Today, on CNN.com I noticed a new online Get A Mac ad that I’ve lovingly named “Surveillance.”

Apple has done these sort of multi-banner ads on large news sites like CNN and NY Times before where the two ads cleverly interact with one another.

In this ad, Mac and PC are talking about Windows 7 and above them a number of surveillance cameras are showing people going in and out of Apple stores presumably switching from PC to Mac. PC can’t stand the thought so he runs to one of the stores and is observed on one of the surveillance cameras stopping people form going in to the Apple store.

Fortune magazine just published an article in which it names Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and co-founder, CEO of the decade. How does one merit such a grandiose title? Well, by doing the seemingly impossible, that’s how. Fortune recounts the Coles Notes version of Jobs’ life and times, and it sounds too fantastic to be true. Yet it is true, and it is at least partly responsible for the rabid devotion Apple commands.

The magazine describes the ousting of Steve in the 1980’s, his return in the 90’s, and the decade-long story that follows, which includes harrowing health problems, a securities-law scandal, and a product line badly in need of innovation and originality.

Despite having taken over the company when it was worth only $5 billion, and seemingly on the verge of failure and bankruptcy, Steve Jobs ushered in devices like the iPod which helped change the company’s fortunes dramatically (they now control 73 percent of the U.S. MP3 player market), eventually leading to the $170 billion net company worth that exists today. In August of this year, Apple reported that it had $31.1 billion in cash on hand, an amount that would allow it to buy its pre-Jobs self six times over.

Of course, Steve Jobs was also behind the introduction of the iPhone, a device which has arguably changed the landscape of cellular communication and mobile computing more than any other (subscription required). Originally introduced in 2007, in the two years since, the iPhone has become the force to reckon with in the smartphone industry. It led to fundamental changes in the way cellular service providers do business, and wrested much of the control of media and bundled software away from them.

Still, it hasn’t all been roses. Not one, but two major health issues arose for Jobs during the past decade. First, in 2004, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He underwent surgery to treat the disease, and the outcome was apparently a good one, since no follow-up chemo or radiology treatment was required. Then, last year, Jobs took a six-month leave of absence during which he underwent a liver transplant. He returned to work in June 2009.

There was also the securities scandal, in which Jobs was apparently granted stock options at a backdated price, resulting in $20 million of undeclared taxable income. An internal Apple investigation later cleared Steve Jobs of any knowledge of the backdating, but the issue remains subject to active criminal and civil legal investigation.

But the highlights far outweigh the few dark spots on this Apple. Mac market share continues to grow, and the brand remains incredibly popular among students and young people, a promising sign for the future. Jobs is also the largest shareholder at Disney, thanks to his influence and guidance in Pixar’s celebrated history. And, just as no one has yet to replicate the iPod’s success in the MP3 player market, no true iPhone-killer has yet to surface, despite countless efforts by other phone manufacturers.

Perhaps what makes Steve Jobs such a successful CEO is that people know his name. Not just avid Fortune readers and business-types, but most people. So much so that The Simpsons can parody him without fear of the joke being lost on the masses. Make no mistake, Jobs himself is a willing and active part of Apple’s promotional arsenal, as evidenced by his legendary theatricality when introducing new products and software at various special events.

It’s hard to predict what the future holds for such a personality, but recent evidence suggests that Jobs will next try to do for TV what he’s already done for music and cell phones. That is, to quickly and without much warning become the dominant force in an industry.

We’ve all seen the Steve Jobs, the iPhone, the iPod, and the Mac costumes, but what do you do if you want to stand out from the crowd? The motto of our beloved company has long been “Think Different,” and it’s about time we bring that to the Halloween arena, too.

The day itself is tomorrow, so I’m providing some suggestions that haven’t been done to death, and that will go over especially well if you go to your local Mac club’s Halloween bash this weekend.

Costume #1: John Sculley

The Jobs costume, and even the Woz costume, are common enough, and Flickr is replete with examples of both. What isn’t so common is people opting to dress up like former Apple CEO John Sculley, who was Apple’s CEO when Steve Jobs was ousted from the company.

To dress up as Sculley, think conventional business person. A dark suit and sensible, solid-colored tie is best. Use some flour or temporary coloring in your hair to achieve a salt-and-pepper type look. Carry a bottle of Pepsi, or, as Steve Jobs likes to call it, “sugared water.” Carry a Newton in the other hand if you can find one. Also bring with you many copies of your autobiography “Odyssey” and distribute to everyone you meet.

Costume #2: The Apple Lisa

It’s easy to dress like the original Mac, since the shape is basically the same as a large cardboard box which you can then detail as needed. What’s more challenging, and therefore more impressive if you do pull it off, is the Apple Lisa.

The Lisa, released in 1983, was a beast compared to the Mac, a wide squat gal with two 5.25-inch floppy drives stacked next to the built-in monitor. You could manage this on your own, but for more accuracy, partner up and make this a two person costume. For added fun, create an Apple ProFile external hard disk replica and wear it atop your Lisa costume. When people accuse you of being unsuccessful, retort with “At least NASA loved me!”

Costume #3: Hexley the Platypus

Who doesn’t love the adorable mascot of Apple’s open source operating system, Darwin? His name is Hexley, and he’s a platypus, and he’s unsanctioned by Apple. Whether or not he’s officially approved of by Apple, which bases OS X on the Darwin POSIX-compliant operating system, as a costume idea, he’s rife with potential.

At the very least, you’ll need a full-body platypus costume, which can’t be that hard to find. Just look in the “marsupial” section at your local dress-up shop. If all the platypus costumes are already rented, a black duck-bill and a flat, broad tail will suffice.

If you really want to go all out, you’ll also need a soft red cap with devil horns attached to it, and a big red pitchfork. Other optional props include a perfect floating sphere of water, a giant-size old-fashioned key, and a giant worm. If you feel like being even more obscure, try other Apple-related mascots like Clarus the Dogcow.

Costume #4: The Moscone Center

It’s the building where virtually every major Apple event goes down, including the Macworld Expo, and the Worldwide Developers Conference. It’s also probably the most challenging costume on this list, but if you go for the very recognizable corner view seen in the photo shown here, it might not be that difficult.

Wear two large pieces of cardboard joined to form a corner. Round the top, and coat with yellow tissue paper to mimic the inside lighting. Cover with a top layer of cellophane or transparency material to emulate the windows, and make sure to paint in window separators and apply giant Apple decals. Make a “street” attached to the bottom of the costume, and glue toy cars to it for added realism.

There you have it, four ways to stand out from the crowd this Halloween, and show your love of Apple. Also a great way to alienate non-techies and possibly get beat up, if you’re still in high school.

