“I was saddened by the timeline announced for shutting down CompUSA, but wasn’t in the least surprised,” John Dvorak writes for MarketWatch.
“As I have said in columns here and elsewhere, the idea of a computer megastore working is sketchy. Investors in Apple Inc. should pay attention,” Dvorak writes.
MacDailyNews Take: Thanks, but we’ll pass on advice from the world’s preeminent bloated gas bag who once stated, “The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a mouse. There is no evidence that people want to use these things.”
Regardless of the complete uselessness of his advice and his total lack of integrity, Mr. “I Bait Mac Users For Hits” plods on with, “I have been to CompUSA dozens of times and rarely found what I needed. The store cannot carry enough weird cables or esoteric tanks of printer ink; no one can.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple obviously can, you oaf.
Dvorak continues, “Competing with the Internet. Most savvy computer users shop for much of their hardware online. The Net works like a mall in a way that makes it hard to compete. Say you have some random item you need to find. A search engine will locate the one merchant that has it.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, John, and for Apple, 9 times out of 10, that would be Apple Store Online. How will Apple ever manage to compete?
Dvorak’s not done yet, “My concern is that the Apple stores are getting too big… It began these high-end stores with the spectacular glass-cube place in New York — an architectural delight on very expensive 5th Avenue real estate — and now has fancy new digs in the meatpacking district, incorporating a stunning, three-story glass staircase. While things are all working out for Apple during the iPod era, if there is any sort of slump the company will have to deal with what could be a herd of white elephants. It’s something investors need to monitor.”
Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention for the heads up.]
Surely Apple investors are hanging upon John Dvorak’s every utterance. After all, this is the man who said in 1998, “Folks, the Mac platform is through – totally,” which, of course, means that AAPL has only multiplied about 25 times since John delivered his sage advice. Yes, Apple investors, especially those who listened to him in 1998, simply must love John Dvorak. More recently, the Round Mound of Unsound advised Apple to “Pull the plug on iPhone.” More great advice, John.
Newsflash: Apple knows what they’re doing and John C. Dvorak, as usual, knows nothing about Apple.
A few flagship stores in large cities is hardly “getting too big” and Apple’s retail store network is nothing at all like CompUSA’s was. Was. Apple’s stores generate over four times the sales per square foot of Best Buy, over seven times those of Neiman Marcus, and 66% more than Tiffany’s! CompUSA stores are currently generating liquidation sales; probably their best sales in years.
Two important facts here:
1. You don’t have to read D’Vorak’s tripe. I know I’m not required to and my day is actually a bit brighter when I don’t.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
2. He will continue to sabotage his own credibility as a “Tech Writer” the more he writes things that are:
a. Completely False
b. Are meant to discredit other companies or individuals.
c. So completely insane.
There you have it.
It used to be said, and I’m certain that Dvorak would have joined in if not been the source, that Apple’s downfall was certainly coming because no retail stores carried their wares. I’m sure if somebody was willing to sift thru his detritus they could find a great quote. I never knew that the 5th Ave store began it all.
I’ve been to near empty CompUSA and not found anything I wanted to buy as well. I’ve also visited the the 5th Ave store and found it mobbed by people like me that where stopped not by lack of things I wanted but by available funds. Gosh Apple’s stock holders had really better be worried. Oh, I’m one and I’m not at all worried about their retail strategy leading to their demise.
That’s funny, I thought the SoHo Apple store was the first NYC flagship, not the 5th Ave store…
The most remarkable revelation here is that Dvorak was once in a computer store.
@NewtonsApple,
You are correct, SoHo was there first. But now the new 14th st store is the biggest one of all, anywhere.
@Unemployed drifter,
You are also correct about Dvorak being in a computer store, period.
And finally @anti-creative cretin,
I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.
well he made a good point, if the iPod stops selling, what are those stores worth?
i mean the iPod is the high margin unit, the laptops, sales of which are skyrocketing, hardly make a profit when compared…. to…..
wait….
i take it back, he IS an asshat.
@ max and paddy,
Fair play on the group brawl bit, we do like that. But to think we ain’t up for a 1-1 row is a bit dangerous thinking on your part mate.
Uncouth? Maybe, but we ain’t snooty little twats at least.
BTW, I misread your tag as max “the” paddy. I thought you might be a celtic lad.
> Round Mound of Unsound
That’s a good one, MDN.
> I have been to CompUSA dozens of times and rarely found what I needed. The store cannot carry enough weird cables or esoteric tanks of printer ink; no one can.
That’s exactly why Apple focuses on Apple products at Apple retail stores, exactly so it doesn’t have to carry all the “weird or esoteric” stuff. When an Apple customer goes there, he or she knows that the Apple-related item being sought will probably be there on the shelf. And in addition to the Apple retails stores being a point-of-sale, they are now becoming a point-of-service, as in ongoing tech-support and training services.
There is a huge gulf between CompUSA and Apple stores. For one thing, CompUSA stores have five cash registers, but usually there are only one or two cashiers with a long line waiting to pay and leave. Apple stores have NO cash registers, but you can usually pay and leave in about two minutes, even when it’s crowded. I am not surprised CompUSA is closing up shop.
anti-creative cretin: touché with a nice touch of tush
Well done, amigo.
