London Apple Stores Prepping for Summer Olympics

[WoodNUFC]

I was surprised this was a news story.

I was in London last summer and needed work done on my MBA. I went to the the store at Covent Garden. They had to replace the uppercase and display. The genius asked me if I wanted US or UK keys like it was nothing.

I guess I just expected Apple to be well supplied in big stores like that...


edited for date. I was in London twice last summer and couldn't remember when I got my computer fixed. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[theosib]

Already saw 2012 olympics on Doctor Who

I wonder if David Tennant will be running the torch.

 

[coder12]

Well the 1984 Advertisement did feature a hammer-thrower, so this is probably well suited

 

[Marzzz]

If you are ever in London, the Covent Garden store is a must-see!

 

[mac26]

Oh stop it with the Mac stuff. Over half of Apple's revenue is from iOS. Besides, when Macrumors was founded, there was no such thing as iOS. It's an Apple forum, don't put so much stock in the name!

I was just joking (the purpose of the wink face), I love all Apple news iOS or Mac. Sorry If I annoyed you

 

[ardent73]

Yesterday is not today...

No other company would do something like this.

Today, I agree, but IBM (International Business Machines) was doing this before Steve Jobs was born, sadly the IBM PC and Steve are both gone...

 

[ECUpirate44]

I was just joking (the purpose of the wink face), I love all Apple news iOS or Mac. Sorry If I annoyed you

You didn't annoy me at all! It's just the old excuse when people complain around here lol.

 

[AidenShaw]

If you are ever in London, the Covent Garden store is a must-see!

No Apple store is a "must see". Period. You have to be overdosing on the Kool-Aid to think that a retail store ranks with Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Big Ben, St. Paul's, ....

In Paris, the Louvre is a "must see". The Apple Store in the court is a "walk right by".

 

[Winter Charm]

I wonder if they will have translators as well for all the non English speaking visitors?

I don't doubt it!

Planning ahead like this is what sets apple apart from other companies. Most wouldn't bother with tech support just because a significant amount of users would be in one area...

Apple really does care. And this is what sets them apart. Anyone who has issues with their iDevice will get such a fast international repair, they'll likely be extremely impressed.

And they won't forget it when a friend asks them for recommendations on what to buy...

 

[grahamtriggs]

I was surprised this was a news story.

I was in London in June last year and needed work done on my MBA. I went to the the store at Covent Garden. They had to replace the uppercase and display. The genius asked me if I wanted US or UK keys like it was nothing.

I guess I just expected Apple to be well supplied in big stores like that...

Significant difference when you've got normal stock levels to deal with the normal number of overseas visitors, many of whom will wait to get home to deal with any repairs.

Compare that to having a huge number of overseas visitors, where a significant number will be working, and will expect and need to continue working even if disaster strikes.

I can imagine that they would have to disappoint a lot of people if they didn't plan ahead.

Especially at the Stratford store, which will be closest to the Olympic venues. I'm surprised that this article didn't pick that out, rather than just highlight the main central London stores.

 

[Marzzz]

No Apple store is a "must see". Period. You have to be overdosing on the Kool-Aid to think that a retail store ranks with Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Big Ben, St. Paul's, ....

In Paris, the Louvre is a "must see". The Apple Store in the court is a "walk right by".

Lighten up, dude, I didn't say anything comparing it to London's historic sites, just that it was a cool store. Just like people would think Harrod's is a "must see." it's all part of the experience of visiting a great city. And btw, the Apple Store in The Lourve is a nice place to check emails on the way to seeing the Mona Lisa.

 

[Macman45]

Whoever is responsible for this action doesn't miss a trick when it comes to marketing.

Smart!

Oh they will sell a lot of extra stuff, but one place to stay away from is London during the Olympics...People will lose stuff, and need replacements etc. like you say, smart marketing by Apple...

 

[flynndean]

You are aware that Macs have full size keyboards right? Sounds like you simply have a preference for clicky keys...there are many of you out there and that's OK. Personally I can't use old Dell keyboards anymore...but that's my preference. I love my chicklet keys and type much faster with less errors.

In a post about spelling, you'd think you'd take extra care not to make any errors. The correct use of the English in your sentence should read: "...much faster with fewer errors".

