“We arrived at around 8.15am to be greeted by a very small turn out, we placed ourselves in the queue at around the 30 position and began snapping away! At round twenty to nine things started happening, beats started pumping from the store and staff led out through the doors handing out Grand Opening Visitors Guides,” World of Apple writes. They attended the Grand Opening of the Brent Cross Apple Store.
World of Apple reports, “The queue must have grown to around 70 people at this point as the staff looped the queue again cheering and giving high fives. 9am came and we promptly led into the Store, we were given t-shirts and more Visitors Guides, the store is long and thin but they’ve managed to cram a lot in. As you enter the store you have Intel iMacs to your right, iPods in the middle and a mixture of computers to your left (music based). As you move forward into the iLife section you have mini’s the right, iBooks in the middle and PowerBooks to the left.”
Full article with photos here.
World of Apple also has a more extensive photo gallery here.
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devnull, I hope your right, because if Vista is
1: As good looking as Mac OS X
2: Is as secure as Mac OS X
3: Has most all developers coding for it
and in addition
4: Mactels will be able to boot Vista.
Mac OS X is history as a platform unless…
5: Apple makes it impossible to run Vista on Macs.
It will be the greatest comeback in history followed by the greatest folly in history.
Phil may beleive Apple will sell more hardware if Mactels can boot Vista, but what REALLY sells Mac’s (polls have proven)
1: is Mac OS X first,
2: then Apple hardware,
3: then third party/Apple software.
Most Windows users will not pay for expensive Apple hardware and little choice, they have thousands of choices with generic PC’s.
I admit based upon previous Microsoft history, they put out nothing but pure insecure crap.
But that was with a weak almost dead Apple, things are different now, Apple is a REAL THREAT to Microsoft, just look at the iPod.
Microsoft thought Longhorn UI would be good enough, but then Mac OS X came out and Apple knew they would copy it.
Sure enough Vista (previously Longhorn, new name too, Moo!) now has better security and GUI improvements so Mac OS X won’t be so much of a attraction to potential switchers.
Widgets are now “Gadgets” get it?
Buisneses wil pay big bucks to upgrade hardware to run Vista, they don’t like change but Vista will off course address the high cost of ownership of Windows PC’s due to better security. (Another Mac benefit lost)
Now it all depends how awlful Vista is whether or not Mac OS X has a chance to increase market share.
But if Mac’s can boot Vista and run Vista only programs, expect Mac OS X to die a quick death.
Apple MUST protect Mac OS X’s tiny market share and force developers to code for it
Phil was very wrong to get Mac users hopes up to run Vista unless they really plan to make us switch.
who said London doesn’t need a second apple store?
the population is like what, 14,000,000 ???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London,_England
duh! they need like 20 more stores.
Just to extend Jolly Old Brit’s comments≥
Regent St. is right in the heart of London, and probably no more than two miles from the geographic centre which is pretty much Trafalgar Square/Nelson’s Column/Charing Cross Station.
The problem with buying something at Regent St. is getting it to your car, which you’ve parked in a car park costing £4.00/hour. On top of that, if you’ve made the mistake of entering Comrade Ken Livingstone’s Automobile Exclusion Zone (or Congestion Zone, for it’s official title) that’s another £8.00.
So a drive into Central London and back home will probably cost £4.00 in petrol, £8.00 in Congestion Charges, and a two-hour stay will cost you another £8.00 in parking making a grand total of £20.00.
Or you can use Bluewater serving South and South-East London and most of the commuter towns in Kent, East Surrey and East Sussex for free.
And if you live in the North/North-West of the London conurbation, you can use Brent Cross.
Now all we need is a store in Kingston, Guildford or somesuch to serve the West/South-West bit of London and that’s pretty much it.
MacGrumpy, Exhibit A from CNET:
“That said, Allchin maintained there are plenty of new things to try out in Vista, pointing to a chart filled with added features. In particular, he demonstrated a collaboration tool that uses a “People Near Me” feature, which searches over a Wi-Fi connection for other Vista users nearby and then sets up a peer-to-peer network with them. The tool is meant mostly to enable laptop users to share applications and files, among other things.”
Don’t know about you, but that to me is a security disaster. The LAST thing I want is 7,500 computers looking around to set up private WiFi peer-to-peer networks with untrusted machines; bypassing our corporate LAN, firewalls, and security appliances to “share applications and files”. I guess the “among other things” includes viruses, trojans, and stolen company data. That means more work, time, and $$ spent for my corporate IT staff to disable/secure this “feature” with group policies or other countermeasures.
Sounds like Microsoft still has not learned their security lessons and continue to add features that cause pain and open up new attack vectors. History has shown the success of a paranoid, zero ports open operating system and Microsoft is continuing to ignore it.
