We ’ll have no elbow room of knowing until Apple bring out its first - fourth part figures sometime next month , but if I had to take a guess , I ’d say it was probably a very jolly Christmas for Apple this year . And by “ very jovial , ” of path , I think of “ very lucrative , ” which , for accounting system type , is pretty much the same affair . We ’re verbalize a convoy of dump trucks condescend upon One Infinite Loop to sink off huge push-down list of cash at Steve Jobs ’ foot , a bank vault filled with dollar bill and loose coin with Apple executives jumping in and shouting “ Whee!”—thatkind of jocund Christmas .
The evidence for this determination ? This vacation season , I had reason to visit three separate Apple Stores on three separate occasions — theSan Francisco storeto corrupt clean CDs for a holiday - theme project , the store at theSanta Monica Promenadeto buy my married woman a 1.2GHz iBook G4 , and the flagship Apple Store atThe Grove in Los Angeleswhen it turned out the Santa Monica depot was all out of iBooks . And all three stores were pack with masses from the moment I walked in until the instant I leave . And I ’m not let the cat out of the bag about windowpane - shopping lookie - loos , either — the folks who occur into a store just to kick the tires and smudge the merchandise before lurk off to the Hot Dog - On - A - Stick standpoint elsewhere in the mall . The people I go steady at each Apple Store had merchandise in one hired man and U.S. effectual tender in the other . These multitude were here to corrupt , not just to gape . Thus , my belief that Apple executives wo n’t have to worry about lop coupons at the break of the day of 2005 .
A few random thinking stemming from my December 2004 World Tour of the Apple Stores of the Pacific Coast :
• Back in 2001 , when Apple opened the first of its stores in Glendale , California , and McLean , Virginia ( I ’ve been to both of those , too ) , critic of the retail strategy did n’t see brick - and - mortar storehouse as a good move for either the company or Mac shoppers . Their complaint : Apple would n’t be able to offer a wide enough array of peripherals , minimal brain damage - ons , and computer software to fulfil consumer , and with other retailers pushed out of the spotlight by Apple , shoppers would have few sources for Mac merchandise . One particularly bold analyst I talked to right smart back when even augur that the last of the Apple Stores would shutter within two years .
Well , that prediction clearly did n’t pan out . In fact , in the quaternary - quarter , Apple reported $ 376 million in revenue from its stores — a 95 percent year - over - year increase . And with 7.8 million people visiting a memory board during that the three - month period , it ’s safe to say that one of the principal goals behind the Apple Store — increase the visibility of the Mac brand — is being contact , repeatedly and ridiculously .
But the stores are also proving to be a winning proposition for Mac user , at least if my experience at the Santa Monica store is any indication . As I said , I go in to peck up an iBook for my wife , but the laptop closet was bare . Faced with the ghastly prospect of my wife wake up up Christmas morn to an empty boxful where her iBook should be , I began to contemplate my pick .
“ I wonder if the Apple Store in The Grove might have an iBook in stock , ” I chew over out aloud .
“ Probably , ” respond the clerk who had present the bad news about the iBook scarcity beset Santa Monica . “ I can call and find out for you . ”
And so he did . Which is why , about an minute later — Los Angeles traffic is the enemy of speedy Christmas shopping — I was walking out of the Apple Store at The Grove with a brand spank novel iBook .
Most memory board employee would have inform me that they were out of what I was shopping for and sent me on my less - than - merry way . This exceptional clerk at this particular Apple Store took the time to help oneself me track down my leverage . Yes , I probably would have driven out to The Grove on my own , but thanks to that shop clerk ’s help , I could brave the dealings on Interstate 10 with the cognition that I would n’t show up at another Apple Store only to find out they were unfermented out of iBooks , too .
A good selection of Mac merchandise and conscientious employees that facilitate you find it — that sound like a rewarding retail experience to me .
• By now , it ’s not incisively discontinue news to suggest that the iPod is a bragging deal for Apple . After all , the company sold 2 million of the darn thing last poop , compared to 836,000 Macs . And just in character you involve a refresher on all thing iPod , Chris Breen provides an excellent recap of the iPod ’s very boastful 2004 .
But even after glint at sales figures and reading news story , you do n’t actually grasphowbig a deal the iPod is , until you wander into an Apple Store and watch other customer make a beeline toward the music player . I figure that between my visit to the stores in Santa Monica and Los Angeles , I spend anywhere from a half - 60 minutes to 45 instant in the Apple retail house of cards . And in that time , I learn exactly one individual — me — bribe a figurer , a duet of three printers change hands , and maybe some software purchases here and there . Everyone else was buying an iPod , a miniskirt , or some form of music - player - link paraphernalia .
This is not to paint a picture that Apple is going to abandon the personal data processor business any time soon or that the Mac is about to join the Lisa in that landfill out in Utah . But it is fourth dimension to stop thinking of Apple ’s flirting in digital euphony as some sort of side project . The iPod , the iTunes Music Store , and whatever else Apple has up its sleeve music - judicious make up an totally disjoined business for the company , every bit as important to its farsighted - term luck as the Mac .
• The last time I check , no one turn over out Nobel Prizes to spot achievements in retail , like they do with physics , literature , and other lesser quest . But if they did , whichever Apple executive came up with the idea of prepaid gift cards for the iTunes Music Store should be refine his or her banker’s acceptance speech for the inevitable award ceremonial in Stockholm .
