No, Apple isn’t ditching retail store product launches

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Image courtesy of Pocket-lint
People queue for the iPhone. Photo: Pocket-lint

After Steve Jobs, the original Mac, and the iPhone, launch day queues have to be one of the most recognisably Apple phenomenons of them all: something which speaks not only to the crazy number of sales Apple makes, but also to the devotion of its fanbase.

Recently it looked as if Angela Ahrendts was trying to permanently change-up Apple culture — sending an email to Apple Store employees which proclaimed, “The days of waiting in line and crossing fingers for a product are over for our customers.”

Fortunately, to paraphrase Mark Twain, it seems fears that Apple would do away with the excitement of launch day lines have been greatly exaggerated.

“I know this is a different experience for our customers, and a change for you as well,” Apple’s retail guru Angela Ahrendts wrote in a new memo to employees, concerning the Apple Watch.

Are we going to launch every product this way from now on? No. We all love those blockbuster Apple product launch days — and there will be many more to come. They’re the moments where you, our teams, shine. And our customers love them as well!”

For people who have never waited in a queue to get their hands on a new iPhone, it probably won’t resonate why the line for new Apple products is important. It can be cold, it’s arduous, and in recent year’s it’s increasingly full of people looking to buy up devices to sell on the black market. But in all my years as an Apple fan, I can honestly say that some of the most I’ve fun has been standing in line, participating in the buzz surrounding a hot new device, and meeting the other people dedicated enough to do likewise.

Of course, if Angela Ahrendts also wants to overhaul the online purchasing process to make it easier and better-stocked, I’m hardly going to complain, either.

Source: Daily Telegraph

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