perhaps because they don't want to be seen as a company that only bothers with their bottom line.
and while you seem to think that their stuff is mostly *****, many many folks don't agree. which is why they are opening even more stores.
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Apple's Carnegie Library Store in Washington, DC to Respect Historic Context With Subtle Branding, Community Focus
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perhaps because they don't want to be seen as a company that only bothers with their bottom line.
and while you seem to think that their stuff is mostly *****, many many folks don't agree. which is why they are opening even more stores.
I don't think that anyone thinks product development selects retail stores. Why would anyone think that? The reason the frustration comes out as response to stories like this, is because Apple customers spend a lot of money on Apple gear and in doing so have bought into an ecosystem. When the company's priorities appear to be grossly out of whack, its frustrating because it means I am not seeing the ecosystem advance.
So seeing an announcement about all this energy on a historic building when their products are not advancing... is very frustrating. Its a frustration with Apple's priorities... and more specifically on Tim's leadership. This all shows that Tim picked a good retail head, and we know he is a master of the supply chain and his own political agendas; but he sucks at the whole product side of the business. Personally I didn't spend my money to buy Apple products for the first two. I could care less if the building I go to get support is historic. I hopefully don't need to spend much time there. And I could care less about Tim's political preferences. I suppose supply chain is important to a customer. But most important with technology is the products.
Apple can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. Anybody that gets angry based upon Apple and priorities is just simply misguided. If you look at any major premium brand in the world they place their stores in iconic locations. Would you be happier if Apple was converting burnt out pawn shops outside of Detroit?
Because organizations don't scale indefinitely. In the 80's companies decided that it made sense to diversify risk so, you had food companies as part of a conglomeration of banking firms, construction firms, airlines, etc. They thought that if they did that they would protect themselves from any one industry taking a hit.
What they found was these companies lost focus when they were part of a large whole. So, these mega corporations split up because they could be run better by leaders focussed on one thing.
So yes, the guys that are fixing the stores are not engineers, but the management of Apple is all over the map, they aren't just making great products, they are doing dozens of other things.
Why doesn't Apple make a surface type product? Because trying to be both things makes it not good at either. A company is the same. It's not a problem with the people doing the work, it's a problem with management not being able to concentrate their focus on what matters. If you have crappy products in beautiful store is that going to make them better?
There is so much wrong with this I wouldn't even know where to begin.
Criminals also know that when they want to communicate about their plans and previous actions, that security that you mention will benefit them as well.
While you make an excellent point, it doesn't diffuse my statement. In context, it always seems that many people on this site think that every Apple employee is somehow connected to every aspect of the business. Just because the retail/marketing side is busy and flourishing doesn't mean that product development isn't working "behind the scenes" on (God forbid, things that aren't exposed on this site) product updates and development. I don't mean to come on like a "fanboy" but I do get a little annoyed with short-sightedness.
Please understand, I am not an Apple hater. The problem is how much I love Apple. My first computer was an Apple IIe and I've spent many tens of thousands of dollars on Apple products.
But I went through this once before. I was in an MBA program in 1996 and finally came to the realization that businesses weren't using Macs and weren't going to (this was the Scully/Amellio era). I moved to PCs and the world went on.
Then in 2008 I had the chance to switch back to a Mac, and the company had turned around and the Mac was thriving.
So, people laugh at all the Apple is doomed naysayers, but it almost was because of incompetent management. And this time they can't bring Steve back to save the company. I'm not actually predicting that Apple is doomed. But there are more and more people like me that simply need better machines than what Apple is making.
I actually hope that the new new mac pro will be all that and a slice of bread. But, I've heard enough of how great the pipeline is without seeing anything but smoke for a long time.
But I went through this once before. I was in an MBA program in 1996 and finally came to the realization that businesses weren't using Macs and weren't going to (this was the Scully/Amellio era). I moved to PCs and the world went on.
Then in 2008 I had the chance to switch back to a Mac, and the company had turned around and the Mac was thriving.
So, people laugh at all the Apple is doomed naysayers, but it almost was because of incompetent management. And this time they can't bring Steve back to save the company. I'm not actually predicting that Apple is doomed. But there are more and more people like me that simply need better machines than what Apple is making.
I actually hope that the new new mac pro will be all that and a slice of bread. But, I've heard enough of how great the pipeline is without seeing anything but smoke for a long time.
Apple exists to satisfy my every desire. If they do anything else, they are failing.
We hear a lot of that kind of reasoning around here. I find just letting it go is best.
Good advice. I am admittedly getting over-annoyed at things i can't control...
There is nothing wrong with the management as of now. They have pushed great services, products, and even got political in good way. They are pushing the world in a better direction. Some very powerful people don't like that. It makes sense why some would want new management, to make apple 'comply'
If you're going to make a presentation to a government body about renovations to a historic structure, you're going to try to impress them with your respect for history, architectural integrity, etc. It's a necessary part of the process.
Considering how passionate Apple is about matters like design, I don't doubt that they do respect the historic buildings they choose for retail locations. However, their ultimate purpose is to build attractive retail stores in upscale shopping districts. Whether those are original, contemporary architectural designs, or renovated historic landmarks is going to come down to location, local politics, etc.