Apple is putting a lot of emphasis on its “green” initiatives lately. But is it the real deal?

For example, Apple’s new energy efficiency page says that because 53 percent of Apple’s greenhouse gas emissions are a result of the power its products consume, it’s designing these products to be as energy efficient as possible employing three strategies to reduce energy consumption: more efficient power supplies, components that require less power, and power management software. Every new Mac is claimed to meet the strict low-power requirements of the Energy Star specification.

However, the operative questions are how much does “green computing” matter to consumers, and whether corporate marketing of “green” IT devices amounts to more image-spinning than substance.

Only the Bare Minimum?

Some critics, such as MacNewsWorld’s Rob Enderle accuse Apple of doing the “barest minimum necessary” to justify its “green” claims — indeed less than its major competitors, but viewed pragmatically that’s a sensible approach because based on his research into the matter, in Enderle’s view Apple’s customers mostly don’t care. Is that an accurate assessment, or exaggeratedly jaundiced? After all, environmentalist poster boy Al Gore sits on Apple’s board of directors.

Enderle claims that Apple tried to ignore green computing entirely until the eco-activist organization Greenpeace began relentlessly slagging the company as an environmental foot-dragger and laggard.

Addressing Apple’s Environmental Footprint

Apple’s website highlights several key areas in which it’s addressing its environmental footprint, citing engineering innovations such as the unibody MacBooks, whose light, fully recyclable housing is sculpted from a single billet of aluminum, and the lightness of the current iMacs which contain less than 20 pounds of materials.

Apple also claims to be at the industry forefront in eliminating toxic chemicals, such as arsenic, brominated flame retardants (BFRs), mercury, phthalates, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from its products.

Cupertino has reduced packaging bulk, and, somewhat questionably in my view, bundles fewer peripherals with its systems, which arguably has some minimal environmental benefit, but also saves Apple a fair bit of money while diminishing value to the consumer of what is a premium-priced product.

Diminishing Value for Minimal Environmental Benefit

For example, the new WallStreet PowerBook I bought in 1999 came with video, Ethernet, and modem cables and a decent hard copy manual. To connect the unibody MacBook I bought this year to an external monitor I need one of several varieties of Mini DisplayPort adapters, have to supply my own Ethernet cable, was obliged to buy a USB modem, and documentation amounted to a quick start pamphlet. Environmental sensibilities notwithstanding, I don’t perceive this as progress.

Apple’s claims of cleaning up its environmental footprint act do have substance in terms of operational energy consumption. One reason using laptops has long appealed to me is that because they must be able to operate on battery power, they’re engineered for energy efficiency. However, even Apple’s mass market desktops have very decent energy consumption profiles these days, with iMacs reportedly using about as much energy as a 60-watt lightbulb, and Mac minis substantially less than that.

How Much Does the Average Mac-buyer Care?

But how much does the average Mac-buyer care? I’ve been almost exclusively a laptop user for the past 13 years, but even back when I used desktops, I almost always shut them down if I would be away from the keyboard for a half-hour or more. My observation was that most people were inclined to just leave their computers up and running all day, and even in many instances all night as well.

My inference, not only in the context of personal computers and other IT devices, is that while people like to think of themselves as being “green” and environmentally conscientious, their resolve tends to flag quickly when reducing their personal environmental footprint begins to involve more than minimal inconvenience and/or significantly increased cost, so that for many a commitment to “greenness” is heavier on politically correct rhetoric and feel-good exercises that let one imagine they’re “doing something” virtuous to save the planet with empty symbolic gestures rather than substantive behavior changes, like, say, taking fewer showers or washing clothes less often, or shutting off (or sleeping) their computer when not using it.

A Pew Research study found the average North American’s definition of what constitutes “necessity” these days includes a car (91 percent), washer (90 percent), dryer (83 percent), home air conditioning (83 percent), microwave (68 percent), TV (64 percent), car air conditioning (59 percent), and home computers (51 percent). Substantial minorities also included cell phone (49 percent), dishwasher (35 percent), cable or satellite TV (33 percent), and high-speed Internet (29 percent), and a few even considered a flat screen TV (5 percent) and an iPod (3 percent) “necessities.”

Am I being overly cynical? How much do Apple’s and the other computer-makers’ green efforts impact your buying intentions and user behavior?

Microsoft may have only just launched Windows 7, but Apple isn’t sitting back and letting Redmond enjoy its time in the spotlight. Instead, last night it revealed three new ads in the popular “Get a Mac” series featuring John Hodgman and Justin Long, all of which go after Windows 7 by name.

The three ads, “Broken Promises,” “Teeter Tottering,” and “PC News” all have a slightly different take on what’s wrong with Windows, but they all manage to find fault. And they all do so without actually citing anything concrete about Windows 7, which really hasn’t been around long enough to generate the kind of widespread complaints that plagued Vista.

PC News

It’s the Windows 7 release news coverage, except the excited masses aren’t on board with Microsoft. They’re taking advantage of the call to upgrade to Macs instead. The theory being, if MS is saying “All right everybody, ditch Vista!” they might as well switch to an OS they know for a fact actually is user-friendly. Not the best of the bunch, and the logic behind it is kind of a stretch.

Teeter Tottering

Sort of like a single case study of one PC user from the first ad, this one follows an XP user getting ready to switch. To Mac, not Windows 7, despite PC’s repeated overtures to try to get her to stay. What’s great about this commercial is that Justin Long as Mac never says a word, and instead the only debating that goes on occurs between the PC user and Hodgman, so the customer ends up convincing themselves. Hence, the real benefits of Mac are self-evident.

Broken Promises

Only the basic Mac/PC duo are featured in this third new ad, unless you count the inclusion of their former selves from years gone by. This is my personal favorite of the bunch. It uses fictional remembered exchanges between Mac and PC over the years as each iteration of Windows was released, all the way back to Windows 2. A nice visual touch on the part of Apple’s advertising team is the way Apple’s outfit changes only minimally from clip to clip, while PC seems to be a slave to the fashion trends of the time. It paints PC as dated and Mac as timeless.

PC users probably haven’t even had a chance to become disillusioned with Windows 7 yet, but Apple is doing the smart thing by not letting them get the chance. These ads say it all: If Microsoft’s laid the groundwork for an upgrade mentality, best to swoop in and grab a few switchers while the getting’s good.

Mac users may be getting soft on Windows machines as time moves on, according to a recent report by consumer research firm NPD Group. It found that of those polled, a whopping 85 percent admitted to owning both Mac and Windows PC computers.

