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Comment by robryan | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, places like jb and dick smith have the same setup, I guess it is a condition from apple to be a seller of their laptops.

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In New Zealand, I recently went to JB. I was interested in a tablet, specifically the iPad 3, and I asked the sales person, "What's the difference between the Asus Transformer, and the iPad 3?", to which he replies, "Uhhh... the Operating System?". He kept this up, trying to make me feel like a complete idiot for asking these questions... then when I was about to purchase something he walked off. I then wait 20 minutes, and buy the Transformer, as I wasn't allowed to demo the iPad 3. (seriously?)

I hate those places with a passion, and as a deaf guy I constantly get people just leaving me without any help after I mention for the third time to speak the fuck up. I wish I had an Apple store here, maybe buying things in a store would be more enjoyable :(

I agree: I've moved to the US and the Apple stores here are AWESOME. Staff on hand, everything laid out well - they even encourage you to try out Facetime. Also, the free trainings they offer are actually very useful.

An Apple Store in New Zealand (and possibly other places) would do wonders for the brand - I only switched to Mac after a visit to the US. The next-best-thing we had in Auckland was MagnumMac - it was OK but it was no Apple Store.

The biggest problem with Apple stores at this point is that they are always busy. I remember when the first Apple store opened in my area a few years ago, there were always people there but only a decent number.

Now, it doesn't seem to matter when I go to the Apple stores around me, they're buzzing with tons of activity.

I remember going to the Apple Store when it opened in my area. It had decent traffic and you could actually get a genius without appointment. Now 7 years later it's totally packed and I don't think the amount of sales has kept pace with the amount of foot traffic. But the foot traffic certainly helps drive sales.

Also, being close to an Apple Store helps other stores as well. I've seen so many parents just leave their kids at the Apple store while they run off to Victoria's Secret or BB&W. That section of the mall is completely busy when before it was just foot traffic going to Macy's or another anchor store.

They're absolutely jammed, but you notice that you never have a problem finding an employee to help you? I was at the Apple Store in Hong Kong the other day talking to one of the floor guys as he was ringing me up; he told me they have 150 people on shift in the store at any given time. Granted, the Hong Kong store is massive, but that still seems like an extraordinary number for a single shift.

Someone with a shite attitude like that probably hates his job ... time to complain to his manager and put him out of his misery.

Apple has been partnering with Best Buy for a few years, and I imagine they do the same thing around the world.

It's not a condition though. My local Microcenter sells Apple laptops (always have) and have a little section for them, but it's not run by Apple. It looks like the rest of the store, and isn't laid out like an Apple store.

Here in Colorado there is a Microcenter that sells Apple products. I was talking to one of the managers about the Apple section and he said that he sells less of them than any other brand and they make almost no money on them. Probing a little further it is because the sales guys don't get a high commission on them unlike the other products, and thus they are unloved. Just like most of the other sections of the store the Apple section was almost entirely empty.

I've bought a laptop from Microcenter, and boy was it something I regretted ...

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