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Apple Revamps Retail Stores with Interactive iPad Displays

the vj said:
It looks ostentatious, ridiculous idea. Bulky, lack of hygiene, too expensive for the purpose and it is not required.
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Hygiene? Short of putting on some sort of anti-bacterial body wrap before entering, one is exposed to all sorts of whatnot from the moment they open the door, touch the magic trackpad beside an iMac, run their fingers all over the face of an iPod Touch/nano, iPhone, type on a MacBook, or pick up the "paper in plastic" product info placard, etc., etc.

The use of iPads for this purpose (though I agree is a bit ostentatious) is, to me, no less hygienic than anything in use the day before.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
A lot of car manufacturers used it this way at the various car shows.

...outright copying Apple's use of them in their own retail outlets (of course no one copies Apple's ideas, right)...
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Wait, you just said yourself this was the car manufacturer's idea. How did it suddenly become Apple's idea ? :confused:

Your post was solid until this little tidbit. Then it just became standard pro-apple RDF. If anything, the fictive exec of your post is copying the car manufactuer's idea, same as Apple is doing. Apple is not immune to copying.

As for iPads, why not use their cash on hand to simply reduce their margins by a few points and lower prices internationally to reflect rising currency values in face of a devaluating US dollar ? Now that would be something that benefits their customers, compared their silly wasting of energy with these iPads over the traditional paper cards.
 
ATH44 said:
Since when does Apple change prices?
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Not necessarily the prices but the specs too whenever a new generation is introduced. Oh, and the Mac Mini changed in price, the last iMacs changed price…

It's not worth the upgrade to an iPad advertising the new prices though. But maybe for some other things like interaction with other Apple devices and the tight integration of Apple products might convince people to buy. We haven't seen everything yet the iPads display.
 
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Does anyone else think that it might be a modified apple 2? I mean, they clearly could skimp on some of the specs for a display model, save money, decrease power consumption, etc.

It's like people are thinking they'd nice the dock connector but change nothing else. I don't follow why theyd put a camera on it if there's no way for the apple store software to use it.
 
Does anybody think about a different scenario here?

There are number of places where you have touchscreen displays that have custom software on them.

- the software is really bad
- the touch experience is ridiculous

I think apple is trying to emphasise that one can use these kind of tablets for a lot of other things. For eg, info displays at malls, airports, railway stations, restaurants for reservations, etc.

As much as we want, the future is more gimmicky, tech oriented but practical as apple demonstrated.

When a person goes out to buy an iMac or a MacBook, he/she will definitely use an iPad for a minute or so to test these little things.

So basically Apple has decided to sell more iPads to everyone who is interested in. Any other apple product; further emphasising the utility of iPads in a lot of other scenarios.

Back when I visited apple in 2009 in London, they had a 27" iMac in the front for ID allotment. Next, they will be using iPads to do such work.

I think it's great.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
There is subtext in the new display that seems to be lost on most here -- yes, it's a little over the top IF it's only purpose is to give information about the product it's sitting next too. But that is only secondary the the primary purpose, and that is to show off the iPad as a product sales tool. A lot of car manufacturers used it this way at the various car shows.

Think about it, some exec is in the Apple store looking for a computer for his kids. He is virtually forced to play with it as he's looking at the iMac. Bells go off. He ends up recommending to his company that they start arming the salesforce w/ iPads or using them at sales conventions, or outright copying Apple's use of them in their own retail outlets (of course no one copies Apple's ideas, right).

This new display is not about having a new display, it's about selling more iPads.

And speaking of more iPads, there's gonna be a s-load of refurbs after the iPad 3 ships.
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Wow. I totally missed your post but you are spot on. The future for most is not the iMac or the MacBook. The future is iPad like products.

And apple knows that and they are just trying to emphasise the role of iPads in different scenarios.

Cheers.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
There is subtext in the new display that seems to be lost on most here -- yes, it's a little over the top IF it's only purpose is to give information about the product it's sitting next too. But that is only secondary the the primary purpose, and that is to show off the iPad as a product sales tool. A lot of car manufacturers used it this way at the various car shows.

Think about it, some exec is in the Apple store looking for a computer for his kids. He is virtually forced to play with it as he's looking at the iMac. Bells go off. He ends up recommending to his company that they start arming the salesforce w/ iPads or using them at sales conventions, or outright copying Apple's use of them in their own retail outlets (of course no one copies Apple's ideas, right).

This new display is not about having a new display, it's about selling more iPads.

