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How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

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Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#11

Post by shadowfiend »

itronitron wrote: post #7
derefr wrote: post #3

I’ve also noticed the “it’s impossible to actually buy anything” problem with Apple Stores, especially in stores that get any appreciable amount of foot traffic. (Where I live there is at least one Apple Store in a mall that hardly anyone visits, and that one is just fine for service.) However—and I’m not saying this as a defense, just as an interesting fact—at one point when I was waiting around trying to get the at…

store pickup is very convenient, although Best Buy and Home Depot have an even better service as you don't have to install an app or use Apple Pay

Confused… https://store.apple.com lets you buy anything, pay any way you want, and pick it up at a store, no?

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#12

Post by wlesieutre »

r_singh wrote: post #5

And the App Store too. Advertising on the App Store really broke my heart, I thought Apple just made money from us all by selling expensive, high quality devices and apps. These ads are a desperate attempt to now make something over and above by selling my attention, what a shame!

It feels like a way for Apple to claw back even more than their 30% cut. Even if you have a successful app, now you have to take some of your money and buy the search ads for it, otherwise somebody else is going to be the first result when potential customers come to the store looking specifically for your app.

You can try and drive traffic straight to your store page from outside sources to bypass that search, but that sort of marketing costs money too. And word of mouth searches are going to be through the App Store search regardless.

It was nice when Apple's search felt like it was just trying to help you find what you were looking for. But it's 2019 and we need to put ads in everything now.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#13

Post by davidy123 »

chadash wrote: post #8

I live near an Apple store and frequent it every few months when I need to fix a phone or laptop, or buy a dongle, etc. The store near me gets lots of foot traffic, but the experience is just fine. There are usually at least 2-3 employees who will come up and ask me how I'm doing and what they can help with. Given the size of the store, the number of employees is surprising actually. And it's as easy as ever to book…

Lenovo's onsite service is inexpensive and, in my experience, excellent. I've used it a few times over the years and it's involved minimal interaction with helpful, focused staff and techs.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#14

Post by Spooky23 »

It's the same problem that they have with most of their products. All design considerations are controlled by people driven exclusively by thin, light, minimal. It's getting tired and cliche.

I don't live in a place big enough for an Apple forest grove or whatever. It's an undersized store in a mall that was remodeled two years ago. The people who designed it never were in such a store before. It's crowded, too loud, and stripped of basic functions. The old version of the Apple store felt busy and energized, the new ones are disorienting.

The old Apple store in the same retail space was much more functional. It had a nice little kids corner with a lower table and fancy toadstool chairs. It was a great way for kids to explore iMacs and iPads. Now purged as a lower table isn't symmetrical enough. The training area is just a table in the middle, and it's just not as pleasant -- people can't hear and leave.

Apple has a great thing going with people there though -- it's a real asset. The staff are incredibly friendly, patient and helpful.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#15

Post by scarface74 »

r_singh wrote: post #5

And the App Store too. Advertising on the App Store really broke my heart, I thought Apple just made money from us all by selling expensive, high quality devices and apps. These ads are a desperate attempt to now make something over and above by selling my attention, what a shame!

I really hate ads on phones. There is relatively little space on phones and for any of that space to have ads is really distracting.

I’m really disappointed that Apple is going anywhere near ad-tech. I stay in the Apple ecosystem because they have my preferred value system - I give them money and they give me stuff.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#16

Post by jasode »

>[Angela Ahrendts'] overhaul of the Genius Bar has been especially controversial. Customers looking for technical advice or repairs must now check in with an employee, who types their request into an iPad. Then when a Genius is free, he or she must find the customer wherever they happen to be in the store. Ahrendts was determined to get rid of lineups, but now the stores are often crowded with people waiting for their iPhones to be fixed or batteries swapped out. [...] Some employees speculate she’ll [Deirdre O’Brien] bring back the original Genius Bar.

I don't see how the old dedicated space for a Genius Bar would work better. The problem is that the old way tied tech support to a spatial location in the store. The new way assigned tech support to a person instead of a location. This allows any and every table in the store to become a temporary "genius bar" for that customer session.

In theory, if you had a dedicated area for the Genius Bar, you'd hope it would be free of crowds and be very inviting. An example photo showing open seats ready for instant service for the next customer: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Apple_Ge...

But reality turns out differently. In the following photo, notice the long lines crowding the back of the store at the Genius Bar: https://tr4.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2006/10/03/fce299cc-c3bf-11...

If an Apple exec wants to bring back the dedicated area for the Genius Bar, how does one avoid the logistical nightmare of those lines? You still have to work within the same finite retail floor space.

I don't like the new Apple Stores but I do know I'd rather sit down at one of the retail tables instead of stand in line at the old store layout.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#17

Post by nihonde »

zitterbewegung wrote: post #10
atonse wrote: post #4

My biggest complaint about the Apple Store is the long wait times when your computer breaks. You often have to wait for a few days to even get an appointment. But the award for the most asinine thing about the Apple Store is their insistence on not having a proper area to pay for things. So people just wander around wanting to buy something and not knowing where to pay for it. And they end up wasting a lot more time…

I was able to get an appointment next day at an apple store to fix my keyboard . After I arrived I got it done within 15 min

Me too. Same day, even. This is in NYC and I live within five minutes’ walk from the nearest store. Compared to phone support from PC makers (even including the glorious no-questions-asked IBM hardware days), it’s a vast improvement for me.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#18

Post by scarface74 »

wlesieutre wrote: post #12
r_singh wrote: post #5

And the App Store too. Advertising on the App Store really broke my heart, I thought Apple just made money from us all by selling expensive, high quality devices and apps. These ads are a desperate attempt to now make something over and above by selling my attention, what a shame!

It feels like a way for Apple to claw back even more than their 30% cut. Even if you have a successful app, now you have to take some of your money and buy the search ads for it, otherwise somebody else is going to be the first result when potential customers come to the store looking specifically for your app. You can try and drive traffic straight to your store page from outside sources to bypass that search, but t…

While I agree that ad sales are disheartening, App Store search has never been that great.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#19

Post by oldjokes »

I went in a few months to get a hardware thing fixed with an appointment set and nobody helped me. I waited for like 10 minutes past by appointment time and everyone was booked up. I tried pestering people but everyone was helping someone else and asked me to wait for another associate.

Eventually I gave up and left the store. I'm sure their analytics never even noticed me, their data says I just never showed up for the appointment. It's a bad outcome, I sold the old half broken macbook and switched to a thinkpad.

I still think their phones are better than android, but mainly that's just because I don't want anything that Google touches anywhere near me.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#20

Post by theNJR »

itronitron wrote: post #7
derefr wrote: post #3

I’ve also noticed the “it’s impossible to actually buy anything” problem with Apple Stores, especially in stores that get any appreciable amount of foot traffic. (Where I live there is at least one Apple Store in a mall that hardly anyone visits, and that one is just fine for service.) However—and I’m not saying this as a defense, just as an interesting fact—at one point when I was waiting around trying to get the at…

store pickup is very convenient, although Best Buy and Home Depot have an even better service as you don't have to install an app or use Apple Pay

I really hate their store pick up because you have to find the same random employee to go fetch the item for you. What should be a 69 second in-and-our is at least ten minutes at the store near me.
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