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Gateway used to have their own stores, Sony has their own stores, I don't think the uniqueness of Apple comes from simply cutting out the middleman.

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And Bang & Olufsen

I went to a gateway store. It was a pretty bad experience. The machines were locked down and you couldn't use them. The sales people were the same kind you'd find at CompUSA (unknowledgable and myth spreading).

Sony is a little better, as they at least try to put some interesting design into their stores.

I'm curious, what do you mean by "myth spreading"?

* "Without this third party package there is a high chance of getting a virus or getting hacked"

* "More expensive HDMI cables produce a better quality image"

* "Higher megapixel cameras produce higher quality pictures"

Etc. Those are the ones I came up with off the top of my head that I was personally enlightened with at one point or another.

Yeah, I almost feel compelled to follow any salesperson I see at one of those stores who's helping an affable but uninformed person just so that I can correct all the false statements they're told after the salesperson goes away. It's amazing to me that people hire most of those people to represent their stores and companies. Most big box retail electronics stores are really shoddy shopping experiences.

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