The May 21 issue of Business Week offers two articles relating to Apple, including an editorial on why the retail stores won't help the company's bottom line or growth ("few think new stores, no matter how nice, will get Apple back on the hot-growth path"), and a discussion on the Apple-Gap relationship. Gap CEO Millard Drexler sits on Apple's board. [articles not yet online]
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do these folks always feel it necessary to keep up the “Apple is dead” refrain? Apple has always been the main innovator in the computer industry—why these dweebs are so hostile is a mystery to me. I mean, look at other companies—Gateway, Dell, Micron. Just a bunch of people who slap together off-the-shelf components and call themselves computer companies. They offer nothing that some dipstick who hangs out a Fry's all day can't alredy do. Apple makes integrated hardware and software that delivers industry-leading function, ease-of-use, and design, yet Apple is always being savaged in the mainstream media. I think these folks just lack imagination. Somewhere, the Apple is dead angle reached critical mass, and they pull it out of their asses from time to time when they are suffering from a lack of imagination. h***, maybe that's why they like vanilla boxes and Windows so much—lack of imagination and the herd instinct. Oh well. It's a damned shame.
According to past Business week things appls has never been onthe "hot growth" path inthe past 10 years.
Danger, Will Robinson. Whenever you read a journalist writing "few think that ...", it probably means that the journalist thinks that. What does he/she mean, few? What percentage of those spoken to? Does this literally mean "few", like two or three? Is the journalist comfortable saying that "few analysts think that...", or is it really that few mentioned it.
It's meaningless spin. Ignore it.
Danger, Will Robinson. Whenever you read a journalist writing "few think that ...", it probably means that the journalist thinks that. What does he/she mean, few? What percentage of those spoken to? Does this literally mean "few", like two or three? Is the journalist comfortable saying that "few analysts think that...", or is it really that few mentioned it.
It's meaningless spin. Ignore it.
until these journalists and analysts listen...
the two biggest things hurting apple these days (and perhaps ever) are:
a.) public perception
b.) anonymity
on point a.), most people think that anything non-wondows will make their lives more difficult. take my company, for example. i have started the long, difficult fight against the migration of our editorial department to windows. the editors don't want it, but an exec feels it's "best for the bottom line." apple needs someplace where they can show off to EVERYONE - not just at expensive, exclusive trade shows. preaching to the choir will only get you so far.
b.) those who don't love or hate apple don't know who they are. they look at that apple like an alien symbol. and they simply fear what they don't understand. t.v. spots are bloody expensive these days, especially during primetime, so brick-and-mortar stores offers nice, classy, 24/7 impressive in-your-face signage that can't be ignored.
these two reasons alone will help apple's bottom line. apple may not make any profit from these stores DIRECTLY, but the INDIRECT benefits are enormous.
is right. The Apple stores will generate some revenue, but the fact is that promotion is their main value. That's a good move. Word is that the McLean VA store rents for $1.5 million per year. Even if it just breaks even on the cost of staffing it, that's a nice deal when compared to the cost of TV ads. Just ask Pets.com…
Unfortunately those shops are VERY expensive! If Apple does not believe their shops will pay for themselves, those costs can drown Apple if they face the next crisis.
Trade shows and TV ads can be canceled if things don't go well. But you can't get rid of a chain of Stores in the same timeframe.
I don't think that Execs will spend the saturday afternoon checking out the AppleStore to see if their decision towards PCs was correct ;-)
Maybe Apple should have Stores in all the executive lounges of international airports. With laptop rental from one airport to the other - it's my idea, I want royalities :)))
Even if these stores will only function as temples for the believers, lets give them a try.
m.
According to the experts Apple went out of business about 10 years ago. The retail stores cannot hurt Apple even if they just break even and make no profit. The exposure Apple will get is what counts. Apple has lead the PC industry since day one and continues to be the innovator. Their lack of retail exposure is what is hurting them Comp USA is basically a dud...Sears...a bigger dud. The Apple retail stores will be located where there will a lot of traffic and great exposure for Apple products. If Apple reduces there generally inane TV advertising and spends the dollars at retail they will reap greater rewards.
If shops are such a smart idea, why does Apple have the Apple Store?
It's a cost, and a visibility thing, but it's really not going to set the bottom line afire. Note that Gateway has been closing shops to save costs. Clearly, selling computers is not about high-street visibility. These days, it's about branding. Apple needs to sort out its woefully bad ads.
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I wish these people from "mainstream" magazines who don't know what they're talking about when it comes to the Mac would shut up