Apple has reportedly started work on its first retail store in Belgium, which will be located in the city of Ghent in the Veldstraat shopping center. The store is expected to open in late 2012 — in time for the holiday season — or in early 2013.
The Genius Bar is a great way to get help and support for the problems you’re having with your Mac and iOS devices. The problem is, with only 375 Apple stores worldwide, you usually need to live close to a big city to be close to a Genius Bar. But that’s no longer the case, because you can now speak to am Apple specialist from the comfort of your own home, via the company’s online store.
If you’ve owned an Apple device for any extended period of time — whether it’s a Mac or iOS device — you’ve most likely encountered the Genius Bar at the back of every Apple retail store, where friendly, fresh-faced youths in blue t-shirts diagnose your problems and quickly provide a fix. Apple is one of a small few companies that offers such a terrific service, and according to a recent study, 90% of its customers love it.
As Apple’s devices become increasingly popular, so do its retail stores. It’s almost impossible to walk into one and see a Genius without an appointment, and even with an appointment you can almost guarantee there will be a lengthy wait. But Apple hopes to improve this with a new Genius Bar layout that increases capacity from 7 to 12 customers, simply by turning a table 90° and adding a few extra stools.
One of concerns for IT departments as first iPhones and then iPads and other consumer-focused technologies began creeping into the workplace is how to support the personal devices and apps of employees. That issue took center stage this week as security vendor Fortinet identified that most millennial workers feel that support and security for their mobile devices and other technologies is their responsibility and not the responsibility of an employer or IT department.
What that means is that many IT departments may need to rethink what technical support means. That isn’t a new concept. Various studies and reports have shown that members of Gen-Y prefer to engage support resources using a range of technologies beyond a helpdesk phone line including email, texts, and social networks. As this new vision of support emerges, one model for the future help desk is the Genius Bar from Apple’s retail stores.
It’s always tempting to avoid the high prices of a Genius Bar screen repair and find a third-party repair center that can fix your iPhone for fraction of the price. I’ve done it. You might want to think twice before you take your iPhone repair off the grid, though.
Late last year news broke of an iPhone that ignited into flame on board an Australian flight. No one was hurt, and at the time no one knew what caused the iPhone to spontaneously erupt. After further investigation though, it looks like a careless third-party repair agent might be the one to blame.
It's pretty clear in this image that the new iPad's Retina display (right) is suffering from a horrible yellow tint.
Apple’s latest iPad has already been plagued by issues related to its Wi-Fi and 3G connections, but it seems its problems don’t stop there. No, I’m not talking about its slightly warmer feel, which isn’t a real issue. I’m talking about issues with its new Retina display, including yellow, blue, and pink tinting; dead pixels; dust; backlight bleeding and blotches.
If you’re anything like me, now that you’ve pre-ordered your new iPad, you’ll be obsessing over its order status. You know it’s not going to arrive until March 16, but once every hour you’ll logon to the Apple online store to see how your package is getting on anyway.
It’s even easier to do this with the free Apple Store app for iPhone. Here’s how.
Replacing retail genius Ron Johnson wasn’t an easy task for Apple. The company has been seeking a replacement since he announced he was leaving to become CEO of JC Penney back in June. But it seems it has now found its man, after announcing that John Browett, who has been CEO of Dixons Retail in the U.K. since 2007, is the new Senior Vice President of Retail.
Outstanding reliability is just one of the reasons why we fall in love with our Apple products. But unfortunately, everything goes wrong from time to time. That’s why we have the Genius Bar.
Did you know it’s incredibly easy to book Genius Bar appointments on an iOS device using the official Apple Store app? Here’s how to do it.
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![Track Your New iPad’s Order Status With The Apple Store App For iPhone [iOS Tip]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/IMG_1024.jpg "iPad-order-status")
![Never Wait For A Genius Bar Appointment Again Using The Apple Store App [iOS Tip]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/IMG_0775-1.jpg "Genius-Bar-appt-iOS")
