New York Times Feature on Apple Retail Stores

Katie Hafner reporting on Apple’s retail success:

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.

It’s a good story overall, but anti-kudos to the Times editor who wrote the headline, “Inside Apple Stores, a Certain Aura Enchants the Faithful” — the description of Apple customers as “the faithful”, i.e. that Apple customers are semi-cultists, was never fair or accurate, but the whole point of this story is that it’s never been less true than now, in that the stores are bringing in tons of brand-new customers every day.

★ Thursday, 27 December 2007