Last week was the first time I bought something directly from the Apple Store. Sure I own Apple products: the iPad, countless iPods but I was lucky enough to have been gifted them or have gone to Future Shop.
It was Black Friday and I wanted to buy my sister a Nano and perhaps Apple TV for the parents. However, I felt quite lost and confused. Not to mention clusterphobic.
It’s hard not to think of Apple as a cult when thousands of people lined up that day to buy multiple iPads, Macbooks, iPods for a tiny discount. I also had no idea where that line was actually leading to because I learned that day that the Genius Bar isn’t the cashier. I have never felt so confused on how to buy something in my life, but everyone else seemed to be perfectly fine. I stood in front of the Nanos for a while until I could find a red shirt dude (uniform) that wasn’t busy and finally tell him that I wanted to buy a Nano. He handed me one, took me to one of computers at the side (both a model and a check out point!) and I paid for it without a second thought.
I didn’t leave right away because I was curious about the Apple TV. My red shirt friend had already gone to help someone buy three iPads. The Apple TV boxes were on a shelf so I decided to check it out. Little did I realize, the packaging tells you absolutely nothing. It doesn’t tell you what it does, the features or anything. I took the Nano out of the bag, it didn’t either. I recognized then that in terms of Apple Products, if you have to question what they are, than you probably weren’t the type of person who actually needed it. People go into the store knowing what they want subconsciously in their minds. I was just looking for a way to stream video on my TV, and Apple TV wasn’t it.
Tiana Feng 