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Genius Bars: "the soul" of Apple's retail stores

updated 09:45 pm EST, Wed January 26, 2005

NYT looks at Genius Bars

Apple's Genius Bars are the , according to Apple VP Ron Johnson. A New York Times article discusses the "increasingly rare" free face-to-face technical support phenomenon, the Geniuses themselves, the evolution of the concept, and its inspiration: "The concept of a bar came to Mr. Johnson one night when he was thinking about the kind of environment Apple wanted to create in its stores. He said he was inspired by Four Seasons, the Ritz-Carlton and other hotels where service is paramount. 'We believed you had to bring the people dimension back into retail,' said Mr. Johnson, who joined Apple five years ago after 15 years at Target. 'We thought, What about giving tech support that's as welcoming as the bar at the Ritz?'"

by MacNN Staff

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bobolicious
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2002

0

01/26, 10:02pm | report spam | close Reply |
Filling the gaps...

...would seem essential - the Mac has many software 'holes' filled by shareware or alternative strategies/methods and relatively undefined in non-technical onscreen help that having a 'genius' available to quickly offer a workaround may be critical to sales 'objections'...

'Nuts & bolts' accounting & contact management specifically come to mind...

Glasspusher
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2000

0

01/27, 12:48am | report spam | close Reply |
workin' cheap

Yeah, but what I heard, those Geniuses are getting paid pretty sucky wages. They should be compensated a bit better for being the soul!

macton
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Joined: Jan 2005

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01/27, 01:08am | report spam | close Reply |
not too cheap

My friend is a Genius in a California store and he makes a little over 52k year. Is that such a bad deal?

Arcady
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Joined: May 2001

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01/27, 02:30am | report spam | close Reply |
not cheap enough

Most of these so-called genuises don't seem to know much, other than how to send your computer in for repair. Try asking a technical question, and you will probably get a blank stare. I asked about connecting via VPN, and the guy says he will look up something. I caught him googling "VPN" for an answer... lame.

srrojo
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Joined: Jul 2004

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01/27, 03:08am | report spam | close Reply |
Whatever, Apple.

Apple Store "Genius" (note quotes) is to Best Buy "Geek Squad".. These guys are just stuffed shirts with a name sans certification -- and a free lunch for Apple.

If this "Geek Squad" really is the 'soul' of Apple, then Apple is form sans substance.

Of course, this quotable quote came from an exec, who, really is nothing more than investor relations. 90% of what comes out of execs is filler or calculated to maximize value without divulging anything of true substance.

Now Apple dropping their suit against Nick DePlume, -that- would be something of substance. This is mere filler.

LordJohnWhorfin
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2002

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01/27, 03:18am | report spam | close Reply |
52K/year

In California that's below the poverty threshold I believe.

PookJP
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

0

01/27, 03:33am | report spam | close Reply |
Hooray to geniuses.

They've helped me on many-an-occasion. If nothing else, I appreciate the face-to-face accessibility when something goes awry and the ease of sending my computer off for repairs. Beyond that, the team at The Grove are friendly and informed.

dwood
Forum Regular

Joined: Mar 2003

0

01/27, 04:07am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Whatever, Apple

Have you ever been to a store, the bar is almost always crowded and sans your thinking, a lot of the mac geniuses actually know what they are talking about, of course noone can know everything about everything. And that "exec" offering "filler"... umm ya he's kind of head of Apple's Retail division, and prolly the main reason why retail is doing as well as it is. You can sit hear and pretend you're better then everyone, we'll let you have your 15 minutes.

Toyin
Mac Elite

Joined: Nov 2000

0

01/27, 06:44am | report spam | close Reply |
Their real purpose

Some geniuses can handle real difficult tech questions (Like setting up VPN on OSX), but most are more effective with 95% of Mac users who are clueless about basic issues. They're NOT there to service the population that lives and breathes MacNN or similar sites. I would have definitely looked in the Networking forum or on the web for information about setting up VPN on OSX. I wouldn't make a trip to an Apple store just for that.

If I happen to be in an Apple store I'll often ask the genius a question. They usually don't know the answer and it doesn't bother me because it's usually an uber-geek question.

Glasspusher
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Joined: Oct 2000

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01/27, 09:02am | report spam | close Reply |
52K

Macton and others,
52K is a lot better than I heard they were making. Good to hear! Thanks. I heard they were getting ~25K a year. I would have taken 52K a year when I was in college, that's for sure!

pcurtner
Forum Regular

Joined: Oct 1999

0

01/27, 10:27am | report spam | close Reply |
The Soho Genius Bar

Mr Johnson would do well to visit the Genius Bar at the Apple Store in Soho, New York City -- supposedly its their busiest.

