Apple and the Fine Art of Retail

The upside to being an early adopter of new technology is that you get to play with new toys before just about everybody else. The downside is that you wind up replacing stuff that has grown outmoded.

Or maybe that isn’t such a downside. After all, by definition an ‘early adopter’ is free from hangups about spending money on tech, so upgrading to something shiny and new is unlikely to cause moping and wailing. As an enthusiastic techie consumer, I know that I’m never upset when I “need” to upgrade a particular gizmo with the newest model. Any excuse to spend my ill-earned schillings and pence, after all.

I’ve been using a first-generation 4GB iPhone since the device’s introduction; I showed astonishing restraint (for me) and waited an entire week after the intro to buy one. That way I missed the round-the-block-round-the-clock lines that accompanied the product’s release, but I was nonetheless early enough to create a proper sensation wherever I went. It was fun.

And the iPhone works perfectly, nor is there so much as a scratch on it. I take care of my gizmos. I’ve upgraded the OS whenever Apple deems it appropriate and I’ve taken it just about everywhere. I’m not a big cell phone user, by the way — in fact, I’m not much of a telephone guy at all — but an iPhone is so much more than a phone, as we all know. I could have kept using that iPhone forever, I should imagine; it is solidly built and is unlikely to break down.

But I had opted to set it up with a pre-pay account, AT&T’s so-called “goPhone”, instead of the regular 2-year service contract. It seemed like a good idea at the time. That meant incessant messages popping up with the price of every single call or message, whether inbound or out. And there’s not the slightest doubt that goPhone customers are considered second-class citizens by AT&T.

The final nail in the coffin came when AT&T decided to end data service for goPhone. That meant that I could use the iPhone’s many Internet and data features only when on a Wi-Fi network, and it also meant that the visual voicemail system (which relies on data to work) was no longer available. I was obliged to dial in and get my voicemail messages aurally. Yecch.

So I was missing out on not only all of the spiffier features of the newer 3GS iPhones, but also basics like visual voicemail and roaming data. I realized that it was high time to upgrade to a new phone. That meant getting a new cell phone number, alas, unless I were willing to make a trip to the AT&T store to attempt having the pre-paid account phone number transferred to the new 2-year account. (I say “attempt” because I’m not at all certain I would succeed.) In fact, I toyed with the notion of going to a different service altogether — Verizon, for example — and buying an Android-based phone. But I’m comfortable in the Apple info-sphere, where all of my devices work together seamlessly, and I’m accustomed to Apple’s build and design quality. AT&T may be the snake in the iPhone paradise, but all things considered (including dreadfully spotty coverage in my neighborhood), it’s tolerable.

But if AT&T represents corporate America at its most callous, then Apple is the shining exemplar at the other end of the spectrum. As a modern consumer, I’m well-accustomed to the casual disregard and rudeness characteristic of most contemporary retail establishments. So if I am greeted with even modest amounts of non-scripted courtesy, or if I experience even a modicum of competence on the part of a retail clerk, I’m pleasantly surprised.

But buying an iPhone from an Apple Store makes it clear that there is indeed a lotus blossom amidst the muds of mediocrity. I’ve watched Apple’s stores, always good, hone an already classy experience into something downright breathtaking in both its charm and efficiency. Even Nordstrom could learn a thing or two about the fine art of retail from Apple.

To begin with I was able to the reserve the phone online, thereby taking care of propitiating AT&T. I went to the downtown San Francisco store to pick up my phone in the mid-afternoon. I was greeted at the door by a charming young lady in a blue shirt. I told her I was coming to pick up a reserved iPhone: whom do I see about that?

“Why, you see me about that!” she chirped. I expressed my joy in having found her, and she expressed her joy in my joy. She took me over to a footstool by a nice iMac, sat me down, and looked up my reservation.

She checked with me to make sure that I still wanted the black 16GB iPhone 3GS model; I assured her I did. We talked a bit about AppleCare (I passed on it and she gave not the slightest argument), and perhaps the MobileMe package which would give me a 30% discount on my next renewal (I took that.) With that, she got me a phone and was back in about thirty seconds flat.

Apple’s in-store system can set up the phone partly before they even take it out of the box, thanks to a barcode scanner and some over-the-air zippadee-doo-dah. Then she expertly removed my phone from the box, plugged it into the iMac and had it activated in a few seconds. I gave her my credit card, which she processed right there and e-mailed me my receipt. A bit more chitchat (including how she got her own iPhones as hand-me-downs from her upgrade-crazy father), and that was that.

A few minutes later I was on my way, with a brand-new, completely set-up and working iPhone. From portal to portal was about ten minutes. I had been treated with sparkling professionalism by a friendly, chirpy young lady who knew her stuff perfectly and did everything right.

This was balm indeed to a poor, jaded shopper. I’ve almost always had a fine experience at an Apple Store (sometimes they’re a bit too busy for comfort, but that’s almost inevitable under the circumstances), but this particular one topped them all, a downright virtuoso display of retail as a fine-tuned art.

Unfortunately this will make the next trip to BestBuy all that more painful…but maybe I can avoid that for a good long time to come.

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