New Apple Store = New NY Icon???

[NY_Future_Alien]

Some people has been saying that the "big crystal cube" of Apple (the new Apple Store on the 5th) is so cool, that is becoming "a new icon" of the city....

People of NY, how do you feel about it? It´s really so great? or it´s just another marketing move of Apple?

hector

[Schadenfrau]

I think Apple paid all those people to stand outside the store opening. Does anyone really care that much?

[NY_Future_Alien]

Can it be considered as a "new monument"? Perhaps thats what people mean when they speak of it as a "new icon"....

I mean, forget about the marketing thing.... just see it as "something new" that you see when you go walking by....

[Schadenfrau]

Uh, it's a computer store. I walk by there every day and I haven't even noticed the thing.

Is Apple paying you, too?

[NY_Future_Alien]

No, they don´t... although perhaps they should :D

Well, I guess It´s not THAT big then..... I´m asking because I´m collecting information of the city for a web page I´m doing, and there´s two sections called "Classic NYC Icons" and "New NYC Icons..."...

[Ninjahedge]

How about a third:

Icon Wannabees

[Schadenfrau]

What exactly would be considered a new NYC icon?

[Ninjahedge]

What exactly would be considered a new NYC icon?

http://www.nycwebstore.com/images/icons/icon-i_love_ny.jpg

Oops, sorry, that's an old one.....

[Edward]

What exactly would be considered a new NYC icon? If you use the preferences of visitors as a guide, then after the old icons of ESB and Statue of Liberty the tourists want to see the naked cowboy in Times Square.

[ablarc]

If you use the preferences of visitors as a guide, then after the old icons of ESB and Statue of Liberty the tourists want to see the naked cowboy in Times Square.
Brooklyn Bridge, Chrysler, Woolworth and Flatiron Buildings, United Nations, Times Square, Woody Allen.

[lofter1]

The NYC Apple Cube is less than one week into its existence.

An ICON is by certain definitons something that ENDURES ...

So maybe we should wait and see.

[NY_Future_Alien]

Lets wait... but hey, it's a nice idea! A third section "Icon Wannabes" :)

[Schadenfrau]

Okay, I went by this cube tonight, just to see what all the fuss is about. It's really nothing spectacular; I just think computer geeks get way too worked up about that stuff.

Seriously, I saw such a crowd on the opening day that I thought Bill Clinton was giving a speech or something. I asked a bystander what was going on, and when he told me it was a store opening, I had to laugh. If anything, you have to give the companies credit for digging up thousands of dupes who buy the hype.

[infoshare]

Apple news http://www.upimages.net/upload/2a19c431.jpg I went to the new store on Monday....Awesome!

[pscoln1]

I think Apple paid all those people to stand outside the store opening. Does anyone really care that much?

I dont necesarily care so much, I wouldnt have waited outside the store if I had something better to do. But then again I do own a lot of Apple products. My question is where is this new store?? I feel so out of the loop!

[Schadenfrau]

The new store is in the GM building on 59th and 5th.

I just don't understand why people would fight to frequent a store offering all products online. I'm not even a fan of H&M, but at least their customers are looking for something not available on the internet. And the H&M crowds are nothing compared to what I saw at Apple. I just don't wonder if people should be somewhat ashamed by being such company slaves.

[pscoln1]

The new store is in the GM building on 59th and 5th.

I just don't understand why people would fight to frequent a store offering all products online. I'm not even a fan of H&M, but at least their customers are looking for something not available on the internet. And the H&M crowds are nothing compared to what I saw at Apple. I just don't wonder if people should be somewhat ashamed by being such company slaves.

Yea I totally agree, I guess some pple are just nuts. I feel bad for the pple that actually went there for a purpose and got stuck with that crowd.

[Ninjahedge]

You think that Apple Users actually know how to operate a computer, get online and order stuff?

;)

[Edward]

From Apple's website

http://images.apple.com/home/2006/images/retailfifthaveheroquicktime20060519.jpg

[Ninjahedge]

I wonder how they could afford that.....

>:|

[ablarc]

The NYC Apple Cube is less than one week into its existence.

An ICON is by certain definitons something that ENDURES ...

So maybe we should wait and see.
Though icons often endure, their defining characteristic is standing for something.

In the music industry instant icons are manufactured: Britney Spears today, while yesterday the Beatles, Stones and Bob Dylan all sprang on the scene as instant icons. Even Joan Baez --though she didn't endure.