That’s a far cry from the polarized days of yore, when even joking that you had a Windows PC, even if you actually did, would get you banned from the local Mac user group. But is the reason less die-hard Mac heads, or more PC users flirting with and even giving comfort to the enemy?

The stat was one of the headliners of NPD Group’s dubiously named “2009 Household Penetration Study,” which was released yesterday. PC World lists the details of the report, which includes statistics regarding the presence of PCs and Macs in U.S. households.

Mac ownership is up to 12 percent from only 8 percent in 2008, a 4 percent increase over the course of only one year. A lot of those new Mac owners probably aren’t in the habit of throwing away perfectly good computers, even if they are Windows machines, which could account for some of that 85 percent.

The study also found that Mac owners are unusually covetous of gadgetry. Two-thirds of Mac-owning households have three or more computers, and they also generally own at least twice as many electronic devices as the average PC owner. Specifically, Apple fans generally own 48 gadgets vs. the average of 24. Finally, I can tell my friends and family that what they think is a tech addiction is actually par for the course among people with Mac love.

Apple owners are also much more likely to go mobile, with 72 percent going with a notebook, vs. only 60 percent in Windows households. Sort of explains why the Starbucks window always looks like a Macbook showroom.

By comparison, the number of Windows PC households that have more than three computers stands at only 36 percent, which is almost three times less than their Mac counterparts. If I was in Windows marketing, I’d probably ask why Mac users feel that they need more than three computers to do the same work as just one or two of their PC equivalents. I suspect the real reason has more to do with Mac users loving their computers as objects, independent of what they can do with them.

So I feel pretty pigeonholed following this report. I own five computers, one of which is a PC, and at least 48 gadgets are scattered around my apartment. I also own three notebooks. Anyone else feel like the nail being hit on the head after reading this?

Apparently, as far as the folks at Apple are concerned, all roads lead to Cupertino.

Toying with your latest Apple purchase, it’s not unusual to marvel at the visual joys of the Cupertino company’s product design — gorgeous electronic objects one and all, whether it be the pristine sheen of a brand new Unibody Mac Book Pro or the iconic form factor of an iPod classic.

Dazzled by these aesthetically excellent devices, it’s sometimes easy to forget the software. You might still get that warm glow as you swipe your finger across your brand new iPhone’s oleophobic screen, but did you ever stop to consider any of those lovely looking icons speeding past your extended index digit?

An icon that’s certainly worth a moment of your time is the one that Apple created for Maps. Grab your iPhone now and took a good look at it — notice anything familiar? Try looking a little closer.

Just in case you’re not familiar with that address – 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA — it’s precisely where the magic happens, the place where dreams are made: the location of Apple’s headquarters in California.

It’s not coincidental that the iPhone Maps icons references Apple’s headquarters. The Address Book application for OS X features the very same address for Apple’s HQ, and the Cupertino folks certainly aren’t strangers to incorporating curious details and other such Easter Eggs in their product designs.

If you’ve discovered any other interesting Apple Easter Eggs, let us know!

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the original release of the Macintosh Portable — the first truly untethered Mac, thanks to its internal battery.

There’s a quote attributed to Steve Jobs: “Do not trust a computer that you cannot lift.” The original compact desktop Macs were offered with an optional carrying case, and some pioneer Mac-users did lug them around, but analogous to the tiny Mac mini today, they couldn’t be considered truly portable due to the necessity of a wall-current umbilical.

The Mac Portable development project was launched in 1986, not long before Steve Jobs’ departure from Apple, and the product was first released for sale on September 20, 1989. It was featured on the cover of the November 1989 edition of MacUser magazine, which called it “by far the most complex piece of machinery devised by sale by Apple computer.”

While it incorporated a laptop-style foldable form factor with a front-mounted carry handle/lockdown lever, the Mac Portable weighed only about a pound less than contemporaneous Mac Compact desktops — a hefty 16 pounds, due partly to it having a robust lead-acid battery. It wasn’t cheap either, selling for a likewise heavyweight $6,500 — or $7,300 with an optional hard drive.

Internally, the Mac Portable had a 16MHz Motorola 68HC000 processor chip, an internal 1.4MB 3.5-inch floppy drive, a 40MB 3.5″ hard drive, and a whopping 1MB of RAM, expandable to 9MB but unfortunately in an oddball 30ns SRAM card (one slot) module format. The monitor screen was a crisp 9.8″ 1-bit active matrix, 640×400, LCD — initially without backlighting — and there was also a video output port for driving an external monitor. The upside of that heavy lead-acid battery was a very respectable five-to-10 hour charge life.

Also included were an ADB port for a keyboard and mouse, DIN-8 serial ports for printer and modem connections, and a DB-25 SCSI connector. An internal modem was optional. An interesting trivia note is that the Portable was the first Mac to ship with a pre-formatted hard drive and a pre-installed operating system.

Apple added a backlight to the Macintosh Portable in February 1991 and also increased the standard RAM to 2MB or 4MB, changed the RAM ceiling to 8MB, and replaced the expensive SRAM chips with less-expensive pseudo-SRAM, although the pseudo-SRAM and backlighting reduced battery life.

The Mac Portable was replaced by the PowerBook models 100, 140, and 170 in October 1991 — the 100 slimmed down to five pounds — launching the modern laptop computer era with a form factor essentially the same as the one still dominant today. However, the Portable gets credit for pioneering the battery-powered Mac concept. Happy Anniversary!

Apple’s advertising is clever, visually attractive, hip, and funny. It does a great job of showing off what its products can do, and how your life could change as a result. What Apple ads don’t talk about is money. As someone who’s already more than willing to part with my little disposable income in order to nab Apple gear, I’m fine with that. But what about everyone else?

There are no doubt reasons Apple doesn’t talk about price. I’ll mention a few of them later on in this post. The thing is, especially at the low end of its product line, Apple stands to gain a lot by trumpeting its price tags to the masses.

Why People Are Switching

In the past three months, I’ve seen three friends buy their first Mac computer. None of them purchased the 13-inch MacBook Pro that Apple has been so lauded for online and by the tech journalism community. Instead, all three bought either a Mac mini or a white plastic MacBook, and all three did so because these machines represent the lowest cost of entry into Apple’s Mac lineup.

That’s great news for Apple. Its low-end computers are doing their job, and bringing people in who otherwise might not have looked at a Mac. The problem is that none of those three people would’ve considered a Mac if I hadn’t recommended them. The reason? They all perceived Macs as too expensive.

I know this evidence is anecdotal at best, and doesn’t mean this is the case for the general computer-buying population, but everyday I meet people who just weren’t aware that there existed such a thing as a Mac that costs less than $1,500 or $1,600. Some used to use them for work in the eighties, when it would cost you $1,800 to get one for home use, but speak with fond longing about the user experience they remember.