Bottom line, Windows is no fun to use. There are a ton of proprietary business apps written for Windows only. There is no true Exchange equivalent on the Mac that I know of. Not as important to everyone but there is no true MS Project equivalent on the Mac. Windows computers are not less expensive when you do a true comparison. If Apple can get an Exchange killer program out the door they may be able to turn things around for business. IT will be extremely threatened because they will be much less important. However, OS X Server, needs someone who knows what they’re doing to administer. Mac OS X Server requires no where near the amount of people that MS Server needs. My large construction company very successfully gets by using 99.9% Macs. We have a couple of Windows machines to access GPS vehicle tracking reports. They are web based but hobbled by Active X so you can’t use just any browser. Annoys me to no end. We need one for ADP too. Annoys me again. I am very familiar with running both operating systems and using Windows sucks compared to using a Mac. Can you get buy using a Mac? Sure. But it is awkward, annoying, and very unenjoyable to use. Here’s to hoping that Apple keeps focussed on improving the Mac line. I have a strong feeling that they will.
I meant “can you get by not using a Windows PC”. I apologize. It’s very early where I am right now.
One more time. Get by using a Windows PC. That’s what I’m trying to say.
MCCFR
Or I could just walk to Regent Street. It takes what, all of ten minutes?
Dave H >
And here in Guildford, I can avoid asthma, pickpockets, being run over by homicidal motorcycle couriers and I can be in the Surrey Hills, admiring the view from Newlands Corner across the South Downs in five minutes.
You pay your money, you takes your choice.
All of that is slightly more important to me than the proximity of an Apple Store, although given the amount of money sloshing around in this part of the world, Apple Retail are missing out on an opportunity by leaving the area to the tender mercies of Cancom’s broom closet showroom.
Ah, the A31 down to Winchester. Great biking road, especially that bit when you come out from between the trees and see the landscape open out on both sides. Stunning even in January when it’s so cold you can’t feel your fingers.
Not that far from home either if you ride like a homocidal motorcyle courier.
You see, I’ve got it all
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Dave H>
Please do not tell other people about the A31 – I would prefer them all to stay on the M3, so that my drive to the New Forest stays at 75 minutes unencumbered by sales reps in their Vauxhall Vectras and assorted soulless bits of German machinery.
This also applies to the A32 and the A272.
BTW, if you’re ever out on “cyclist’s business” (or riding/driving for pleasure) in this neck of the woods, try the road between Pirbright and Mytchett starting at School Lane in Pirbright. Once you get over the humps near the school, It’s a hoot in my Fiat Coupé so on a bike it should be a bit of a laugh.
-the software that pcs come with are shit.
-the operating system is shit.
-vista is based on the same old legacy crap. so security is going to stay the same. ie more viruses every day.
-the computers look ugly.
-bill gates is a unimaginative dork.
-all pc users deserve to use them because obviously they are so dumb they cant see that macs are better.
macgrumpy,
sell your mac and suffer for the rest of your life in the virus infected hell that is windows. call us in a year and tell us how youre doing. i dont know if you can make outgoing calls from a mental assylum though.
Building more Apple Stores in large shopping centers on the outskirts of London is a good idea – they attract people with time on their hands (men/kids who hate clothes shopping with their wives!) and reach a very big, middle class market.
I’ve always found that with the Regent Street store, unless you take time off work and go in early in the morning or early afternoon, you won’t get near a Mac for 10-15 minutes because of all of the foreign students who study in London using the machines to check their e-mails/book flights, etc.
These people have no intention of buying a Mac (the shop could be full of Commadore Amigas for all they care), they just want to use the free internet access – it’s well known in the student community for that.
Why can’t the Apple staff in the shop reserve a few machines in a ‘business zone’ for serious potential buyers to use, without cueing.
MDN magic word: ‘stood’, as in “stood around like a lemon waiting for a machine to demo…”
(Why are these words so appropriate to what you want to post? At times it really does seem like magic!)
Vista is the Microsoft OS for the next 4 years, and I believe it’s already 3 years behind.
Enjoy.
MacGrumpy you Troll-head–your posts reveal you have a lot of unsolvable issues going on inside you. I think going back to PC is absolutely the right move for you. You’re a perfect match for each other.
Consider permission to defect from “The Cult” as granted.
Did they say 70 people were in line for the opening. According to the security on site 1300 people were in line before 9am for the Toronto opening!
Re: Mr Grumpy.
Ho hum, another day in the Cult of Mac.
Apple better start thinking about a different marketing strategy now that they got the abundance of Intel processors.
This religion thing and Apple Stores looking like churches has got to go.
If Vista is secure, I’m switching to a PC
Screw this cult. It’s making me sick.
—-
Good ridence!
You won’t be missed.
Look forward to your virus’s, spyware, maleware, adware and blue screens of death.
Remember to allow 6 hrs a week for security updates and system crashes.
Bye.
re: Pete.
UTTER CRAP.
Now stop taking the drugs and be a good boy.
Snapper
Remember this is a small store less than 10 miles away from Apple’s best in the world. Brent Cross is like Tesco Metro to Regent St’s Harrods.
There’s no competing with that sort of glamour.