The architects who designed the Carnegie Libraries built them, from the start, to impress the public with their importance - both the cultural importance of the free public library and the knowledge contained therein, and the personal importance and largesse of Andrew Carnegie. Outside and in, they were designed make patrons feel like they were embarking on a special experience.
Retailers of upscale goods also want to make their patrons feel that they and the shopping experience are special, and that the goods they're buying are special. However, if you're seeking approval from government bodies, "I want to make oodles of money" is not going to close the deal.
In a company of Apple's size, there are many ships in the fleet, and many hands on many rudders. One can even argue that Apple is a navy, with multiple fleets. No navy will win every engagement. It may even sail past a heavily-defended or strategically-unimportant port in order to win a larger objective. The citizens of those bypassed ports may feel betrayed or abandoned, but the decision to not steer in their direction is hardly proof that there's nobody in charge of the navy.
Let's not kid ourselves here. Steve Jobs micromanaged the hell out of things. He even called someone at Twitter at home on a Sunday evening to complain about the particular shade of blue they used in their app icon. He also gave us disasters like the G4 Cube and iPod HiFi.
Apple, as a company, can focus on more than one thing at one time. Their retail division has zero to do with their R&D. Telling them to stop opening nice new stores is not going to make a new Mac come out any sooner, just like telling the dishwasher at a restaurant to stop washing dishes isn't going to make your steak come out of the kitchen any sooner.
People are so dense and self-entitled these days.
I feel your pain. There's not a Mac on the market I'd buy today. But obviously Apple are doing something right for someone or they wouldn't be on track to become the first trillion dollar company in the world.
How are they not hitting it out of the park every day? They're the most highly valued company in the world by some metrics. You may not like all their offerings, but they are clearly doing a-okay. I'm also getting tired of seeing comments like your "worrying about social issues," nonsense. What is the point of money? Yes corporations are meant to earn their shareholders (and I'm one of em!) money, but if your bottom line is just the bottom line, what the hell are you living for? Money is a means not an end.
Funny to see threads next to each other where in one the comments are people complaining about Apple spending money on non-money making social things, and in another complaining about Apple not paying their fair share to support society.
Wow! Reading some of the comments saddens me.
i am an American, but detest our collective lack of respect for history and grand, irreplaceable buildings of an age gone by.
Without the largesse of Apple retail the Carnegie Library, this grand architecture would simply crumple -- probably become a shell of itself hosting a bland mall of nameless shops.
And, the District government complicit on this due to its most corrupt and wasteful management.
i am an American, but detest our collective lack of respect for history and grand, irreplaceable buildings of an age gone by.
Without the largesse of Apple retail the Carnegie Library, this grand architecture would simply crumple -- probably become a shell of itself hosting a bland mall of nameless shops.
And, the District government complicit on this due to its most corrupt and wasteful management.
This one line disturbingly highlights how culture is under attack by corporations like Apple:
"What long ago were reading rooms would become places to browse and sample Apple products."
We've gone from independent reading to consumption of products.
Absolute disgrace. #MoveOnApple. Find another location Apple.
"What long ago were reading rooms would become places to browse and sample Apple products."
We've gone from independent reading to consumption of products.
Absolute disgrace. #MoveOnApple. Find another location Apple.
On the contrary, I don't believe I'm being short sited at all. I'm looking at the cracks forming which will have longer term impact.
Those cracks include:
- Not servicing the education market which they used to own
- Not servicing the pro photographer's market that they used to own
- Not servicing the video pro market that they used to own
- Not servicing the design market that they used to own
- etc.
Apple has become a smartphone company... admittedly a profitable phone with a long add-on chain. But its already starting to become a commodity and they don't have anything in the pipeline that could come close to replacing it for revenue share (my opinion). Take a look at where IBM is today. They were in a similar position at one point with their cash cow mainframe business. Now they have been going years of negative growth with no sign that it will change.
Everyone is welcome to their own opinion. I'm regretting becoming too tied into the Apple ecosystem and even more so for buying anything on iTunes which is trapped if I ever don't have an Apple device to play it on. Several years ago I was happy to be tied to the Apple ball and chain because I liked where they were going. Now, not so much. Just my opinion and I am starting to move away from Apple because of it.
Tying this back to the original post, I could care less if Apple buys or leases space in historic buildings. All I care about is how accessible their stores are when I need to go there. The ones I mostly go to are in malls, and that is fine.
They have enough cash to do whatever they want. This is why its inexcusable that they aren't staying atop the product side.
If you don't use your Apple products for accessing (and reading) the knowledge available over the internet, don't blame Apple. Given the choice between traveling to a public library (during those hours that it's open) and buying a device that allows me 24/7 access to far more knowledge than any one library could contain... I'm not going to choose the public library, despite the fact that I live across the street from a perfectly adequate public library and I'm within 45 minutes of one of the world's greatest and best-known libraries. If I have to pay a commercial entity to obtain the tool that unlocks those riches, so be it.
That's idiotic. If you know anything about this beautiful building and its perfect location, you would know that this is a perfect use of the space. It hasn't been an a working library for decades - early 1960's, possibly.
It is a decaying grand dame of the area. What Apple is proposing would bring back its beauty and character, and turn it less in to a dispenser of products, but a dispenser of personal tools for knowledge.
This was once a stunning library. Now it will house information receptors. I love it!
I am a Librarian of almost 30 years of experience. This is as good as it gets.