Comments on: Can tony Apple stores survive a down economy?

Are Apple stores elitist? You bet--and that's not a bad thing. Unless the U.S. economy keeps going south.

[ecotopian--2008]

Another writer with no clue about what keeps all kinds of people pouring into every Apple Store. OK, so you have no clue, but why announce it in public?

[Mr. Dee]

Well, its more likely for Apple to stop building new stores and invest in promoting new ones and using them strategically with tools such as their websites, community and TV ads to draw people to the store.

[gigo1000]

Apple certainly knows how to make those TV ads! They've proven that.

[pithenumber]

@gigo1000
Apple ads are hilarious, but they don't make me want to buy a Mac

[topgunb2]

people forget that apples sales have no where but to go up!

I used android for a month (know I'm off topic), couldn't sync my appointments with exchange , you can bash microsoft but can't avoid it. Iphone finally had to come up with something which syncs with exchange.

[1812dave]

SlimGem, in case you hadn't noticed, while there's no "dumping OSX", Macs DO run Windows.

As far as the story here: the author is out of his mind, IMO. Apple stores are always busy as hell and I am NOT an Apple fanboi! I own NO Macs. My only vice is 9 iPods for myself and my wife. Love the iPods!! :)

[OS11]

If an Apple Store can't survive in a sluggish economy, that means NO store can survive. The author is clearly clueless, since Apple Stores are collectively ranked as the most profitable stores in the world per sq foot. So his thesis dictates ALL retail stores will fail first... then after 240 years, once $28 billion is burned up in lease agreements, Apple will start to close various locations.

Sorry, but Apple is technically recession proof since it doesn't sell into that level of the market

[nicmart]

Apple vulerabilities are its iPhones and the Macs. The former because they are linked to expensive data plans, and the latter because Apple has stuck to premium pricing on Macs. iPods have dominated the market precisely because Apple rejected premium pricing in favor of market share. That is what it should be doing, and better quickly be doing, with Macs. There need to be sub-$500 full-featured desktop and sub-$700 laptop Macs. Such products would not require a sacrifice in quality; only cheaper chip sets and fewer glam features. Most people can live without .

[OS11]

Incorrect, iPhone plans are no more expensive than any other carrier plan for a smartphone, please check facts before you post incorrect information.

Macs will always be the better value, that's why you pay a slight premium for them. Why should Apple lower pricing for a temporary economic problem? that doesn't make sense.

Apple sells a sub $549 Mac, known as the Mac mini... and that hits all price points that might be effected by a recession. YES, it needs to be updated, but it invalidates your point that Apple should somehow give products away for free.

Apple doesn't need to cower to people that don't want a quality computer, that would put them in the PC camp and nobody wants to be there.

[pithenumber]

@OS11
you're right about the iPhone

Macs will always have worse value than a Hackintosh

the insides of a Mac are of no more quality than the inside of a PC from a decent company and of less quality that the insides of "elite" PC boutiques and most skilled local builders

[OS11]

@ pithenumber

you are clearly ignorant about quality computing. Macs are completely engineered from top to bottom by Apple, while PCs are just a simple collections of tinkertoy parts. Please find a PC built as well as an iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook, Mac mini, etc... bet you can't.

so learn a little about the industry, otherwise people like me will make you into a fool.

[pithenumber]

@OS11
I build and repair computers, both Mac and PC

on the inside, I see a normal PC
you have an Intel processor in a socket that the Intel processor normally resides in.
then you have a graphics, either PCIe, integrated or MXM
then you have a hard drive, nothing special about it
oh yeah and a mobo with all the connections required
and RAM which is of no more quality than those of most PC OEMs
and the list continues

ever since Apple switched from PPC to i386, Macs are PC's

[BobBobBobBobBobBobBob]

> There need to be sub-$500 full-featured desktop and sub-$700 laptop Macs.

Apple have said it before that they can't make a $500, or less, that's not crap. The reason Apple won't do this is because there is generally a greater amount of tech support needed and warranty repairs for crappier products. Apple is just practicing good common sense? which would you prefer, 35% profit on a $500 or $1199 iMac with less chance of warranty repairs?

