In Depth: Why is an Apple store opening such a big deal?
Frankly, we weren't sure what to expect when we pitched up in Brighton at the tail end of August for the opening of Apple's 21st retail store in the UK.
Of course we'd been to the opening of the first – the flagship Regent Street store in London – and had been caught up in the enthusiasm and excitement of staff and punters alike, but surely the fact that a shop is opening somewhere that already sells Apple kit is hardly something to get het up about?
Boy, were we wrong. We set off from Bath at 5:30am in order to arrive in time for a preopening press briefing with Nye Wright, the store's Manager, but when we rocked up to the new store in Brighton's Churchill Square shopping centre just after 8am, there was already a queue forming.
(And while this isn't in the same league as the camping-out-for-days-beforehand stunts that we've seen at the opening of, say, the Regent Street and Fifth Avenue stores, we were nevertheless impressed that as the store opened – and even half an hour after it did – the queue was easily a couple of hundred strong.)
Hugs and high-fives
For the traditionally reserved Brits, California-flavoured Apple events are often a little awkward.
You could never accuse an Apple Store employee of being surly or pessimistic, but it has to be said that, in the build-up to the opening – with the team inside the glass-fronted store hugging, swaying around in a ring, and high-fiving – that there were a few raised eyebrows and muttered, puzzled accusations of oddly cult-like behaviour.
The whole morning was one of an odd mix of passion and confusion; most of the folks in the queue, by dint of their very presence, would probably say they were hardcore Apple fans, and they were rightly excited about the opening.
And yet for the rest of the world there in Brighton that day, the whole event was anathema. When people learned that the whoopin' and a-hollerin' that accompanied the doors opening marked nothing more than a store opening – and, worse, that the little boxes being given out to the first few through the doors contained not 'free iPhones' as the rumour was but mere T-shirts – we were treated to the full gamut of emotions from bafflement to scorn by way of pity.
Just before the doors opened – after being given their final pep talk by the Store Manager – all the T-shirted employees broke out of the store and did a lap of honour around the top level of Churchill Square, high-fiving all the folks in the queue.
THE BOSS: Nye Wright, the store's Manager, is American, but tells us he loves Brighton
And when the doors did open after an excited countdown, the staff, lined up inside the store on either side of the door, applauded wildly and high-fived the folks in the queue as they streamed into the shop. And for many this was no mere pilgrimage; within minutes of the store opening, people were walking out carrying iMacs, MacBooks and more.
Some told us they'd wanted to buy a Mac but had been waiting until Apple opened a store nearby.
And yet as you might expect for such a creative part of the world, the Mac using populace was already well served, with existing dedicated Apple shops on the high street in both Brighton and Hove.
Martin Mayr, Managing Director of Cancom, told us: "Obviously it's not the best Christmas present we've ever had. However, we've known for quite a while that there would be an Apple Store here."
Indeed, another company that has long served the Brighton community, Solutions Inc, had been even more proactive: "Solutions Inc has always supported the notion of a retail Apple shop," Richard Furber, its Retail Operations Manager, told us. "We produced a film back in 2000 for Apple UK management highlighting the potential four years before the Regent Street store opened. We filmed it in Churchill Square, Brighton, right where they now have their own store."
THE GOODS: In typical Apple Store style, all the kit is laid out on blonde wood tables
Surely, though, Apple opening its own store in Brighton is bound to have a detrimental effect on the businesses of Cancom and Solutions Inc? Not so, according to Solution Inc's Furber:
"The first week really affected the sales in our Brighton and the Hove stores, but we have already seen a great bounce back in week two. The Hove store has free parking on-site – if you are buying an iMac, Mac Pro or even a laptop, do you really want to carry it through the shopping centre back to your car? Our Brighton Store has seen a huge increase in its sales of third-party goods, and with Apple Store increasing the market share of Apple goods in the town then our sales of all digital lifestyle accessories will just get better and better."
Different league
Cancom is more guarded, however. "[While] we respect greatly their absolute professionalism in the way they developed their retail offering," Mayr says, "Apple's huge financial muscle means they are in different league to us when it comes to these kind of investments."
We were reassured to see both companies recognise the strength of the Apple retail experience. "Apple Stores are the new benchmark for retailing worldwide," says Furber, "a real blessing compared to the Dixon's shopping experience of the past."
THE PUNTERS: Apple fans young and old flocked to the new store, which will offer free summer camps
Cancom's Mayr seems to speak for many of the high-street Apple specialist we speak to when he says: "For us, we wish they'd stayed at Regent Street and nowhere else."
Nevertheless, third-party stores have their own strengths. "Apple retail stores are good at what they do, but they fall a long way short of being a one-stop shop for everything. They don't sell servers or network systems, or support business users with visits to the client. The same is true for schools interested in Macs," says Furber, and Mayr is keen to stress the long-term relationships companies like his can develop with the community.
It's a sentiment that's echoed by Farpoint in Bath, MacFormat's own local Apple Premium Reseller. "Our offer to businesses includes free consultations, full IT support, replacement machines during repairs, on-site training and support packages tailored to suit each business's individual needs and budget," says Liz Hyde, its Marketing and PR Manager.