In architecture, instant icons are rarer; the TWA Terminal and St. Louis Arch spring to mind (both by the same architect), and Wright's Guggenheim was iconic from the get-go, as were Seagram, the World Trade Center, Pompidou, Boston City Hall and Transamerica (SFO). So are Guggenheim Bilbao and the Disney Concert Hall --and I suspect Miss Brooklyn will be, too. Calatrava's tower of cubes would have been, and his Chicago drill bit will be, for sure.

Apple seems to have the potential.

Got to keep it clean.

[Teno]

I think Apple paid all those people to stand outside the store opening. Does anyone really care that much?

Yes those people care that much. When many people use the Macintosh they fall in love with it.

You think that Apple Users actually know how to operate a computer, get online and order stuff?

Actually Apple products perpetually dominate the top three spots of the best selling computer list on Amazon.com.

The stores go beyond the general Mac user. Apple computer users only comprise about 5% of the total US computer market. So most people have likely never used a Mac. They can walk into the store see, touch, learn, and use all of Apple's products.

These stores have been extremely successful in that regard.

Though icons often endure, their defining characteristic is standing for something. In the music industry instant icons are manufactured: Britney Spears today, while yesterday the Beatles, Stones and Bob Dylan all sprang on the scene as instant icons. Even Joan Baez --though she didn't endure.

Britney Spears stands for something? Consumerism I suppose.

Oh wash your mouth. The Beatles and Bob Dylan were not manufactured. The music industry was something totally different in that time.

[ablarc]

Britney Spears stands for something? Consumerism I suppose.
Exactly. That, and superficiality, and teasing sex...

Oh wash your mouth. The Beatles and Bob Dylan were not manufactured.
Brian Epstein thought otherwise. Dylan: truly not manufactured, but an instant icon. Stones manufactured themselves.

The music industry was something totally different in that time.
Don't know about that.

[Teno]

What I mean by manufactured is a person or a group who has little or questionable at best musical talent, is artificially turned into a rock god through money and marketing.

This system accounts for the far majority of what we call music today. Most of those people cannot play instruments or even know how to read music.

Thirty to forty years ago most record labels were not owned by conglomerates. They were run by people who knew music and mostly supported real musical talent.

Unlike today were all of the major record labels are owned by conglomerates, and run by people with Ivy League business degrees who value mass marketing over musical talent.

[Ninjahedge]

Teno, why do you take a sarcastic remark and ground it? :(

I hate to tell you something but most of the people I know on Macs are NOT heavy online users. That is the main reason they HAVE A SHOP WHERE YOU CAN, and I quote "see touch, learn and use" the product they are interested in buying.

The technologically unsure have been the sole sustainers of most of the stores like Beast Buy, Circuit Sh*tty and ChumpUSA.

The target audience for Macs has been the technophobes. They are still doing it on their commercials, outright insulting PC users.

So, just because they are the top three on Amazon means squat. Anyone who knows how to shop online does not go to Amazon for computer electronics. Sometimes they go to E-Bay, but mostly they look on Pricegrabber, Cnet, ResellerRatings and a bunch of other price farmers that deal with a miriad of different shops rather than one heavily advertised K-Mart d' Internet.


So my original comment, grounded in light hearted sarcasm still stands.

Apple Users know how to use the internet?

News to me! ;)

[Peakrate212]

I think the cube looks great. and its a great improvement over the prior sunken plaza that never worked since day one.

The store downstairs is kind of a letdown compared to the cube itself.

If you really want an improvement, tear down the GM building and restore the old Park Savoy Hotel that stood there before (I think that was the name). It looked great along with the existing Pierre and Sherry Netherland.

But alas - that won't happen - and now they are tearing down the Drake at 56th st and there is no public outcry - yet again.

sad.

[Teno]

So my original comment, grounded in light hearted sarcasm still stands.

Subjective sarcasm and reality are not necessarily on one accord.

I hate to tell you something but most of the people I know on Macs are NOT heavy online users.

How do you define heavy online use? You cannot just use the people you know and say they represent the general Mac user base.

The stereotypical Mac user is someone who works in media, graphic design, music, or publishing.

The target audience for Macs has been the technophobes.

Nope that's not true. Generally Mac users are educated professionals.

So, just because they are the top three on Amazon means squat. Anyone who knows how to shop online does not go to Amazon for computer electronics.

