Gizmodo
If you've ever fancied sipping on a Steve Jobs Daiquiri or a Jonathan Ives Fuzzy Navel, then Tokyo's new iPod Bar might just be for you. Or so I thought, as I sauntered up to the counter and demanded "something fruity, something like a Wozniak Colada or a Philip Schiller Fru-Fru," only to be met with a mix of bewilderment and pity.
For the iPod Bar in Apple's flagship Japan store in Ginza, Tokyo, is NOT a drinking establishment where one can consume alcoholic beverages whilst simultaneously enjoying the pretentiously cool vibe emanating from the fact that you're in a place that has the word "iPod" in the title. It is in fact an iPod help and support desk, much in the same vein as the more conventional Genius Bar.
It's a sign that, as if we needed any more proof, iPods are a rather important part of Apple's market now, and they want to keep everyone as happy as possible. Although I'm not sure whether creating a whole Bar for it was necessary, especially when you consider how iPod problems are usually quite limited in variety compared to that of a more complex machine like a Power Mac. I imagine the iPod Bar staff are basically logo-t-shirted, restart-button-combination-pushing monkeys, since most common iPod problems (frozen / won't turn on, etc.) can be fixed in this way apart from serious hardware-related problems.
Still, it's nice to know there is now some specialist help at hand, enabling me to avoid queuing behind people with potentially more lengthy Power Mac, etc.-related problems / inquiries.
iPod Bar is open and disappointingly lacks any kind of alcohol [Digital Arena - Japan]
Comments
lame.
ipod bar, thats a great idea. even better idea would be to make them with just a little quality so that those things wouldn't break every other day. Quality could avoid Tech Support. Don't think that will ever sink in with Stevie J, guess i'm the dumba$$.
Pusher54, did you read the post at all? Mysteriously, my iPod hasn't broken every other day since I've owned it. In fact, I don't think it ever has. Funny.
lame, indeed
There's good reasoning behind this thing. Often, the regular genius bar's line gets packed with people who need iPod help. Most of these repairs take less than five minutes, but they still take up valuable time and space at the bar. Putting a dedicated iPod bar at the stores will make a much more efficient and satisfying experience for customers who are already aggravated that they need a repair. On a side note, it's too bad to see gizmodo's comments already going downhill.
There's excellent reasoning behind this thing, since a lot of people make appointments with the Genius Bar, often online, and giving all the iPod problems to lower-paid reps will improve the image and accessibility of Mac support and make iPod users feel cared about at the same time. In my opinion, the iPods have such a limited range of issues that the iPod bar should be front-line only. Either it's a customer-service issue, which they'll handle, or they'll be referred to the Genius Bar for more complicated issues. In all honesty, fully 100% of all the iPod users I've seen at the Genius Bar so far are there for someone to push the reset combo, or to have a tech listen to their hard drive while it reformats and do an RMA if it's defective.
What Seed said (the second point). I look forward to the SUX!!--ROOLZ!! wars of the new year with great anticipation.
As I don't own an iPod (I know, I'm clearly lacking in ubercoolness), I guess I don't see the point for this. Do these things frequently require complex resets that couldn't be accomplished by a simple Troubleshoot section in the manual? It seems like the iPodder out there like it though, so who am I to second guess. In either event, this place should have alcohol.
i have to agree with seed the genieus bar is designed more for mac computers not ipods . i have seen people at apple stores line up for half an hour just to have there ipods re seti think that the geniuse bar employs are getting feed up with basic tech help and most probobly feel that they are not useing the full extent of there apple training all in all lets hope this moves to the united states and canada i think that apple should pay the employes a bit more because who would want to deal with angery custorms who do not know how to use there 300.00 toys
Makanai: The SoHo store already has an iPod bar.
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