You can Still get a MacMini for $599 or a MacBook for $999 <http://store.apple.com/>

[pithenumber]

even I can make a sub $450 desktop that is not crap(then sell it $500)
I don't buy processors by the thousands and get savings of not having to pay a middle man, Apple can do that, so they should have a quality sub $500 desktop

[OS11]

@pithenumber

no, you are talking very poorly built PCs running Windows. Steve Jobs and the Apple community have higher standards than that. lowest price is around $549 for a Mac mini, that's close enough, so it really doesn't matter.

[topgunb2]

would like to see what happens to apple post steve jobs

[lkrupp]

Why is it that C|net click-mongering "journalists" are always writing articles predicting the failure and collapse of Apple? Why is there this continuous drumbeat of wishful thinking that Apple should not be where it is and garnering the attention it does? What elicits the venom, the hate, the palpable vitriol from guys like this Brooke Crothers anyway?

They just can't stand the idea of a successful company with loyal customers. They just can't stomach the concept of premium value and choice. Unless something is the lowest common denominator it must be, by their twisted definitions, be over priced and elitist.

[teachtopia]

While the author did sort of link being elite to wealth, we should (note previous comments) not fall into the trap of thinking that an elitist must have wealth. Many academics (and Apple users) are elitists despite not having too much wealth.

[themainbreeze]

Any idiot can write "WHAT IF" columns...

What if you just had a job that demands some substance and skill besides the the airing of whatever speculative garbage enters your little infantile mind?

[Perry_Clease]

You go where the money is, why do you think Apple doesn't offer a cheap netbook.

[CaribDigita]

Seriously Apple, you need to open a store in BARBADOS (West Indies)

There's not enough access to Apple products in Barbados but everyone is trying to get ahold of the Apple iPhones. An Apple store would work well alongside the strip of boutiques in Bridgetown.

[Marcia Boone]

I went to the Lenox Apple Store in ATL and in spite of the snow, the Mall was filling up at 11:30 this morning. I was there for a One to One session and saw people of all ages looking, buying, waiting for an appointment and watching demonstrations.

[Dan7637]

you people are a riot, arguing about mac's cost, if you cant afford a mac then shut up and buy a windows computer and not bash Apple because it doesnt make 500 computers that break down and then dont give you good customer service

[sandman619]

Let's see... Apple already pulled through the last recession unscathed, they have a debt load of 0% & oodles of cash to see them through a recession. Because they compete on feature & design, not margin, they can survive a dip in sales, plus they sell not only their computers, they also sell iPhones, iPods, their software & products of many other software publishers & peripheral makers. I'd say they are in the best shape to weather a long recession. As for Gateway, they competed on margin & their only branded product they made was a line of PCs, which made their retail outlets less profitable. So, yeah, guess you are out of story ideas so you reached back & pulled out the old death watch story, which has been dead & buried for years

Cheers !

[BtmnHatesRbn]

What does "tony" mean? That's not a proper use of a word in English. "Tony" is short for Anthony or Antonia. Trendy is the word CNET sought.

[baconstang]

I agree. Possibly the lamest article I've read o CNET.

[rollaire2]

Some things will always thrive and Apple is one of them!

RT
www.privacy-center.pro.tc

[kelmon]

You what? Who on earth allowed you to publish this drivel? Are you honestly suggesting that up-scale areas of towns and cities are effectively becoming "No Go" areas to consumers? What a load of nonsense.

If the economy tanks even more than it has, everyone's in serious trouble, Apple included.

That said, in a recent stroll through one of the most "elitist" neighborhoods in the world, Manhattan's SoHo, I passed about 50 storefronts of mostly very high-end brands. Guess which _one_ of the 50 stores was PACKED with shoppers (yes, a line at the cashier), and guess in which 49 the staff outnumbered customers (if they had any at all).

And to the wankers whining about Macs not being superior to Windows/PCs - I've been working on PCs in my office jobs for the last 25 years, and yet I always opt for a Mac at home. And every IT person I've ever spoken to says that Mac hardware and software is fundamentally more stable and otherwise preferable to Windows. And my computer is in a titanium shell, not plastic. I opt for better quality and value for my money; if that's "elitist" then so be it - the world would be a better place if people stopped buying junk that you have to throw out every year, and saved up a little to buy better products, less frequently.

[egrump]

Sounds like somebody got a new thesaurus.