I don't quite understand what's the difference between shopping on-line at Amazon or shopping on-line anywhere else. They both mail you the same product.

They are still doing it on their commercials, outright insulting PC users.

Naw, I think the commercials were clearly insulting the PC itself and not the user. Unless when the PC is infected with a virus the user is also.

Apple Users know how to use the internet?
News to me

Apple's on-line store accounts for nearly a third of Apple's sales.

iTunes Music Store has generated around a billion and a half dollars.

[Ninjahedge]

Subjective sarcasm and reality are not necessarily on one accord.

You just figured that out?

Well sometimes it is even more potent when it has basis in fact.

Lemme guess, you are a Mac user. Noone else seems to give a rats patootie about what I said but you... ;)



How do you define heavy online use? You cannot just use the people you know and say they represent the general Mac user base.

The stereotypical Mac user is someone who works in media, graphic design, music, or publishing.

A stereotype that still perpetuates the workforce with representation in reality. Most places I have been to in engineering, web design, buisness and so forth use the Apple machines as graphics and presentation and use the PC for data processing and so forth.

Define heavy online use? How about online gaming? How about website coding? (Not photoshoping/flashing mind you).

The stereotype comes from origins which have not been shed despite, and also because of their own marketing campaign. They are trying to get out of that by their recent deal with Intel, and suspicion is arounsing about their possible affiliation with Microsoft.

Nope that's not true. Generally Mac users are educated professionals.

In what profession? My mother is a Physics teacher and uses a mac. Hmm, interesting? Most of the teachers there also use macs, but not one could swap a hard drive out without a bit of kajoling. (is that spelled right?).

And the targeted audience is still one that is not comfortable with opening it up and looking inside. They are AFRAID to do anything to the inside! That is the major selling force OF the mac. Universal compatibility (through hardware exclusivity) and hot swapping.

It still shows a young unshaven guy standing there probably on his way back from playing hacky sack in the park (I know, HS is not played anymore, but you know what I am saying) making fun of a geeky fat guy supposedly representing a PC. Great marketing!

They still market to people who are uncomfortable about being able to rip their own tunes and transfer them to the device like an external HD and decide to make everything "easy" with the hellspawn proggie named "ITunes".

All their manufacturing stats are more concerned about featuring the clear lucite case than what is actually inside (again, no numbers, just pretty pictures).

So the fact that many may be educated individuals does not mean they are comfortable with getting into the nitty gritty of technology.

I don't quite understand what's the difference between shopping on-line at Amazon or shopping on-line anywhere else. They both mail you the same product.

Because one costs more and is a heavily advertised amalgamation.

You go in, type one thing in ther, you get the items shown and you click on it to buy, that is it.

No comparison shopping really. No real bargains on a lot of stuff either. Some stuff is decent, but the more you get towards electronics, teh worse the deals get. It is focused more on the technophobes in itself. It is an entry level shopping site.

Naw, I think the commercials were clearly insulting the PC itself and not the user. Unless when the PC is infected with a virus the user is also.

I found them very insulting.

But you can read about it yourself:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,263476,00.asp

Apple's on-line store accounts for nearly a third of Apple's sales.

iTunes Music Store has generated around a billion and a half dollars.

ITunes is for people not familiar with other filesharing or being able to rip their own disks.

And 1/3 of sales for a COMPUTER company is NOTHING!

How much does Dell sell online? Oh, that's right, ther do not HAVE any real B+M presence.

OK, how many PC's in general, are bought online? There are no real numbers readily available because there are so many ways to get a PC online and in a store. Botom line is, I will bet money it is more than 1/3.

[Teno]

Most places I have been to in engineering, web design, buisness and so forth use the Apple machines as graphics and presentation and use the PC for data processing and so forth.

That's true most servers are x86 set ups. But just as many are running Linux as are running Windows.

Define heavy online use? How about online gaming? How about website coding?

That has nothing to do with being a Mac user, these examples you gave are niche activities. Most people in the wider computer market are not playing on-line games or website coding.

The stereotype comes from origins which have not been shed despite, and also because of their own marketing campaign. They are trying to get out of that by their recent deal with Intel, and suspicion is arounsing about their possible affiliation with Microsoft.

No I don't think Apple is attempting to get away from its user base. If anything they are improving OS X to work better with video, audio, and graphic rendering. With every computer comes free software for video editing, DVD authoring, music composing, photo management and editing, and web development.

