Posted on 07/18/2008 8:41:28 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Ahead of the summer Olympics, Apple on Saturday will open the doors to its first retail store in China, a glass-enclosed high-profile shop situated in Beijing's newest retail development: the Village at Sanlitun.
Keeping with his tradition of attending Apple's gala international retail launches, our friend Gary Allen from ifoAppleStore has made the grueling journey across the Pacific to be on hand for tomorrow's grand opening at 10:00 a.m.
Allen reports that Apple's space within the Sanlitun complex "is nearly invisible from the street," because it sits within the center's inner courtyard. "But once you see it, it’s impressive -- a three-story glass façade covering two visible floors, and a level covered with stainless steel."
A large overpass reportedly caps off the store, funneling patrons to and from other portions of the shopping center. The overpass itself is covered with stainless steel and punctuated with a back-lit Apple logo near center mass.
Inside, customers will find the usually array of Mac and iPod products, as well as a sprawling Genius Bar staffed with technical support specialists. However, one thing they won't find is the iPhone, as Apple's negotiations with Chinese wireless carriers remain a work-in-progress.
According to Allen, a crowd of over 110 people had queued up in an enclosed space just to the left of the store as of midnight Saturday morning local time.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
i hope they offer better service than the apple mac store that i purchased my computer.
the service was bad.
How was the service bad. Bad or even so-so service is completely contrary to my experiences at Apple Stores.
I’d buy a Mac, but I’m not gay.
there were a half dozen employees in the back room.
the only employee on the floor had three customers including myself.
unbelievable! the phone rang incessantly, and guess who was responsible to answer it?
the over-worked woman on the floor, writing up my sales slip and taking my atm card.
she transferred the calls to the back room.
i got frustrated and said, look for the amount of money i’m spending here, i deserve one employee’s full attention for 5 minutes.
she agreed, and apologized.
i carried my own box out to the car.
i would never buy anything at that mac store again. i’ll buy on-line.
More gay people choose Windows over any other platform. As a Windows user, you are far more likely to be gay than a Mac user.
Thanks for playing.
( Posted via iPhone )
What location was this? Most Apple Stores don’t have a phone in the front area at all.
indio.
Very, very strange. Most Apple Stores, the personnel are exceedingly helpful and exemplify “friendly and competent customer service”. Even if all you arrle doing is bringing in a product for service. You should call the Apple 800 number and complain about it. Unlike other comanies, Apple will take care of the problem.
actually, the store may be in la quinta
near the home depot.
it’s only a few blocks from indio.
i’m from the other end of the valley.
Was this an Apple Store or a third party Apple affiliate?
i do not know.
it displays the mac apple symbol that you use in all your posts.
and it’s, to my knowledge, the only mac store in the coachella valley.
it’s on highway 111, in the target shopping center of la quinta.
they have bill boards all over the coachella valley advertising themselves.
this is a very affluent valley of just under 500,000 people.
There are apparently no Apple Stores in either Indio or La Quinta... there is, however, a Mac Gallery store. That's a privately owned third party reseller.
ok, that settles that.
yes, they do use the word “gallery”.
and, it’s a nice display.
Yup, that explains the bad service. It’s a reseller, not Apple itself - and is an illustration as to why Apple opened their own stores.
Isn’t that operated by the old LACC outfit? I remember them being AWFUL when I lived in SoCal.
I would still complain to Apple about those idiots. Apple may be looking for a reason to yank their license.
Mac Gallery is a new concept in the world of personal computing. Mac Gallery provides Mac based products and solutions for both home and professional computer users. The company plans to open nine more Mac Gallery stores over the next 18 months. Stores are planned for Tustin, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, Bakersfield, Victorville and Santa Barbara.—Mac Gallery press release October 24, 2007
Here's their website: Mac Gallery.
Statistical trick. Windows has over 80% market share. Your argument is no different than pointing out (correctly) that more whites are on welfare than minorities, therefore you're more likely to be white as a welfare recipient.
Thanks for playing.
Your welcome.
Actually, no. Not quite a statistical trick. When homosexuals are surveyed, more of them choose Windows than choose Mac.
Many laptops don’t have a camera card reader. Macs are one among many.
That said, if you have a MacBook Pro, you can get an SD to ExpressCard adapter and stick it in the industry-standard ExpressCard slot.
More and more cameras are going to Bluetooth or WiFi connections for transferring images now anyway, so in a few more years it won’t matter.
Wow.
That's because Windows is on waaaaaaay more computers than any other OS. Therefore you can safely say that more schizophrenics, PHD students, lawyers, doctors, child molesters, teachers, drop-outs, cooks and Sunday school teachers use Windows than any other OS.
Its a bit of a distinction without a difference.
Okay, then leaving that out... how is using a Mac “gay” as opposed to using an operating system known for “backdooring”, “bughunting”, “exploitation”, “promiscuity”, “zombies”, and virus propagation?
Ah, now THERE you have a point. Preach on brother!
I have not seen any SLRs with WiFi or bluetooth yet. I just purchased a Pentax *ist D in 2005.
You know what they say about folks who see 'gay' everywhere, even in unrelated computer conversations. 
It started out in the point-and-shoot digicams, but the DSLRs are getting it now.
Nikon 12.4 Mpx Digital SLR has Wi-Fi options: http://www.gizmag.com/go/3220/
Or you can get a USB adapter and use the SD card like a pen drive.
More and more cameras are going to Bluetooth or WiFi connections for transferring images now anyway, so in a few more years it won’t matter.
Oh, I hope not. Bluetooth is far too slow. And WiFi seems like an unnecessary level of complication; you'd either have to set up an ad hoc network between the computer and the camera, or have the camera connect to a DHCP router to obtain an IP address.
If Bluetooth 2.0 makes impressive speed gains, I could see this. Otherwise, not so much.
Why did you post a picture of 2 men dry humping?
Or you can get a USB adapter and use the SD card like a pen drive.
More and more cameras are going to Bluetooth or WiFi connections for transferring images now anyway, so in a few more years it won’t matter.
Oh, I hope not. Bluetooth is far too slow. And WiFi seems like an unnecessary level of complication; you'd either have to set up an ad hoc network between the computer and the camera, or have the camera connect to a DHCP router to obtain an IP address.
If Bluetooth 2.0 makes impressive speed gains, I could see this. Otherwise, not so much.
Wow, a whole 110 people...
This means Chinese/Asian parts shipped to USA to be assembled into Apple computer. Then shipped back across the ocean for the Chinese to buy them
Laptops/desktops differ on all this. Probably most (90%?) of the Apple laptop is assembled in Asia so the trip to California can eliminated
they do have one in the coachella valley—the one that i was talking about in several replies above.
it’s in la quinta, in the target shopping center on 111.
they will do well, good service or not, because there’s a lot of money in this valley.
legions of millionaires, living in gated communities with golf courses.
rush limbaugh has more mac computers than you can shake a stick at.
Yes he does, and it drives the over-the-edge Leftist kook Apple fanboys crazy. They do not like the fact that he uses and likes the same product they use.
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