Apple: Best Retailer In America
Here’s a great Fortune article providing some insight into the development of the Apple Store. I guess Apple was voted the most admired company this year.
One interesting tidbit is that the store was designed similarly to how Apple designs products: they did prototypes of a whole store in a warehouse, in order to come up with a “user friendly” environment — which meant putting the customer first and helping them find stuff they were interested in. They also went with the idea that they were selling service and advice.
I may have to test out the Genius Bar at the Apple store very soon — I just encountered the blinking question mark on my MacBook on startup (it’s about a year old; still under warranty — I think). Luckily, I’m in good hands. If the hard drive is really dead, it’s easy to replace on the MacBook.