Apple went with Intel is because IBM and Freescale (Motorola) were falling behind in advanced chip design. Intel simply has a better chip design road map.

What affiliation with Microsoft? You've been reading John Dvorak and his nonsense.

In what profession? My mother is a Physics teacher and uses a mac.

Physics teaching is a profession.

And the targeted audience is still one that is not comfortable with opening it up and looking inside. They are AFRAID to do anything to the inside! That is the major selling force OF the mac. Universal compatibility (through hardware exclusivity) and hot swapping.

This is true, but is also true for the larger computer market. Most people are not comfortable tinkering around their computer innards. The people who do are a minority.

All their manufacturing stats are more concerned about featuring the clear lucite case than what is actually inside (again, no numbers, just pretty pictures).

You can easily get that information from the manufacturer of the part. Dell doesn't explain how a Pentium 4 works on its website either.

Plus most people in the general public don't really care.

So the fact that many may be educated individuals does not mean they are comfortable with getting into the nitty gritty of technology.

You are right Mac's are created for people who want to be productive on a computer without having to deal with the minutia of the computer itself.

You go in, type one thing in ther, you get the items shown and you click on it to buy, that is it. No comparison shopping really. No real bargains on a lot of stuff either.

Something can be said for simplicity. A lot of websites are cluttered and confusing. If Amazon did not offer what people wanted it would not be in business.

I found them very insulting.

You link me to an article by John Dvorak, tisk, tisk.

ITunes is for people not familiar with other filesharing or being able to rip their own disks.
And 1/3 of sales for a COMPUTER company is NOTHING!

You like to swing the generalization stick pretty wide. Ripping a disk could not be any simpler. You slide in a disk and press the big button that says import CD. I seriously doubt that is why people have bought over a billion songs on iTunes.

If a computer company lost a third of its sales would that be nothing?

How much does Dell sell online? Oh, that's right, ther do not HAVE any real B+M presence.

Dell has pretty much always been a catalogue order company. Most of Dell's customers are business and large companies.

OK, how many PC's in general, are bought online? There are no real numbers readily available because there are so many ways to get a PC online and in a store. Botom line is, I will bet money it is more than 1/3.

Possibly but there are plenty of B&M computer stores that seem to be doing fine. And I know plenty of people who walked into a store, bought their PC and walked out with a box.

Your original premise was that Apple has to open stores because Mac users are not heavy internet users. I'm saying that's just plain not true.

[lofter1]

Apple Architecture = Retail Success

Inside Apple Stores, a Certain Aura Enchants the Faithful

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/12/27/business/27apple_600.jpg
Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times
Consumers at the new Apple store in Lower Manhattan.

NY TIMES (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/business/27apple.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=05e6228c15822441&ex=1199077200)
By KATIE HAFNER
December 27, 2007

It was 2 o’clock in the morning but in the subterranean retailing mecca in Midtown Manhattan, otherwise known as the Apple store, it might as well have been midafternoon.

Late one night shortly before Christmas, parents pushed strollers and tourists straight off the plane mingled with nocturnal New Yorkers, clicking through iPod playlists, cruising the Internet on MacBooks, and touch-padding their way around iPhones.

And through the night, cheerful sales staff stayed busy, ringing up customers at the main checkout counter and on hand-held devices in an uninterrupted stream of brick-and-mortar commerce.

The party inside that store and in 203 other Apple stores around the world is one reason the company’s stock is up nearly 135 percent for the year. By contrast, high-flying Google is up about 52 percent, while the tech-dominated Nasdaq index is up 12 percent.

The popularity of the iPhone and iPod and the intended halo effect those products have had on sales of Apple computers are behind Apple’s vigor. But the company’s success in retailing, as other competitors struggle to eke out sales growth, has been the bonus.

Apple now derives 20 percent of its revenue from its physical stores. And the number is growing. In the fourth quarter in 2007, which ended Sept. 30, Apple reported that the retail stores accounted for $1.25 billion of Apple’s $6.2 billion in revenues, a 42 percent increase over the fourth quarter in 2006.

Apple stores generate sales at the rate of about $4,000 per square foot a year, according to a report last year by Sanford C. Bernstein analysts.
As other electronics makers like Dell, Nokia and Sony still struggle to find the right retail formula, Apple seems to have perfected it.

