They represent only a fifth of Apple’s total revenue, but what a stylish fifth it is. In the relatively short time Apple Stores have dotted the shopping mall map, they have inspired a mainstream love of minimalism, snagged untold numbers of passersby with the gleaming promise of hands-on gadget time and moved untold numbers of iPods and Macbooks.
The stores, designed by San Francisco-based Eight Inc., look like something out of a 1970s science-fiction film: All brushed metal and shiny wood surfaces, screens embedded in the walls, more screens on every table surface and in the hands of the associates prowling the floor.
Then there is the Genius Bar, usually located at the back of the store, where customers can set up appointments to be schooled in the fine arts of video editing, fetching POP e-mail or building a basic Web site. It is perhaps this aspect of the store that is most astonishing: Apple has managed to make people pay to receive customer service ("Come to shop, return to learn" is one of the store’s slogans).
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