When I tell these people that they can get back into Mac for as little as $600, they are completely flabbergasted. As in, never even conceived such a thing was possible, totally unaware. To me, that means that Apple isn’t doing its job right on the marketing side of things. Of course, word of mouth is probably part of the company’s marketing plan, but why depend on individual evangelists like me to spread pricing info when televised media is so much more efficient?

The Great Unmentionable

Apple has some very good reasons not to talk about price. For one, they can’t beat PC manufacturers in that area. There will always be a cheaper PC with better specs on paper out there. But talking to PC users, that isn’t as big of an issue as I thought it was. People who remember Macs from times past don’t care that you could get a better spec’d PC for the same price or better as the Mac mini. They care that Macs are so affordable as compared to their precursors from 20 years ago.

Another reason Apple might not want to talk about price is that it would be inconsistent with its branding to date. Apple’s computer products are targeted at a demographic that doesn’t list price as its top priority. The average Apple consumer is financially comfortable, and willing to pay for a quality product that sets them apart. “Think Different” really means “Buy Different.”

Getting Past Taboos

The fact is, Apple’s changed its pricing policy to target new growth and new demographics, and it should change its marketing strategy to be more in line with those new sales goals. A Mac mini commercial, done with all the usual Apple visual appeal, with a simple “Starting at $599″ at the end would do wonders for raising consumer awareness regarding pricing without diluting the strong brand Cupertino’s worked so hard to establish.

You can talk about features and reliability till you’re blue in the face, but if you want price-conscious consumers to listen, you’ve also got to talk about cost. If Apple really wants to convert new pricing structure into an exponential increase in sales, it would do well to make sure people know about it.

OS X Liger?

Now that Snow Leopard is on the prowl, thoughts turn to what Mac OS 10.7 might be called.

When it was announced that Mac OS 10.6 would be christened “Snow Leopard,” there was some speculation that Apple was running out of big cat names for its OS X versions. OS X 10.1 was Puma, 10.2 Jaguar, 10.3 Panther, 10.4 Tiger, 10.5 Leopard, and 10.6 is Snow Leopard.

More likely is that Apple wanted to emphasize that 10.6 would not be a major new features upgrade (hence the relatively modest price of $29.95), but rather pretty much a code-slimming and streamlining revision of OS 10.5 Leopard, with Power PC support excised. That would make a name somewhat similar to OS 10.5 logical (although the Snow Leopard is actually a completely different species from Leopard).

There’s no danger of Apple running out of cat names anytime soon. According to one wild cat species resource site, there are 36 distinct species of non-domestic cats, although some are concededly so obscure that they wouldn’t be suitable for an operating system moniker (Jaguarundi, anyone?).

One cat name I like is Cougar, although an objection might be that it’s a synonym for Puma, which has already been used for OS 10.1, but then so is Panther in its North American context. The largest wild cat species on this continent is variously known as Cougar, Puma, Mountain Lion, Panther, Painter, and Catamount plus reportedly several dozen other less-widely used names that have been recorded across North and South America.

If Apple wanted a particularly exotic variant, they might consider Eastern Cougar, referencing cats some contend still range in small numbers east of the Mississippi River in the U.S., and Canada — an assertion that remains to be scientifically verified.

Perhaps the most likely not-yet-used for an OS X version would be Cheetah, with the positive association of being the fastest animal on the planet. Running flat out, the fastest horses might hit about 43 miles per hour, while a cheetah can touch 70 MPH in short bursts. Earlier this month a cheetah named Sarah, whose home is the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, broke the world cheetah speed record in the 100-meter dash , covering the distance in 6.16 seconds — .06 seconds off the previous record set in 2001 by a cheetah living in South Africa.

Other Mac OS name candidates would be Ocelot, a primarily South and Central American cat that also ranges into Mexico and as far north as Texas, and the medium-sized North American Lynx and Bobcat. There’s Wildcat too, a name used by Grumman for a World War II vintage naval fighter aircraft, and of course “the king of beasts” — Lion, which for some reason hasn’t been used on an OS X version yet.

Still plenty of cat names to chose from. What’s your preference for OS 10.7?

Photo courtesy of allwest44.

With the new iPod nano featuring a built in video camera, Apple’s latest commercial really highlights how easy it is to use. Entitled “Nano Shoots Video,” the spot makes it look super easy and trendy to shoot video, but does the commercial really tell the truth?

Looking at the structure of the iPod nano, the camera is actually found in the lower left corner of the backside. For some, this would be be a bit awkward when holding it, to ensure not covering up the camera.

Generally speaking, Apple’s commercial takes this into account, with careful positioning of holding the iPod. But in reality, is the location of the camera the best possible place? For those of you who have already purchased one, what are your thoughts?

A Few Goofs?

We know Apple’s award winning ad campaigns are creative, inspirational and very memorable. (How many of you have bought songs on iTunes because they were featured in an iPod commercial? Consequently, this song in the latest ad is called Bourgeois Shangri-La, by Miss Li.)

Sometimes though, a close look at the commercials can reveal a bit about how they are made, and show a few goofs. For example, look close at the screen grabs from this commercial below. You’ll see things like video that isn’t quite centered on the screen correctly (indicating it was added after the fact, something Apple actually admits in fine print at the end of the spot). At first, I just thought this was a result of motion blur, but going frame by frame, it’s fairly inconsistent throughout the entire piece.

The very last scene of the commercial showcases all of the nanos in a row. Here is another example of where the video shifts inside the blue nano as it is added to the group. Look at the vertical alignment of the video. As the nano comes into the frame, it’s more aligned towards the bottom of the iPod and when it sits into place, it becomes centered (most obvious when you compare frames 1 and 2 to frames 3 and 4).

Another interesting catch is around 19 seconds in when the guy who is moonwalking is being filmed by an iPod nano that is being held up by just a thumb. Have you noticed anything like this in Apple’s ads before? If you’ve bought the new nano, is this commercial a realistic representation of the video quality, color accuracy and the like? I’d love to hear what you think.

I was watching the NFL season opener yesterday between Pittsburgh and Tennessee when I got a nice surprise. A new “Get a Mac” ad aired during a commercial break, along with the existing Patrick Warburton “Top of the Line” spot.

The new commercial, called “PC Innovation Lab,” once again brings John Hodgman and Justin Long back to reprise their iconic roles as PC and Mac. This time around, Apple seems to have shifted focus away from the standard “Fewer bugs, no viruses” line and towards highlighting Apple’s value-add features and services.

