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August 06, 2004
The Apple Store experience
Is an Apple Store more like a hands-on museum than a retail store?
I'd say so, thanks to this insightful analysis of the Apple Store experience by Jesse James Garrett.
Each visit to Apple's Michigan Avenue store in Chicago brings me *that much* closer to rejoining the Macintosh computing community. But I would never switch. I would co-habit.
Apple's "Switch" campaign was wonderfully executed (using real customers), but it was like asking people to change political parties. Or their stance on abortion. A decision of this magnitude doesn't begin or end with a television ad.
A propitious decision to switch product or company loyalty comes (if at all) from being immersed in the products and the people who use them. Like at a flagship Apple store.
Other blogs that reference The Apple Store experience:
The first step is to assume that you will co-habit.
The second step is a Windows PC gathering dust .
Dan D'Errico has hit the nail on the head. I know plenty of people -- from newbies to geeks -- who thought they were going to "just pick up a spare Powerbook/desktop Mac" for non-primary use. Without exception, inside of three months they are doing everything (apart from a few last beloved games) on their Macs.
It was the same way with me and OS 9 -- I was sure that it was going to take me a year, possibly two, to transition away from OS 9 (on which I was a total guru). It took about two weeks. If it wasn't for the fact that my all-time favourite Yahtzee game is only available in OS 9 (actually it's from 1992!), I wouldn't need Classic at all.
I use OS X. I definitely used to be a big Apple fan. But now I'm just an Apple user. I don't consider "switching" to be a massive leap of faith. I just use whatever tool I need that saves me the most time.
If company X makes product Y that saves me time, I'd consider using it.
When and if I do pick up a spare Mac (I pine for the iMovie capability), I'll blog about it.
In the meantime, I'm reminded of what Guy Kawasaki said to Jackie and me a few years ago: "I believe in God because there's no other reason to explain the continued survival of Apple Computer."
I was another who got an iMac for the fun of testing the Mac OS and some of the "Digital Hub" applications.
Two years later, I have a house filled with five, count 'em, five (5) Macs, networked with an Airport, and two iPods.
The Apple Store is what got me in front of a Mac after 12 years of devotion to the PC.
I have left The Dark Side and stepped into the light.
What's the point? Well, for some of us on this planet, the Apple Stores have been an effective way for Apple to create "Switchers" like me.
Five Macs in two years? That's a serious Macommitment.