It would seem that tiled keys can't correct bad grammar. ;-)

PS. This post carries a sarcastic undertone, certainly no offence is intended. Whether it was intentional or not, you made me laugh.

 

[the8thark]

I wonder if they will have translators as well for all the non English speaking visitors?

Siri can you speak other languages?

 

[macman312]

Who doesn't speak english? All Journalists know how to speak english, they have to, and the other...

Nowadays everyone knows how to speak english, even if its just a tinny bit, and if someone don't speak english i'm sure that they'll be able to understand each other.

I'm Portuguese, and last year i went to Barcelona, and once i don't speak spanish i had to speak english and i only found one couple that didn't understood what i said!

I agree with you- I was in Switzerland and Austria at the start of last year and and had the same thing- English is my native language but I wanted to practice my German.....

 

[alphaod]

Good idea!

Finally some Mac related news on Macrumors!

In case you didn't know, this site is also called AppleRumors.com

 

[the8thark]

Good idea!



In case you didn't know, this site is also called AppleRumors.com

It's also called this:

And this

 

[aperantos]

I was in London in June last year and needed work done on my MBA. I went to the the store at Covent Garden. They had to replace the uppercase and display. The genius asked me if I wanted US or UK keys like it was nothing.

All the more impressive given the Covent Garden store only opened last August.

 

[Hustler1337]

Is that a picture of the Covent Garden store?

 

[the8thark]

I wonder if David Tennant will be running the torch.

Stephen Fry should run with it. He can sure stand to loose the weight.

 

[coffeemadmanUK]

No Apple store is a "must see". Period. You have to be overdosing on the Kool-Aid to think that a retail store ranks with Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Big Ben, St. Paul's, ....

In Paris, the Louvre is a "must see". The Apple Store in the court is a "walk right by".

Actually the store in Covent Garden is seeping with history, reflected in the fact that Apple had to be incredibly careful how they designed the store to keep certain parts of the building in its original form. The entirety of Covent Garden market, from the church to the bars to the shops to the markets to the cafes and restaurants are all very much historical and as much a part of London's history as Big Ben and Parliament (which, btw, is not as old as Covent Garden market...)

 

[superduperdom]

For the record I live in London and hate all this jingoistic garbage, Olympics, Royal whatevers, making the fat cats fatter and more mindless hoards in an already overcrowded city.Avoid.Come the revolution buckingham palace will be the new flagship applestore, Jobspalace, St Paul's a macusers centre and the tower of london for windows apostates.

 

[muckydoggy1]

What?

All the more impressive given the Covent Garden store only opened last August.

That's funny because I visited the Covent garden store almost 3 years ago...

----------

For the record I live in London and hate all this jingoistic garbage, Olympics, Royal whatevers, making the fat cats fatter and more mindless hoards in an already overcrowded city.Avoid.Come the revolution buckingham palace will be the new flagship applestore, Jobspalace, St Paul's a macusers centre and the tower of london for windows apostates.

Well then why don't you move and leave London to the non-boring people?

 

[theluggage]

Wow. British stores stocking international keyboards.

Any chance of them offering a proper British keyboard layout with (for example) the double-quote on the 2, a proper '#' key and the '@' over on the right-hand side?

I guess Mac-only people are used to the current Apple UK layout, but its annoying if you're swapping between Mac and PC or running virtual machines.

 

[mgkimsal]

In 2009 I just got to London and my white macbook case broke. The cover on the left side, next to the shift key, just cracked and a piece fell inside the laptop. I was only in town for 3 days, but wouldn't be home for a week, and was worried about stuff getting in there.

Oxford Street (?) store fixed it within 4 hours. Now... initially he told me to leave it and they'd have it done within 4 days. I was a *bit* surprised, and asked rather sarcastically "who lives without their laptop for 4 days?" He got it fixed in 4 hours. He explained later that he wasn't sure if they had the US keyboard replacement stuff in stock or not. Odd though that rather than checking first he just told me 4 days. I was obviously a tourist (trust me, I'm obvious).

That said, it was fixed, for free, in a foreign country in 4 hours. However, it was London. I'm not sure I'd expect that in a less cosmopolitan place (possibly not even a store in Scotland, for instance).