The Innovation Lab is designed to come up with technologies that counter some of Mac’s genuine innovations. PC comes up with an “air-cushioned enclosure” to rival Mac’s MagSafe adapter technology, for example. And in response to Apple’s new day-long built-in battery tech on the MacBook Pro line, PC offers an “extremely long cord.” Finally, the last PC innovation turns out to be built-in cupholders.

It’s an amusing ad, and it puts focus on things Mac has to offer besides greater virus resiliency and ease of use, which is a refreshing change for the series. Looked at closely, what claims is it really making about PCs and what kind of features they emphasize, though? Is it true that PC manufacturers ignore basically useful innovations in favor of flashy but ultimately flimsy upgrades of questionable utility?

I couldn’t help but remember my Eee PC 1000HE when watching this commercial. The netbook from Acer was the first non-Apple computer I’ve purchased in many years. And it came with an eight hour battery designed for all-day computing…before the MacBook Pro introduced such things for the Mac.

I realize the point of advertising isn’t to present a balanced perspective, but I have a hard time coming up with a solid example of actual PC models that justify the caricatures in this latest ad. Still, funny, as always, and definitely better than the competition’s latest efforts.

It seems like Apple’s retail initiatives are always shrouded in a dark veil of secrecy. Though we often hear how well they’re doing financially, what do those numbers look like on the inside? What figures does a typical Apple store track? Straight from the horse’s mouth, here’s a breakdown of a typical financial report that shows what metrics are important in Cupertino.

Stores are given a basic set of goals, including a forecasted number of Macs to sell over the quarter, as well as a number for iPods and iPhones. Attach rate numbers also exist for One to One, ProCare and MobileMe.

In the stores, managers have access to real-time reports that show revenue and attach rates for their stores as well as the rest in the company, allowing for a quick comparative snapshot of how sales are doing.

Important Metrics

Beyond just sales of Macs, iPods and iPhones, managers are also focused on several other important sales indicators. Units Per Transaction (commonly referred to as UPT) is just what it sounds like, an average number of the units sold during each transaction. Typically this number is between one and two, as many customers will just buy one item, like an iPod or USB cable. When you experience a Specialist trying to sell you everything under the sun to go with your new iPhone or Mac, it’s really an effort to increase the store’s UPT.

The other metric that’s closely connected to UPT is the ADS, or Average Dollar Sale. This number represents the average transaction value for the day. Between selling a reasonable number of Macs (high dollar transactions) and a ton of accessories (low dollar transactions), this number typically ranges from $200-$500.

Another figure important to Apple is the conversion rate, or the rate at which people entering the store actually become paying customers. This number is often low, something that’s typically not given much thought. Some retail stores ask their employees to “slither” past sensors that count store traffic, but Apple has no official policy in place, so the volume of employees in and out can often affect this number. The system Apple uses to track visitors, however, called ShopperTrack, is extremely sophisticated, and can distinguish between something like a mom and the stroller she brings in with her, counting both as one person and not two.

Stores are also focused on EasyPay metrics as well as Personal Shopping metrics. As stores transition to less usage of cashwraps, some strive for as high as 60-70 percent of all transactions being completed via EasyPay.

All of these numbers are reviewed on a daily basis by store management in order to determine the proper direction and focus going forward. Many figures are compared to WTD (Week-to-Date) and QTD (Quarter-to-Date) numbers, as well as how the store fared in these areas on the same day in the previous year. Stores can also see how every other store in the company is doing.

Drilling Down Further, Individual Metrics

Individual numbers for Mac, iPod, iPhone and attach rate sales exist for employees as well, allowing them to see how they rank comparatively. Though the Apple Stores do not function on a commission basis, employees are given individual goals towards making the larger store goals for the quarter. These individual reports help provide feedback and focus as the quarter progresses.

Few stores put much emphasis on the accuracy of these numbers, as full-time employees work more towards helping up-and-coming part-time Specialists meet their sales goals. Regardless, it’s the responsibility of the cashier to assign “credit” for a sale to a particular employee. This can obviously become problematic when the stores are insanely busy, and Apple prefers cashiers not ask customers who helped them, as it implies they work on commission. With Apple’s emphasis on EasyPay, whoever is logged into an EasyPay will automatically get “credit” for the sale.

All of these numbers are factored into an employee’s performance reviews, held every quarter, with a more focused annual review at which employees are rated based on individual performance as well as the store’s forecasts and goals.

This should give you a better idea of how store management uses financial figures to gauge success and set targets. As you can see, there’s a lot more to it than just selling a certain number of computers. The result is that, for some, it can become frustrating to focus on sales while managers also push the importance of these other numbers. Apple’s multifaceted approach must be getting something right, as their stores continue to be wildly successful from a financial standpoint.

My friend and Low End Mac’s publisher, Dan Knight, posted a nearly 3000-word essay recently positing a “what’s the perfect Mac” conundrum: MacBook Pro or iMac. I share Dan’s enthusiasm for examining and debating such hypothetical questions, and I thoroughly enjoyed the piece, but for me, the matter is much more open-and-shut.

I’ve been advocating for more than a decade that laptops are the logical Mac for most users, and in my estimation the unibody MacBook Pros — particularly the new 13-inch model — come as close to personal computer perfection as has yet been achieved.

As his top laptop candidate, Dan Knight leans more toward the 15-inch unibody model, with a particular nod toward the $1,699 configuration, which would be my second choice for ultimate Mac notebook value. First choice is the 2.26 GHz 13-inch MacBook Pro at $1,199, which gives you almost everything you get in the lowest-priced 15-incher, with the obvious exception of display acreage, and for $500 less.

However, for Dan, screen size and finish are much higher priority issues than they are for me. He developed his computing style and habits working as a professional book designer on two-page 152 x 854 and 1280 x 960 resolution screens, and finds smaller displays — say 1034 x 768 (SVGA) or lower resolutions — too restrictive for his tastes and work.

I, on the other hand, spent my first three Mac-loving years on a PowerBook with a 9.5″, 640 x 480, passive matrix grayscale display. After that experience, anything larger has seemed generously roomy, or at least adequate. The highest-resolution screen I’ve had in any Mac to date is the 1440 x 900 display in my 17″ PowerBook, which I like a lot, but adapting to the 1280 x 800 resolution of my 13″ unibody MacBook when I upgraded posed no real problem. Leopard’s Spaces feature has eliminated much of the inconvenience of working with modest display real estate.

Today, I would draw the line at 1064 x 768, which is what my two still-in-service Pismo PowerBooks offer. That’s also the highest resolution any of my desktop computer monitors have ever had, which sounds quaint when the entry-level $1,198 iMac today comes with a 20-inch 1680 x 1050 screen.