And speaking of more iPads, there's gonna be a s-load of refurbs after the iPad 3 ships.
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Genious, isn't it? This is the only way left to stay in front of the competition for a longer time.
 
I bet this will actually save apple money in the long run, even with the high cost of each iPad. Now if there is a special message for a product, price change, or updated graphics - they can instantly be updated at every store, from one central location. So there is no more printing costs, and wasting employees time updating the signage, and it will reduce mistakes of a sign accidentally not getting switched out or a typo on signage that needs reprinting.

A lot of big companies that design displays are switching to 3G iPads because of these reasons. You'll start to see these at stores all the time, although they will probably be in custom cabinets so it might be hard to tell it's an iPad with just the screen showing.

I do agree that the iPads sitting in front of all the other products makes it a litle confusing what is actually being sold on that table. They should have embedded the iPads into the tables themselves, so they laid flat under the surface of the table, but that would be pretty pricey. Maybe they figure it will cause more impulse buys, like people going in for an iMac and leaving with an iMac and an iPad!
 
I dont like it. Seems a more than a little gaudy and over the top. Not to mention that it completely destroys Apple's "green" initiative. All those iPads needlessly sucking power when it used to be a small sheet of paper.
 
Next, they'll force you to use an iPhone to call a genius.

All about just keeping you attached to their devices. I mean look at their terrible iOS notification system. You're forced to interact with the device. I just got a weird feeling that they won't do jack to it in the upcoming iOS 5.
 
AtHomeBoy_2000 said:
I dont like it. Seems a more than a little gaudy and over the top. Not to mention that it completely destroys Apple's "green" initiative. All those iPads needlessly sucking power when it used to be a small sheet of paper.
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Yeah but their other initiatives are to make everything virtual and to make the ipad a universal device. Even though it wastes more resources, the iPad is technically energy efficient (but paper would be a lot more energy efficient).
 
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Cost: future ipad refurb sales. So practically none.
Energy: glad to see people recognize how just because it is digital doesn't mean it is truly green. However it should be. Write your senators.

Effieciency: tons. They likely use their wireless tech to enable a ton more info, synchronized updates, specials etc.

Reprints on that scale add up very quick, change in sales material just in one quarter will pay for those... Since they will likely sell them as refurbs apple in essence has increased their profit margin, not narrowed it.
 
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Seen them today in Leicester UK nothing special tbh.
 
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Those are the apple employees (you can see how some have their shirts thrown over their shoulders)
 
iRobby said:
I like iPad next to product approach the only thing I'm hesitant about the customer service aspect:

Image
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Working in retail, this new approach probably would not work. But for the Apple Store it work, freeing specialists for those that really want to buy. Too often I see folks just in having fun at the Apple Store - checking emails, FB, and the such.

I see that this new look will allow Apple to make the most effective use of their specialists. You will have customers that just want to explore and only want to be helped when they are close to buying. The other customer is one that will be greeted by a specialist and say they are ready to buy and need some help in their choice.

This new direction goes against Retail 101 and Sales 101 - but the Apple Store is a different animal. What other store will print your boarding pass for your flight that afternoon?
 
So... all the jerks will now just press the button for a specialist and go away. This is going to be funny unless you're an Apple Store employee
 
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QuarterSwede said:
MBP13 said:
Very nice! They're kinda going green by not wasting paper/plastic every time a price is changed.
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You do realize wood (especially paper) is a renewable resource right?
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Seriously love the slant on how using paper is greener. NOT TRUE IN RETAIL. Paper is not a green production. Tons of energy, chemicals, and waste. We recycle it to reduce that massive waste... But it requires even more agressive chemicals to do that and the quality is shoddy at best so they either have to coat it with another chemical... Or make it into a shopping bag... Wait isn't this about apple?

However we should be getting our government to make it so solutions like this are viable everywhere. We need to be using renewable energy everywhere. NOT COAL.
 
MBP13 said:
Very nice! They're kinda going green by not wasting paper/plastic every time a price is changed.
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I don't recall Apple changing their prices very often. And the lifecycle cost of that iPad used as a price display has got to allow for many years of paper. Apple could easily have used recycled paper and eco-friendly inks and given a clearer "green" message (FWIW)*

Oh, and the glare of the iPad in photo 2 compared to the (lovely) matte MBP in photo 1 is funny.


*I mean it's kind of BS for a consumer equipment company to start touting green, but that's part of a much larger discussion.
 
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