Not only has the company made many of its stores feel like gathering places, but the bright lights and equally bright acoustics create a buzz that makes customers feel more like they are at an event than a retail store.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/12/27/business/27apple-600.jpg
Jin Lee/Associated Press
Even late at night, there are customers on the floor of the Apple store in Midtown Manhattan.
Apple now makes about 20 percent of its revenue from its brick-and-mortar stores.

The close attention paid to detail in the stores’ designs, such as the maple veneer tables used for product displays, gives the impression that Steven P. Jobs himself, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, signed off on every square aesthetic inch of every store.

“Apple’s retail offering is very compelling,” said Andrew Neff, senior managing director at Bear Stearns, “but the other key is the product. The retail concept ties in very much to the product.”

But the secret formula may be the personal attention paid to customers by sales staff. Relentlessly smiling employees roam the floor, carrying hand-held terminals for instant credit-card swiping. Technicians work behind the so-called genius bar, ministering to customers’ ailing iPods, MacBooks and iPhones. Others, designated “personal trainers,” give one-on-one instruction and lead workshops.

Personal shoppers are available by appointment, and last month the company took the concept of personalized service to a new level, with concierge teams stationed throughout each store.

“They’ve become the Nordstrom of technology,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at Jupiter Research, referring to the department store that is known for its service.

Ron Johnson, Apple’s senior vice president for retail, said he believed the high level of service played a large role in the success of the stores.

“The idea is that while people love to come to retail stores, and they do it all the time, what they really appreciate the most is that undivided personal attention,” Mr. Johnson said. The result is far fewer qualms among consumers about paying premium prices: $30 for an iPhone case, $200 for an iPod Nano or $1,200 for a computer.

This month, Apple opened its third Manhattan store, in a three-story, 10,500-square-foot renovated building in the meatpacking district on West 14th Street. With one entire floor dedicated to individualized services, along with small seminar series, Mr. Johnson’s goal is to make the 14th Street store “the most personal store ever created.”

Mr. Gartenberg said people often first go to an Apple store out of curiosity. “Apparently a lot of them like what they’re seeing in the stores, they like the experience and they go back to buy the products,” he said.

The stores’ architecture also makes consumers feel good about spending money there.

In nearly a dozen high-profile urban centers — including New York, San Francisco, London and Glasgow — the signature feature is a glass staircase. Some of the staircases go straight up and others ascend in a spiral skein that appears to be held in place by nothing more than Apple hype.

A customer entered the 14th Street store last week with his two whippets. Their reaction to the impressive stairs was more fear than awe. When the dogs refused to climb the steps, their owner scooped both of them into his arms and carried them up.

Apple stores encourage a lot of purchasing, to be sure. But they also encourage lingering, with dozens of fully functioning computers, iPods and iPhones for visitors to try — for hours on end.

The policy has given some stores, especially those in urban neighborhoods, the feel of a community center. Two years ago, Isobella Jade was down on her luck, living on a friend’s couch and struggling to make it as a fashion model when she had the idea of writing a book about her experience as a short woman trying to break into the modeling business.

Unable to afford a computer, Ms. Jade, 25, began cadging time on a laptop at the Apple store in the SoHo section of Manhattan. Ms. Jade spent hours at a stretch standing in a discreet corner of the store, typing. Within a few months, she had written nearly 300 pages.

Not only did store employees not mind, but at closing time they often made certain to shut Ms. Jade’s computer down last, to give her a little extra time. A few months later, the store invited her to give an in-store reading from her manuscript.

“Everyone is free to use the Internet and do anything they want — within reason,” said Paul Fradin, the general manager of the SoHo and 14th Street stores. Visitors spotted surfing pornographic Web sites are quietly asked to leave, and are escorted out.

Visitors can bring almost anything they like. Ms. Jade showed up nearly every day with her full set of notes, and enough food to see her through a few hours of writing.

Meanwhile, the Sony flagship store on West 56th Street, a few blocks from Apple’s Fifth Avenue store, has the hush of a mausoleum. And being inside the long and narrow blue-toned Nokia store on 57th Street feels a bit like being inside an aquarium.

The high-end Samsung Experience showroom, its nuevo tech music on full blast one recent morning, was nearly empty. And although that store professes to encourage hands-on exploration of its products, the showroom has a clinical, forbidding feel. (Nothing is actually sold there; it’s just for display.)