Dan’s current production rig is a dual-1GHz Mirror Drive Door Power Mac G4 driving a 1280 x 1024 a Dell flat panel display — hardware that befits the theme of his website, and ideal for a guy who isn’t yet willing to give up Mac OS Classic Mode. However, Dan says he’s excited this week because now that Apple has just added an “antiglare” display option for the 15-inch unibody MacBook Pro, he thinks it could become the perfect production machine for him, even going so far as to suggest that the 15-inch MacBook Pro is probably the perfect computer, period.

I won’t quibble overmuch with that, although I do still champion the 13-incher, since I’m more than satisfied with the glossy display. As Apple notes, with a glossy screen finish you get graphics, photos, and videos with richer colors and deeper blacks, which is better for most users who don’t have to work in print media. But if having an antiglare option helps persuade folks like Dan Knight to dismount the fence on the laptop side, I’m all for it, and let’s have it available on the 13-inch model as well.

So will Dan finally end up on a MacBook Pro, which would be his first production laptop since the original Titanium PowerBooks back in the early-to-mid ’00s? I think there’s a good chance he will, but he isn’t slamming the door on desktops by any means, noting that the perfect desktop computer would take the current iMac design, move some ports for easier access, and offer an antiglare screen option. Perhaps for him it will boil down to whatever Apple does next with the iMac.

How about you? Would you vote for either the MacBook Pro, the iMac, or something else entirely as “the perfect computer?”

Small business owners have it hard, especially in the current world economic climate. They have lots to do, not enough resources, staff, and time to get it done. For many small business owners, computers are only one more thing to worry about. It doesn’t have to be that way.

For the past few months, I’ve been in the process of moving from one side of the country to the other. Now that my family and I are settling into our new location, I thought I would share some stories of small business owner encounters I’ve had during my travels. From the end of April to the middle of July, I crossed the country twice by car, and three times flying. Each time, I was reminded of why a Mac is a great small business machine.

iPhones Everywhere, Not a Mac in Sight

During my travels, I met people from all over. Being a tech guy, I would immediately ask questions about what they did for a living, what types of tools they used, the problems their business faced, etc. Of course, for me, the most fascinating part was the software and hardware they used.

Generally, I would hear that they used Microsoft Outlook to manage their email and contacts, Microsoft Word or Publisher to manage their documents, and Microsoft Excel for spreadsheets. Basically, the standard issue PC purchase and Microsoft tools. Some were a little more advanced and used QuickBooks Pro or Adobe graphics tools.

The funny thing is that of the half-dozen or so folks I met, all of them (and yes, I mean all of them) had an iPhone to manage their information on-the-go. They would explain how they loved the user experience, the apps available (not to manage their business, just fun apps) and the cool factor.

Elevator Pitch

Of course, I would then ask why they didn’t use a Mac instead of their current PC. Most of the replies blamed a lack of initiative, the cost of switching, or a fear of change. The cost issue tended to be the less significant of the three. The biggest was the fear of change. Would their documents work? Would they have to change how they completed their daily tasks? What would they do without Outlook (other than have hours of their lives back instead of waiting for that molasses app to run)?

Generally, I would explain the standard Apple business proposition to them: premier/high quality hardware and software, simplicity and fun factor. I would then explain how their documents would migrate with minimal fidelity loss (not every file converts perfectly). I would then begin to sell them on how their data would be better managed.

I really enjoyed showing these business owners how powerful the iPhone can really be when you use it for business. I would demonstrate MobileMe sync and how changes made to their contacts/calendar on the iPhone would be waiting for them when they got home (this usually drew gigantic smiles).

Next, I would open the App Store and show them different Office Apps (QuickOffice and/or DocsToGo), CRM Apps (Daylite, Salesforce, Highrise) and more. I would also show how they can manage tasks with a variety of tools, too.

Support is Key

Before trying to really pitch the Mac, I would spend time understanding their workflow. It’s pretty amazing that regardless of how computer literate people claim to be, they’re often missing huge chunks of know-how. Literacy comes at many levels. So does hardware/software support. That’s why I really believe small business owners need a Mac more than a PC.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, small business owners are inherently busy. Because of their limited resources, they don’t have the money to afford onsite IT support. Hiring a consultant to come fix their software problems is expensive, and the service isn’t always consistent.

Once the discussion began centering on support, it was easy to pitch the Apple Store experience (Genius Bar, One to One, etc.). I mentioned how they could call an 800 number and get support from a technician here in the U.S., and how they also have potential access to a local user group for additional help. You could see them coming around. Everyone has heard the horrible PC software support stories. The prospect of something better never fails to impress.

If you’re a small business owner, I highly recommend looking at the Mac. It isn’t just about avoiding viruses and spyware. It isn’t about being the cool kid on the block with the new shiny device. It’s about having a solid, well-supported product so that you can conduct business without wasting your precious time on IT issues.

Please note, I am neither an Apple employee nor affiliated with Apple in any way. I just like seeing people successful in what they do, and to my mind, a Mac helps make that happen.

Details regarding the fast-approaching Apple iPod event in September are beginning to firm up, as is the norm when we draw closer to the anticipated date of these kinds of Cupertino media circuses. By firm up, of course, I mean that various online sources appear to agree, but that’s often as close as we get to confirmation before Apple opts to spill the beans.

The date of the event is set for Sept. 9, according to AllThingsD, and the rest of the blogosphere seems to have accepted this as solid fact, despite the deviation from the usual pattern Apple has of holding press events on a Tuesday. Sept. 9 is a Wednesday, but 9to5Mac points out that it also happens to be the day Beatles Rock Band ships. They don’t see that as a coincidence, and instead suggest that the Beatles catalog could finally come to iTunes at the event.

More definite rumors include the much-publicized iTunes 9 update, which is expected to be bringing a lot of new features to the Mac media workhorse. One of those improvements is the “Cocktail” music format, which could be poised to be the album of the digital age, and includes lyrics, photos, and video in addition to music.

On top of iTunes 9, expect to see new iPod models introduced. The iPod touch is well overdue for a refresh, and with cases, pictures and videos popping up all over the place purporting to show a new, camera-toting model, it’s unlikely this event will pass without an unveiling of at least that device and a new iPod nano with similar features.

Less than likely is the possibility that Apple will unveil its tablet device at the event. Its existence at this point is not often debated among the blogging community, but release timelines continue to be fuzzy, and seem more likely to extend into 2010.

The London Times has a rather interesting profile of Steve Jobs on its site. According to MacNN, Apple tried to kill the article. That’s not surprising. Apple always strives to stay “on message” and nothing is more “off message” than any discussion of Jobs’ health. Well, with the possible exception of the oft-rumored iTablet. I could go on for a few thousand words about how this is another shining example of Apple’s much-maligned secrecy, but I’d rather focus on the original profile.

