Apple Store Australia

Entering into Apple stores is like joining a cult. You can’t just walk in and purchase something quickly because Apple clearly takes the view that you are lucky to breathe the rarified air in their stores. You have to justify yourself upon entrance. Honestly, it’s so pretentious as to be laughable. It’s retail store, nothing more! Apple relies on this image of prestige to draw you in and so that once you purchase even one product, it’s harder to purchase other brands because they synchronise so well. In my case, I had to get a hard drive remov

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ed to retrieve data (Genius bar doesn’t do this, but I did it myself in 5 minutes), so I really had to buy another iMac to ensure the data retrieval was successful.

Last time I was in Bondi Junction, I was waiting for someone to assess my iPhone for around 2 hours. Ultimately, it was a waste of time and I should have known better. The irritation is that while you wait, even with an appointment, it seems like an endless stream of staff walking past you, conveniently ignoring you, having a chat to other customers who might not even be purchasing and having to listen to maddening music/noise in the background that makes me want to run out of there.

But, worse still, when I wanted to purchase a new iPhone, the young staff member suddenly felt the need to look at her watch impliedly rushing me into making a decision before I parted with $1,000+. The iPhone itself is not worth the $1,200 I paid for it. The camera is just ok, but leaves the shadow of the phone when I take a photo. Perhaps that is user fault.

I’ve used Apple computers (and now iPhones) all my adult life and I am starting to view the company with the more critical eye that comes with maturity. My latest iMac can’t even load the page of a well known online newspaper, no matter what I do, which is maddening to say the least when one spends ~$3,000 on a desktop computer. I’m seriously considering phasing out Apple products from my life because, as its critics have often opined, I’ve formed the opinion that they are all style and very little substance. Perhaps that’s why Apple now took the leash off and let its products be sold at other retail outlets because if not, sales might be drastically reduced in Australia, at least.

You can get better service at other retail outlets, but superior quality with other brands, most assuredly, even if at the same price point. Apple products used to be quality, even if performance and speed wasn’t as robust as competitors. But you paid for ease of use, style, graphics, quality of hardware and security. Now Apple has its own processing chips, but whether or not it improves processing speed is open for debate. Also, all hards drives are SSD, which means less storage. Prior to the last c. 10 years, whatever Apple did, it did better than anyone else. But now I feel like the products are really over-priced junk.