“Whenever we ask consumers to cite a great retail experience, the Apple store is the first store they mention,” said Jane Buckingham, president of the Intelligence Group, a market research firm in Los Angeles. “Basically, everything about it works. The people who work there are cool and knowledgeable. They have the answers you want, and can sell you what you need. Customers appreciate that. Even the fact that they’ll e-mail you a receipt makes you feel like you’re in a store just a little bit further ahead of everyone else.”

This could be part of the reason that Jack Graham, 16, visiting for the holidays from Worcester, England, spent at least an hour each day of his visit at one of the three New York Apple stores, his parents sitting by patiently, happy to watch the crowd.

“These stores are going to become iconic places that people go to see when they come to New York,” said Mr. Gartenberg, the analyst. “Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall and Apple’s great glass cube on Fifth Avenue.”

As for Ms. Jade, whose modeling career is advancing, she has yet to buy a computer from the Apple store. But she is still welcome to check her e-mail — and stay as long as she likes.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

[BTCG]

That's true most servers are x86 set ups. But just as many are running Linux as are running Windows.

Not true.

In 2000, Windows comprised about half of the server operating system market, followed by Unix and Netware at about 17 percent each and Linux reaching towards 10 percent, she said, noting that today Windows owns about 70 percent, Linux about 20 percent, with Unix below 10 percent and Netware barely registering.

Source:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2207368,00.asp


My .02 on Mac vs PC?

Let me begin by stating that I write server software for a living...mostly Internet Shopping Carts and CMS (Content Management Systems).

It's been my observation that the other poster is quite correct: Macs are used by, and sales are directed at technophobes, and the gullible.

Now, I was in town a few weeks ago. I am the webmaster for one the the city's museums, and donate my time and custom software (a suite of which I wrote just for the museum) pro-bono. The museum curator has been sold on the (sic) "power of the Mac", and of course, uses one. So while I was there, he asked me to add a new photo/accompaning text to the database. Problem was, off the top of my head, and not having my own laptop with me, I could not remember the size the image needed to be resized to, in order to fit the space issues of the web page.

So here I am on the museum's Mac, with the curator proudly beaming, about to show this Window's guy how powerful the Mac was.

So I attempt what is simple on a Window's machine:
Right click and choose "Properties. The image size is easily attainable.

But this Mac had the "one click" mouse.

In the end, we had to copy an existing photo that was the proper size to his hard drive and open it using Adobe Elements software to obtain the sizing info we needed.

So we do this, and then resize the new image using the Mac, and upload it to the server.

Done? Nope, the image would not show up.

Assuming that I had made an error, I told the curator I'd look at the image path(thinking this to be the problem) and repair it when I returned to my hotel later.

So I get to the hotel, and delve into the problem. But after 20 minutes, I cannot find an error. Finally, I decide to start from scratch. I take the original image to be resized and resize it using my PC and copy of Adobe Photoshop CS2. I upload it, and shzam...the image is now visible. The Mac had not only been useless in determining the size, but had also corrupted the image file of the new, resized image.

Not to one to leave an unanswered question alone, I happened to be near the new Apple store in the Meatpacking District the next day, and wandered in to ask a few questions.

Now, one of THE most powerful features of Windows is the previously noted "Right Click" context (some call:shell command) menu. From it, I can run any number of useful, associated programs on the file in question, or just get down to the basics; Properties.

Surely Macs had this ability?

So I ask for their most knowledgeable "Genius" (their term). I relate the story of the inability to determine the image size and Right click context, and he laughs and says "Well of course, we have that too"
He then holds down the Control key and clicks the mouse: up comes a context menu.

Well....sort of.

This menu could do little, looking mostly like its abilities were geared towards text documents. And the "Genius" starting turning red-faced. Unable to determine the properties of a web site image, he then dragged it to the hard drive, and again....no luck.

After several minutes, he gave up, and looked around. No one else had noticed what had just transpired, being hynotized by the media glitz.

Me: "I just wanted to ensure that I hadn't overlooked anything. This is why the software/image industry was taken over by PC's in the late 90's....away from the Mac. Mac's simply are not powerful enough for us. But don't worry, very few of the people who come in here will know enough to understand this."

With a chagrined look, the "Genius" thanked me. I'd wager that his view on Macs changed dramatically that day.

But all & all, my hat is off to Steve Jobs. Gotta admire a good snake oil salesman; he's managed to fool a good sement of the population into believing that Mac's are somehow (sic) "elegant and superior".