Like most of the faithful, each Tuesday I bow my head in solemn prayer towards the Moscone Center, where I eagerly await the next tidings of joy from Apple. I hope that missive is delivered by Our Leader, Steve Jobs, but, in a pinch Phil Schiller will do. However, there are gaps in my knowledge of all things Jobs, and I thought the Times piece did an excellent job at summing up his overall character, which is precisely why Apple tried to kill it.

As I suggested above, the article does spend some time talking about Jobs’s heath issue. What true profile wouldn’t? I found this passage to be the most sobering take on what the poor fellow has gone though:

“Philip Elmer-DeWitt, author of the Apple 2.0 blog at CNNmoney.com, e-mails me the grim details of his operation: ‘He’s lost his gall-bladder, part of his stomach, part of his pancreas, the upper end of his small intestine and now has someone else’s liver, which probably means he’ll be on immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of his life. That can’t be fun.’”

We can criticize Jobs’ personality all we want, but the guy has gone through medical hell. The author goes on to mention the battle of Jobs’ privacy vs. the interests of the shareholders:

“… [b]ut employees are one thing; shareholders are another. Should Jobs (who, as far as the world is concerned, is Apple) have been allowed to conceal the seriousness of his illness? Warren Buffett, the greatest investor alive, doesn’t think so. ‘Whether [Steve Jobs] is facing serious surgery or not is a material fact.’”

On that I am in agreement. Granted, my knowledge of the ins and outs of Wall Street is gleaned entirely from the Michael Douglas movie, but, I think Apple should have released that Jobs was in fact near death and required a liver transplant to save his life, in the interest of transparency.

A comparison is made between the Jobs we see in public and the Jobs Apple employees alone are privy to. The Apple Jobs is a harsh taskmaster; the one that gets on stage on the Moscone Center is more like Santa Claus bearing gifts on Christmas. I can see an Apple employee paraphrasing the old Bill Cosby line: “That is not the Steve Jobs I grew up with. That’s an old person, trying to get into heaven.”

What’s most important about Jobs to Apple, the tech community, and me personally is summed up in this statement (emphasis mine):

“Good Steve is the only businessman to be accorded rock-god status by millions. Apple nuts queue overnight to hear him speak. They buy Macs, iPods and iPhones not just because they want them, but also because they want to support this company as if it were some kind of charity or cult. The nuts aren’t wrong for one crucial reason. Though personally worth $3.4 billion, Jobs is one of them, the great consumer of his own products.“

To me, that’s Jobs. While he’s spoken of as a narcissistic control freak who’s about as pleasant to be around as Bigfoot with a toothache, Steve Jobs obsesses over his user experience with Apple’s products. That, in turn, means I’m likely to have a good experience with those same products.

Appleyard goes on to post his prediction for a post-Jobs Apple:

“My own view is that a Jobsless Apple will seek a merger with Google. The two companies are rapidly converging, a fact that recently led to the resignation of the Apple director Eric Schmidt, the chairman and chief executive of Google. He had been on the Apple board for three years, and was forced out because of suspicions that links between the two companies could endanger competition.”

I don’t buy that at all. I have a hard time seeing either Apple or Google merging with anyone, much less with each other. I don’t think Apple and Google core business interests coincide sufficiently — although Chrome and Android are enough to warrant a conflict of interest for Schmidt. To me, Google’s core business is searches and ads; where they collide with Apple is in areas that drive those two. Chrome OS isn’t going to be a threat to anyone making an OS, but a tablet running Chrome OS will help drive its search business by giving you a convenient product on which to use Google Apps. It’s a definite conflict, but it isn’t solid bedrock for an absolute merger.

As we discussed yesterday, there have been quite a few instances where Apple’s retail plans have been re-evaluated or changed to meet the needs of the business or traffic in the store. Without further ado, here’s the final installment of my Top 10 Apple Retail Flops. If you missed the first half, you can read it along with the great commentary here.

One to One

This service, originally called ProCare when it was launched many years ago, has evolved and evolved and evolved more times that we can count. Originally offering simple one hour personal training sessions on whatever a customer wanted, the service transitioned into more outline oriented topics, including generic Getting Started and Moviemaking Basics type sessions.

Customers were eventually limited to one appointment per week and were given a nice book to track all of their notes from the sessions. The cost of these notebooks were expensive and were eventually replaced by a series of cards containing the One to One curriculum.

In yet another attempt to go green, or save money, Apple moved the curriculum online and now limits customers to renewing their One to One membership two times (for a total of three years of service). This is similar to AppleCare, but leaves many users upset because it must be purchased at the same time your Mac is purchased. Upsetting? Read some of the feedback from our readers.

Rhonda

Many were unaware of the existence of Rhonda, which was ultimately the reason for its failure. As a solution for missing customers who are unable to get the attention of a Mac Specialist, Rhonda was a system that allowed, upon activation, the desktop background of the Mac to turn a bright red, alerting the attention of any nearby employees. (Think about the Beach Boys song “Help Me Rhonda.”)

Many customers were scared off by this sudden color change and even more didn’t know the system even existed. If you were using a Mac and you clicked a button and the screen suddenly turned red, would you run away from it? Adding insult to injury, a timer also started when Rhonda was launched so a Mac Specialist knew exactly how long it had been since the system was launched. When the screensaver would activate, employees would have no idea if Rhonda was on or not, leaving them to eventually find timers that had been running for hours at a time. Rhonda quietly disappeared about half a year after it was launched.

The Welcome Desk & Cash Wrap Removal

Around 2006, newer stores experimented with the idea of a “welcome desk” or a central place when you first walk in where visitors could register or check in for Genius Bar appointments. An evolution of the cash wrap, the welcome desk was designed to house several stowaway portables to be used as a cash wrap during busy times. As the stores shifted towards more EasyPay usage, these portables were used less frequently (unless the EasyPay devices failed).

Eventually, many stores were remodeled to remove their cash wraps and welcome desks, leaving the only POS besides an EasyPay to be at the Genius Bar, which is often already crowded as it is. Customers are often quite confused and they tend to congregate towards the crowded Genius Bars anyway where a Mac Specialist will ring them up.

Mac Express

During the 2004 holiday season, Apple introduced the idea of an iPod Express area, where visitors could quickly purchase an iPod and the most popular accessories without having to wait in long lines. For the 2005 holiday season, this concept evolved into also having a Mac Express area. The only problem is that for most, the process of buying a Mac is more than just a quick five minute process and the Mac Express area really was a dead part of the store. Some say that Apple championed this concept into Personal Shopping (as you could always find a lone Mac Specialist over in the Mac Express area to show you all about a Mac), but it was still quite a failure and a waste of space.

