T he New York Times published an in-depth article Friday about the Genius Bars in Appleis retail Apple Stores that praised the fact that you can get live, face-to-face help, something the newspaper called a welcome anomaly.
"In an age when human help of any kind is hard to come by," wrote reporter Katie Hafner, "the eight or nine Geniuses on duty at any given time here are a welcome anomaly. In fact, go to any of the 102 Apple-owned retail stores in the world and -- if you are willing to wait -- you will be treated to what is an increasingly rare service: free face-to-face technical support."
The full article includes quotes from Apple retail vice president Ron Johnson, who came up with the idea of the Genius Bars, and who wanted to give customers the same kind of experience they might expect at the Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton hotels.
"We believed you had to bring the people dimension back into retail," Mr. Johnson told the Times. "We thought, What about giving tech support thatis as welcoming as the bar at the Ritz?"
Ms. Hafneris report is two pages, and goes into great detail on how the Mac Genius bar works, the kinds of people hired by Apple to be Mac Geniuses, and the kinds of experiences Geniuses have in the course of their jobs.
The report serves to offer Apple and the Apple Stores yet more positive exposure to a mainstream audience. More importantly, the coverage is about an aspect of the Apple Stores that most people know nothing about.
We recommend the article as an interesting read if you want to know more about the Genius Bar, and for potential Switchers who might be curious about the kinds of service they have access to.