Why is it that some people can walk into their local Apple Store with a broken MacBook and walk away with a free replacement, and other people are turned away, with Apple claiming the repair is due to user error… even if it isn’t?
It has less to do with whether or not you actually voided your warranty than if Apple thinks they can prove you voided your warranty. And the most important tool Apple uses to prove you’re responsible for the damage to your own machine? It’s a tool that inspects dents.
Apple’s retail operations were mocked by everyone on the planet when the first Apple Store was opened. But now that the Apple Store is the most profitable retail store in the world, everyone wants to copy what Apple’s doing.
Thanks to some inspiration from the Apple Store, BMW has decided that starting in 2014 they will require all dealers to hire young tech-savvy employees to handle questions from customers about the vehicles on the showroom floor. They’ll even be equipped with iPads and be called Geniuses.
Reader James H. contacted me today, asking, “Now perhaps you can you tell me how to make the Genius work the way it used to? I don’t even know how to make a new Genius playlist build now.”
As you may have noticed, iTunes 11 has switched a few things around. One of them is how the Genius playlists work. Previously, once you started a Genius playlist, you could save it as a stand-alone playlist, or you could replace it with the next Genius list you created. That’s a bit different now in iTunes 11.
This short move along the mall would triple the size of Apple’s Garden State store.
Apple is reportedly gearing up to bring the first double-row Genius Bar to its new Garden State Plaza store in New Jersey. The Cupertino company is planning to move the store into a larger space in the mall, and it’s said that the Genius Bar will be one area that sees the benefits of the additional space. For customers, that means more Geniuses on-site to fix your troublesome iPhone.
You can now speak to an Apple specialist without leaving the house.
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.
What does it take to become an Apple Genius? You’d think the biggest requirement would be a lot of technical knowledge, but really it’s empathy and knowing how to talk to people. Geniuses are the face of the company when customers are the most pissed off at Apple, so great customer service skills are key.
Gizmodo just unearthed Apple’s official Genius Training Student Workbook and it’s oozing with secrets, like words a Genius can’t use to describe a problem.
Some Mac users felt Apple’s ‘Genius’ ads made them look stupid.
Scott Trattner, the executive creative director behind the “Genius” advertising campaign — which was quickly killed by Apple shortly after its debut — has left his role at TBWA/Media Arts Lab in favor of a new role with advertising agency 72andSunny.
Apple’s controversial “Genius” TV ads have been unofficially killed. While Cupertino hasn’t said anything about the ads, they’ve removed the TV spots from their YouTube channel and the Apple.com marketing page. Apple stopped airing the ads on television days after they were introduced because of criticism that the ads made Mac users look clueless.
It’s fairly easy as a longtime Apple fan to dismiss the recently aired “Genius” ads as nothing more than a misstep in a rather stellar marketing history by the, well, geniuses in Cupertino. However, a new study by Brandindex Buzz shows a shift in the demographic trends for the Apple brand, which may go to explain the goofy ads as more specifically targeted advertising.
By now you’ve probably heard: a shiny new iPhone is right around the corner. But some in the tech world have been asking if Apple’s new trinket will only be playing catchup to more advanced, and more feature-rich, Android phones. We think that’s crap, and on our latest CultCast, we’ll tell you why.
Then — Apple’s embarrassing new Olympic Mac ads have just been pulled; we’ll tell you why we thought the ads needed to go, and so will our special guest, former Apple ad guy and longtime Steve Jobs’ collaborator, Ken Segall.
![Find Your Genius Playlists Again In iTunes 11 [OS X Tips]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Screen-Shot-2012-12-04-at-4.18.24-PM.jpg)
![Apple’s First Ever Double-Row Genius Bar Coming Soon To New Jersey [Report]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/gardenstateplaza_expansion_plan.jpg "gardenstateplaza_expansion_plan")