While the techs working there are very knowledgable and patient, the problem is getting to them -- the wait times are truly horrible. I can't imagine the Four Seasons making you wait an hour or so when ordering a drink.. Sure3, there are a lot of Mac users in the neighborhood, and heavy traffic is to be expected. But whatever method the Maestro reservation system is using to predict appointment times needs to be seriously recalibrated.

Maybe a separate mini-bar for iPod questions...

-p

macton
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Joined: Jan 2005

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01/27, 11:06am | report spam | close Reply |
Store Employees Comp

Even though the staff at Apple Stores are not paid commission, the stores each have quarterly sales goals and Apple recently began paying bonuses to the staff of stores that meet or exceed their targets.

panjandrum
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Joined: Dec 2004

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01/27, 12:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
Apple not only one

Apple is not the only, nor the first, store offering free technical support on a walk-in basis. Many "mom & pop" computer stores have done this for years. On a larger scale, Micro Center has offered this service for many years before Apple even had retail stores. Plus Micro Center's Tech Support usually knows what they are doing. They have to be well trained as they also function as the top-level tech support (and repair) for all in-store systems. You won't always find a Mac guy there, but it is still a nice service.

SergioRS
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Joined: Sep 2004

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01/27, 12:51pm | report spam | close Reply |
Genius Bar Wait Time

A friend of mine bought a DOA Airport Express. 1hr of hold/diagnostic time on the phone, verdict: it's DOA - take it back to the AppleStore in Emeryvile. 2 hour wait for the genius bar "Sorry, yea it's dead - but we can't replace it with one of the hundreds we have in stock here - we have to order one, we'll call you in 2 weeks" The do actually call within 2 weeks, replacement ready to pick up. We head off to the store on a Saturday, first mistake. Store is packed with looky-loo shoppers. a "1 HR" estimated wait for the GeniusBar - apparently the only person who is authorized to handle the paperwork. They give us a pager and suggest we roam the mall and have lunch. We come back after an hour - there is still an estimated 45min for the genius. We politely corral one of the employees and explain that all they need to do is swap this for the unit that's been already ordered and shipped and suthorized for replacement by the genius last time he was there. Sorry - no dice, you'll have to wait. We wait another hour! Getting increasingly annoyed but never impolite, I think we finally started to attract the attention of the other shoppers and someone at the 2 hour 15min mark deigns to go in the back and look around and see what he can do (people had been promising to do this for the last 45 minutes) He finally comes out and hands my friend the replacement box. Total time from when he stepped off the sales floor to the hand off 30 and 64/100's of a second. That's it. Done. Thanks for shopping Apple. A total customer time outlay of almost 5 1/2 hours for a 30 second fix when they sold the broken product in the first place. When i was trying to explain to the woman at the store that if you bought something defective at Macy's - they wouldn't make you wait 5 hours to exchange it - my plea fell on deaf ears. "this is company policy we have nothing to do about it and no input on changing the system" And then started giving off major attitude that we would dare complain about the policy or having to wait. It was, hands down, the WORST retail experience of my life. I called customer relations and politely opened a ticket, in the vain hope that it would find its way to the right folks.

LordJohnWhorfin
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Joined: Aug 2002

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01/27, 12:57pm | report spam | close Reply |
Apple Store London

Good luck trying to talk to a "genius" there. My friends live 2 hours away and went there in the morning about a dead iPod. They were told they had to make an appointment, the earliest was 5PM, and they couldn't guarantee availability of the guy at appointment time.
My friends were not impressed... and left without the iMac they were practically ready to buy. I wonder how many time this scenario has repeated over there. They need to hire a lot more people, and tell them to leave their attitude at the door.

JEB
Junior Member

Joined: May 2001

0

01/27, 11:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
I go to

apple.com/support/discussions

TONS of awesome geniuses there . . . been there for years!

:]

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Genius Bars: "the soul" of Apple's retail stores

updated 09:45 pm EST, Wed January 26, 2005

NYT looks at Genius Bars

Filling the gaps...

workin' cheap

not too cheap

not cheap enough

Whatever, Apple.

52K/year

Hooray to geniuses.

Re: Whatever, Apple

Their real purpose

52K

The Soho Genius Bar

Store Employees Comp

Apple not only one

Genius Bar Wait Time

Apple Store London

I go to

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Genius Bars: "the soul" of Apple's retail stores

updated 09:45 pm EST, Wed January 26, 2005

NYT looks at Genius Bars

Related Articles

Recent Articles

Filling the gaps...

workin' cheap

not too cheap

not cheap enough

Whatever, Apple.

52K/year

Hooray to geniuses.

Re: Whatever, Apple

Their real purpose

52K

The Soho Genius Bar

Store Employees Comp

Apple not only one

Genius Bar Wait Time

Apple Store London

I go to

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

10 Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace