The Apple Retail Experience

I was in the Apple retail store in Durham, N.C. the other day because my iPad has crashed. While there, I noted a strange phenomenon: about two dozen people milling around the "Genius Bar" at the back of the store, which I joined in a futile attempt to talk to one of the geniuses. People were holding iPads, iPhones, and computers. If I had been a customer looking to buy an Apple product, I might have asked a salesperson about the reason for all those people at the back of the store. The salesperson would have had to answer, "They are waiting to see technicians because they have had problems with the products they purchased in this store."

Does anyone else find that odd?

Not really, because in my experience the problems are usually software related- i.e. "how do I do this?" rather than hardware related.

Quite possibly just my timing however. Especially since I have to travel 230 miles to get to an Apple store & I tend to go in the middle of the week.

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Originally Posted by tbowers

The salesperson would have had to answer, "They are waiting to see technicians because they have had problems with the products they purchased in this store."

Does anyone else find that odd?

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But is that much different than going to a car dealership and talking to a sales person when you see people and their cars around back and the sales person telling you "they bought their car here and now its back for service"

If you spend any time in the apple store you'll quickly find that it's like hanging around a coffee shop. Many people looking for things to add, buy and LEARN.

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Originally Posted by Bimjo

Not really, because in my experience the problems are usually software related- i.e. "how do I do this?" rather than hardware related.

Quite possibly just my timing however. Especially since I have to travel 230 miles to get to an Apple store & I tend to go in the middle of the week.

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Jesus! 230 miles. That's insane. I would buy a windows.lol

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Originally Posted by 32gb3gwifialicious

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Originally Posted by Bimjo

Not really, because in my experience the problems are usually software related- i.e. "how do I do this?" rather than hardware related.

Quite possibly just my timing however. Especially since I have to travel 230 miles to get to an Apple store & I tend to go in the middle of the week.

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Jesus! 230 miles. That's insane. I would buy a windows.lol

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Yeah, that's why they invented internet shopping. :p

Tell me where would you find a free advise and assistance on a windows machine? The Genius Bar was named that because it was pure genius for Apple to come up with it. Most stores I have been in, will be packed with people that either made appointments or are hoping for a free moment with the Genius Bar. Part of the reason why it is so popular, is that they do not just rush you through in the usual 'drop it off and we'll get to it when we can' attitude. They listen to your problem, run a diagnostic with you and make recommendations. They usually do not try to sell you a product. My wife took her G4 iBook in a couple years ago for a sluggish operation. He cleaned up the drive and programing, did a couple updates and then suggested she might consider adding RAM to improve the performance. This is why people are so inamoured with Apple.