (save the "flagship" ones like Michigan Ave. in Chicago) always feel cramped. You get a good sized crowd of customers in there, and you're practically bumping into someone no matter where you stand in the place.

I think Apple was so fixated on generating those huge "retail sales $'s per square foot" numbers, they neglected reality!

It doesn't really matter if I'd go there personally to buy a new external hard drive or not. (Frankly, I wouldn't, because I've been in the computer field for close to 30 years now, and I consider myself a smart shopper. I'd mail order something like that.) The point is, if your store doesn't have a wide variety of offerings on display - it makes your core products look like they're incapable of doing much. A lot of people already go into the "Apple experience" with fears about compatibility. It doesn't exactly reinforce the idea that your new Mac will work fine with almost any USB printer or scanner when you go in, and you don't see a single one on display!


Another reason not to go to the Apple store. Every time they cut display items and increase service space, it gives me no reason to go there unless I'm buying a Macbook, iMac, iPhone or other hardware item. Sometimes its fun just to go in and browse. If the store it going to turn into one big customer service help desk, the thrill is gone.
 
One day all they will sell is something like this...

2d6kygw.jpg

Apple is now working on two-sided devices. The parallel lines meet, but only when you want them to. Think of phones. You don't want the phone, just the phone call. So, you just make the call, complete it, and the phone is gone, the parallel sides now being parallel and not meeting and the phone therefore not existing. They will meet up the next time you want to make a call.

In time this concept will spread to girlfriends/boyfriends and everything will be different.
 
If they can't fit all of their products on their shelves, then maybe they need to look into getting a BIGGER store?!

Honestly, the Apple stores I've been in (save the "flagship" ones like Michigan Ave. in Chicago) always feel cramped. You get a good sized crowd of customers in there, and you're practically bumping into someone no matter where you stand in the place.

I think Apple was so fixated on generating those huge "retail sales $'s per square foot" numbers, they neglected reality!

It doesn't really matter if I'd go there personally to buy a new external hard drive or not. (Frankly, I wouldn't, because I've been in the computer field for close to 30 years now, and I consider myself a smart shopper. I'd mail order something like that.) The point is, if your store doesn't have a wide variety of offerings on display - it makes your core products look like they're incapable of doing much. A lot of people already go into the "Apple experience" with fears about compatibility. It doesn't exactly reinforce the idea that your new Mac will work fine with almost any USB printer or scanner when you go in, and you don't see a single one on display!

software is a low margin item and not worth selling. except for enterprise stuff like adobe products, most of it can be sold online at much higher profits
 
Services have higher margins.
One trillion in the bank.
Magic.

If it's not in the Apple store, you don't need it
It's not in the Apple store, so you don't need it.
Also works for SD and USB on iPads, fast GPUs, BD,
and all the other technoligies MIA ad infinitum.
Have a pretzel with your kool-aid.

2387-1.jpg
 
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