I really hope Dvorak doesn’t believe what he writes. If he does, he is one sad, sad, person.
Gotta love MDN’s hard-hitting, insightful, well presented comments. You guys are in a (high-school) class all your own.
MDN commented, “the world’s preeminent bloated gas bag”.
MDN commented, “you oaf”.
MDN commented, “Round Mound of Unsound”.
What’s next MDN, “Dvorak has cooties”?
I’ll bet anything he isn’t throwing rocks at the girls anymore.
The Finest Most Sought-After Tool<i> (the www), Is Useless in the Hands of a Fool (MDN).
I think everyone’s take on Dvorak is wrong.
I think at home he IS a Mac user, but professionally says otherwise because that is where his bread and butter is at and it provides free marketing for Apple when people come behind him and deconstruct his arguments.
@ Murasaki,
The Careless Caveat applies:
Never attribute to malice (or intelligence) that which can be explained by mere incompetence.
Think before you link. Every link or reference to a dvorak article just boosts that article’s standing with search engines.
Comparing a CompUSA store to an Apple store is like comparing a Yugo dealership with a Ferrari dealership. What an ass.
“Every link or reference to a dvorak article just boosts that article’s standing with search engines.”
And God kills a kitten too.
Why? Because we detest him, that’s why. Nothing odd about that.
You over the hill moron. Your time ended years ago. Anyone can make trouble to keep their own name in the media. Being destructive is easy (and evil).
It’s those PROFESSIONALS that do constructive things, which, by the way, takes hard, honest work, that have long term success in the marketplace.
I liken you to the crazy people who go out and shoot innocent people in public just to get the publicity.
You just don’t get it.
By the way, Apple has so much cash that they could buy out their leases for less than 5% of their petty cash. IT’S THEIR TIME BECAUSE THEY PAID ATTENTION TO THEIR MARKETS (i.e. customers).
Guess who, besides Microsoft, hasn’t paid attention to their customers? It’s a long term writer from PC Magazine that I used to read every month when he lived in reality.
John C. Dvorak: Proudly announcing the demise of Apple since 1983.
The funny thing about Dvorak is he’s been consistently wrong for over twenty years, and people still pay him for his inane drivel.
“My concern is that the Apple stores are getting too big… It began these high-end stores with the spectacular glass-cube place in New York — an architectural delight on very expensive 5th Avenue real estate — and now has fancy new digs in the meatpacking district, incorporating a stunning, three-story glass staircase.”
Screw Dvorak.
Apple, give Manhattan a blockbuster store with the design, scale, and grandeur of the old (and still sorely missed) Penn Station.
If we’re gonna build, let’s build WAY big!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
“I was wondering why this jerk has been quiet for SOOoooo long.
Where has he been?”
Drowning his sorrows after the WVU loss in White Lightning & Wine, probably. He probably had a pretty hefty hangover, too.
BJ
Dvorak should be called DorkAct.
“”I was saddened by the timeline announced for shutting down CompUSA, but wasn’t in the least surprised,” John Dvorak writes for MarketWatch.
“As I have said in columns here and elsewhere, the idea of a computer megastore working is sketchy. Investors in Apple Inc. should pay attention,” Dvorak writes.”
Poor John!
He can’t write three sentences without showing how out of touch he is.
Apple doesn’t run ANY computer megastores.
Sad.
Oh, the responses on this forum. Please, if you’re a PC fanboy, try to understand that you wont understand Macs, ever. Because you use PCs, you have very little appreciation for intelligent software and thus, you base a computer’s worth on its ‘features’ and its hardware. For the rest of you and Dvorak: I work at an Apple Store. It’s like Disneyland in there from the moment we open till 30-40 minutes after we close. ESPECIALLY now during holiday season. People are buying left and right. For an overwhelming majority of people, they need to see the mac and experience the mac before they purchase. We show them the software, we discuss their wants and needs and try to find the best solution for them. Remember, there are people who still don’t understand computers out there. Even more who’ve never touched a mac before (not everybody is tech savvy). In fact, about every other person who walks through our doors has never touched, experienced, or even seen a mac before. The stores are key, they are trendy, they are informative, and they sell well.
One of the saddest things I ever see are PC users who come only to realize that what they’ve been buying for the past 12 years has been utterly and completely worthless, and they defend it at all costs. The latest one, “I don’t want a mac. I need to be able to upgrade my hardware because in about a year, I’m going to be behind the times and I need to have the latest hardware. Always. Gotta be able to do that.”
I say, “Ok, well, what do you run on your PC?”
“Word and some Excel. I don’t do pictures or movies. I surf the internet too. Do you have any computers that can handle that kind of workload?”
I’ll let the mac fanboys guess how I felt at that moment. Oy…
To be fair, there’s really only one flaw (albeit a major one) in Dvorak’s logic: square footage of computer store = business model (i.e. “megastore”). Nevermind what that square footage contains, or what market(s) it attempts to target. Big = Won’t Work in Dvorak land. Simplistic, but hey, so is most of his likely audience.