Acrylics

The acrylic displays found in the Apple Stores are quite iconic and specialized, from older displays that showcased the AirPort Express to newer acrylic displays that house iPods. One of the biggest blunders in Apple’s retail history were these iPod acrylics which made an easy target for shoplifters to quickly run off with thousands of dollars in iPods. The stores kept the acrylics stocked to show customers that plenty of iPods were in stock, but even this became problematic for Specialists to stay on top of because they never knew if a customer had removed an iPod to purchase it, or if someone had simply stolen it. Eventually Apple began using locking acrylics, which would allow only employees access. Still many stores had issues with thieves simply taking the entire acrylic unit and running away. Much to the happiness of employees and after an untold, but likely staggering, amount of product loss, Apple decided to remove the acrylics.

A big thanks for all the commentary and follow up that many of you provided for part one of this series. Once again, this list is purely my opinion and commentary on Apple’s retail initiatives and if you agree, or disagree, I would love to hear what you think.

As Microsoft proudly ventures into the retail world that has already seen quick entrances and exits by other vendors like Gateway and Dell, many Apple fans are looking towards the new Microsoft stores with mixed feelings.

Some of the more dedicated fanboys are quick to call Microsoft a copycat (and perhaps rightly so), but one thing that is certain is that retail is a tricky environment where you can quickly sink or swim. With Microsoft’s first retail stores right around the corner, I wanted to look at some instances in Apple’s retail history where it, for better or for worse, missed the mark.

EasyPay

With the stores seeing more traffic every year, Apple devised an innovative way to maintain more personal experiences with Specialists while also keeping traffic moving as quick as possible. The EasyPay solution, based on Windows CE, is a mobile device that functions as a Point of Sale (POS) for Specialists to use in completing a customer’s transaction.

While more advanced functionality has been added to these devices over time, including support for education discounts, split tender, and the like, the devices are still plagued by their lack of speed and reliability. Turning a negative into a positive, these devices were the first to allow customers to receive their receipts via email, which for those who have tried it, is super convenient. The question remains though, why has Apple not embraced the iPhone or iPod touch as a device to replace the bulky EasyPays?

Colored Shirts

One of the unique things many realize when visiting an Apple Store is how the employees stand out. For the first six years, Apple employees wore similar colored shirts that sometimes were differentiated by phrases or titles pertaining to an employee’s speciality. Though in more recent times, as Apple has shifted towards segmenting their store into different “zones,” Apple has moved towards having employees wear colored shirts that are unique to their position.

Specialists are found in light blue shirts while Creatives and Geniuses are prominently wearing dark blue. The rhyme and reason behind this could be one of two paths, making it easier for managers to quickly see where employees are located and/or to allow customers to easily determine which employee might be best to assist them based on their situation.

The truth of the matter, however, is that the colors are utterly confusing for many visitors. When stores are crowded, customers rarely seek out the “right color” employee, but rather are just happy to find any employee who might be capable of helping them. Teaching customers to recognize the difference between the colors and the corresponding roles in the store does take time and can be very hard to do, especially when many visitors to the store are still first time customers.

The iPod & Studio Bars

A few years ago, the “big picture” of Apple’s retail plans were to envision the store as divided into two areas, the “Red Zone” and the “Family Room.” The Family Room, located at the rear of many of the stores, is an area where returning customers come back for services like the Genius Bar or personal training. Along with the launch of the “Family Room” came the idea of giving stores a dedicated “Studio” bar and a dedicated “iPod” bar.

Similar to the comments expressed above about “training” customers to realize the right type of employee they need to find in the store, it was very difficult to show customers which bar they needed to visit for their needs. On top of this, the stores still face many customers who just “show up” at the bars (the Genius Bar especially) and are still unaware of the need to or process of making an appointment. Personally, I loved the idea of the dedicated bars as they provided a great resource and focus, but as time passed and space constraints became another problem for Apple to deal with, both of these bars got the boot.

The Red Phone

When the retail stores first opened, the Genius Bar featured a simple white back counter with one lone red telephone in the middle. This red phone, inspired by the original red phone during the Cold War, was to allow stumped Geniuses a quick connection to the Apple mothership where a definitive answer to any problem could be found. In reality, many stores never used the red phone (after all, the idea was the Geniuses are supposed to be geniuses, right?) and it was simply relegated to a more iconic status as it sat on the counter. Eventually the phones were removed.

The Theater

Another staple item found in the original retail stores was the theater, a large area in the back with a large rear projection screen and bench seating for customers. The theater was used often for product presentations and special events, including live streams of the MacWorld Keynote addresses for several years. Eventually the theater’s usage dropped and the area became a place to sit and wait for a Genius Bar appointment while enjoying looping product demo movies.

During remodels in 2006, many stores removed their theaters (though a few still have theirs, besides the flagship stores). The removal resulted in a dramatic increase in the brightness of the stores and allowed for more Genius Bar expansion. This was probably a good move, as Apple could still offer close interaction with large groups of customers via its Studio Bars, but the removal of those has made large product demonstrations more difficult.

Some may see these examples as instances where Apple has put business interests ahead of the customer experience that it prides itself on. Others may see these examples as instances where Apple has learned from mistakes and came out with a better experience in the end. With Microsoft opening its first stores soon, it will be interesting to see the trials and tribulations it experiences and how its retail strategy, like Apple’s, will evolve to sustain growth and profitability.

Stay tuned to the next part of this list tomorrow.

Jonathan Ive wasn’t always the Grand Overlord designer and demi-God at Apple. Before Ive re-imagined the Macintosh, other talented souls attempted to shape the next generation of Apple products with the clean industrial design for which the company is famous.

In the 1980s, Frog Design was charged with producing design prototypes for Apple — specifically the Apple IIc and some early models of the Macintosh. 9to5Mac reports that the founder of Frog Design, Harmut Esslinger, has published a book which features many of those early designs.

“A Fine Line: How Design Strategies are Shaping the Future of Business” is all about the role “smart” product design plays in the success of a business. As well as gorgeous pictures, the book includes background stories from Esslinger detailing the design and prototype process.

“We worked closely with Steve Jobs and Apple’s developers to innovate computer usability and appearance, resulting in iconic products with no historic precedent.”

My personal favorite is that funky laptop. Can you see elements in these prototypes that have influenced the Apple products we use today? Share your thoughts in the comments, and tell me if you agree those earbuds are just short of being classified as a torture device!