Store set to be apple of master's eye
In 2007 Steve Jobs launched the iPhone with a fanfare of fiery rhetoric. — The iPhone, Apple's chief executive claimed, was three “revolutionary” devices in one. Combining a touch-controlled iPod media player, a phone and an “internet communicator” …
Context & Ripple Effects
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in January 2007 he sold it as three devices in one — iPod, phone, internet communicator — and the reception was split between awe and skepticism: reviewers called it a glimpse of the future while Slate's iPhony argued the hype outran the product, and Ars Technica noted the sell-out that wasn't. Nearly three years on, the question this story poses is no longer whether the device works but where Apple sells it.
December 2009 finds Apple managing demand on several fronts at once: it apologized to customers over iMac shipping delays mid-month while touting the machine as 'a huge hit', and days earlier rebuilt the iTunes store's pages on the same WebKit engine behind Safari. A new store positioned as a prized showcase extends that same storefront-polishing instinct into physical retail.
First-order effects
- Apple gains a dedicated stage for the iPhone and iMac lines during the holiday season, easing pressure on online fulfillment after the December 14 apology over iMac backorders.
- Shoppers encounter the three-devices-in-one pitch demonstrated hands-on rather than through carriers' shelves, tightening Apple's control of how the product is presented.
Second-order effects
- Rival handset makers and carriers face a competitor whose retail channel bundles hardware, software and media — reinforced by iTunes 9's redesigned App Store pages — under one roof it owns outright.
- Consumer-electronics retailers lose leverage as Apple's own stores capture high-margin foot traffic and the sales narrative around flagship products.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, computing becomes a showroom business: success measured by brand theater and owned retail experiences rather than shelf space, consistent with the 'fashionized computing' framing Apple has pushed since 2007.
- An Apple-shaped template — company-owned stores as product showcases backed by a locked media ecosystem — becomes the benchmark other device makers are pressed to imitate.
The trend: Consumer-technology retail is shifting from third-party shelves to company-owned flagship stores, with Apple's post-iPhone playbook as the template.