Jonathan Ive “has begun to work with [Angela] Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice-president of retail, on a redesign — as yet unannounced — of the Apple Stores,” Ian Parker reports for The New Yorker.
“These new spaces will surely become a more natural setting for vitrines filled with gold (and perhaps less welcoming, at least in some corners, to tourists and truants),” Parker reports. “Apple had not, overnight, become an élite-oriented company—and it would sell seventy-five million iPhones in the final quarter of 2014, many of them in China—but I wondered how rational, and pure of purpose, one can make the design of a V.I.P. area. Ive later told me that he had overheard someone saying, ‘I’m not going to buy a watch if I can’t stand on carpet.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Not only will existing stores be refitted to accommodate Apple Watch, but (hint, hint):
How about “Apple Watch Stores” (either stores-within-stores or as separate entities, kiosks or otherwise grander) dedicated specifically to Apple Watch customers? Watch and see. – MacDailyNews, February 3, 2015
Say hello to dedicated Apple Watch Stores. – MacDailyNews, February 13, 2015
MacDailyNews Note: Today is Washington’s Birthday in the U.S.A., a federal holiday and, as such, the U.S. markets are closed for the day. We will resume our normal posting schedule tomorrow.
Related articles:
Wave goodbye to the last of Apple’s mini-stores – February 13, 2015
The Apple Watch could push techies out of Apple Retail Stores – How about ‘Apple Watch Stores?’ – February 3, 2015
Apple retail veteran Bob Bridger is leaving; big changes coming – February 3, 2015