Everyone will agree that the way Apple brands itself and its core business models is truly genius. The mystery surrounding this company has lured the focus and intrigue of techies, celebrity trendsetters, market analysts and competing CEO’s alike. But how does Apple do it? How do they make themselves so secretive yet at the same time so open and approachable? Well, one thing is for sure, whatever they are doing, they do it well. At the opening of the first and only flagship store in Sydney, Australia, the city was a buzz. Sydney was anxiously awaiting Apple’s presence well before the company actually announced its arrival. According to an Australian news source, the opening of Apple’s 215th store worldwide, has been a carefully staged and well managed affair, a natural homage to Apple’s trademark media blackouts and series of rumors and misinformation (and misinterpretations) Apple’s strategy creates. At the entrance to Sydney’s new store location, any available information was kept so top secret that a photographer planning on snapping some shots of the “Willy Wonka-esque” consumer haven, was ordered to not take photos when the front doors were opened and later to “move on”- from the public footpath- “as if the building housed a top-secret defense project.”
As people began to line up the night before for the grand opening of Apple-Australia, with unlocked iPhones in hand and giddy anxiety of perhaps being the first to catch a glimpse of the 3G successor, many could begin to wonder….”How do they do it? How do they take a retail chain, and turn it into something that excites people on the same level as a child’s first trip to Disneyland?” As Australian news (www.news.com.au) points out, “With so many resources devoted to keeping the company’s projects secret, and just as many spent trying to guess their details, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the new Apple Store is, in fact, just a shop.” While the news reports that it is “just a shop”, telling any Apple user that Apple is “just a tech company” may get you dirty looks for life, and possibly a 90 minute rant about what separates Apple from the rest of the industry.
Apple, who has intentionally created and shaped the international buzz with their own expertise and know-how, can sit back and admire their sheer genius while the rest of us continue to wonder….How? It’s as though the Apple store is no longer just a place you go to pick up the latest in gadgets, but where admirers can go to see, touch, experience, learn, and yes, smell, the latest technology has to offer, all as a sort of intriguing entertainment. With an exceptional staff made up of the most knowledgeable urban hipster techies the world can muster, you immediately become surrounded with the culture Mac has become known for…And is willing to sell you. And with the continuous advancement of everything portable, the Mac store is becoming more of a pit stop for people on the go. Where one can stop in to check their email, buy a new zip drive, or merely sit in the glass encased heaven and daydream about what secrets are hiding behind the door for “Employees Only”. For all we know it is your average break room where bored employees gather to gossip about the most recent episode of The Office. But to the superstar dreamer out there, it is a land of endless Apple possibility and wonder. And that is PRECISELY how they want us to feel.
Additional Thoughts: Though the headline is obviously a joke, it kinda doesn’t seem too far off. The buzz, media hype and oggling visitors to Apple stores daily might be reason enough to unify all of their technology and entertainment offerings into an amusement park and charge people admission. Six Flags better have something lined up before Steve sets his laser-eyesight on the summer past-time of roller coasters and stuffed animals. 4 foot stuffed iPhone anyone?