"We also have a rental service for businesses that allow more flexibility for our clients and the chance to try before you buy for new users. And you don't have to be a business to reap all of these benefits. We are also an Apple Authorised Service Provider and carry out repairs on-site here at Walcot Street. Our customers don't have to book their machines in first like you do at an Apple Store."
THE RESULT: High street stores let you get hands-on with new kit
There's little doubt, though, that no matter how solid the service and broad the range of products offered by the traditional high-street Apple specialists, they just haven't got the magic touch that Apple seems to have when it opens a store itself.
Through a strange alchemy of stellar products, peerless stage management and just a soupأ§on of wide-eyed cultism, there's nothing quite like the opening of an Apple Store. See you at the next one?
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Opinion: The internet has brought about inbox insanity
The internet has gotten out of hand and the problem is one of inboxes. Even just a decade ago, you were less likely to receive electronic mail as frequently as actual letters through your front door.
Today, though, email floods in, and most of us have more than one address. (Just counting those that I check regularly, I have four email addresses.)
But here's the thing: email addresses tell only part of the story.
You have other 'inboxes' too – if we accept that an inbox is something you check to see if there are new messages.
If you use Twitter, you can think of Mentions and Direct Messages as two discrete inboxes (that's my total up to six); Facebook adds its own inbox (seven), and your Wall is another (eight). Flickr has its own messaging system (nine), plus notifications of comments, favourites and the like (10).
eBay and LinkedIn have mail systems (12), forums usually feature thread notifications and private messages (taking my total to 16, when I add my regular forums), and banks lock correspondence with you away behind logins (20).
Even just looking at services I use regularly, I've managed to get my total inbox count to 20 – and that's an astonishing figure when you consider both how long you'll spend logging into these services over your lifetime, and how much brainspace you'll use up mentally corralling and digesting the information they contain.
I realised I was suffering from a background 'inbox stress' after doing this exercise. There are some ways to mitigate these concerns; many sites allow alerts to be pushed to email, where they can be managed with rules and Smart Mailboxes, and apps such as EventBox and services such as PeopleBrowsr help to aggregate social networking sites in increasingly useful ways.
But it's still a heterogeneous mess. In the meantime, though, here's a public safety announcement: your mental tranquillity decreases with every inbox, so beware. And stop signing up to new social networking sites…
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Nokia finally kills off N-Gage gaming platform
In a classic case of putting on a brave show, Nokia has announced the death of its N-Gage gaming service by trying to persuade its few hardcore fans that the Ovi Store will be a more than adequate substitute for their affections.
The announcement came on Friday on the official N-Gage Blog, headlined "Mobile gaming evolves – Ovi Store is here", a post which was really all about the demise of the six-year-old N-Gage brand.
Activation issues
Buried in the fourth paragraph of the entry, Nokia admitted: "We will no longer publish new games for the N-Gage platform." Instead, games fans with Nokia handsets are encouraged to seek them out on the App-Store-like Ovi Store.
Although Nokia has promised to keep the N-Gage.com site open until the end of September 2010, there are concerns that purchased N-Gage games might be unusable after that, as reinstalling such a title can require online activation.
Bury the dead
In a particularly apposite response, one analyst at US firm MKM Partners said: "It's a sign of a more realistic approach [from Nokia]. It's time to bury the dead and focus on the future."
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NEC planning Android-powered slate computer
If it's not about iPhones and Apple these days, the vast majority of mobile news seems to feature Android and the multitude of companies involved with the Open Handset Alliance, making it a pleasure to report something a little different.
Word from Japan has it that NEC will soon be releasing its first Android-powered computer, a tablet-like device that appears to be real for once.
Android Slate?
According to the Nikkei newspaper – which has a spotless track record of printing only when it knows the facts – the unnamed device will has a touchscreen of seven or eight inches and will be a full-fledged computer.
Naturally, the Android 'slate' is tipped to rely heavily on 'cloud' storage, rather than anything more local.
Sales forecast
Otherwise, there's no information beyond that teaser and the notion that NEC hopes to sell up to 200,000 units a year. We should know what the reality is within the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.
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Blu-ray makers facing price-fixing probe
The downward price pressure on Blu-ray technology looks set to increase after the US Justice Department announced an investigation into some of the key players in the optical drive market.
Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi are all facing a probe to determine if they wield too much power in the market for optical drives, essentially meaning DVD and Blu-ray hardware.
Precedent set
The inquiry comes after a previous US drive to root out price-fixing by firms such as LG and Hitachi in the supply of LCD TVs and components. In that case, several companies admitted working together to manipulate the market.
While stakes are high for the businesses concerned, the immediate impact of a successful inquiry is likely to be cheaper price tags on Blu-ray hardware on shop shelves.
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Now Wii also set for Netflix streaming movies
Given that we already know Netflix is bringing its online movie rental service to the PlayStation 3 in the near future, it's no great surprise to hear the Nintendo Wii is to get the same treatment sooner than anticipated.
The word had always been that the Californian film specialist would wait for the expected Wii HD to arrive some time next year, however sources say it could go ahead and stream content to the current-generation Wii.
Images doing the rounds
As for the timing, that could be before the end of 2009, although there's still no verification of that.
Instead, all we have is a claim from the Streaming Media website that they've seen "some images that showed Netflix streaming on a Wii console" and that it could all kick off "very soon".
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Asus planning first 'smartbooks' in 2010
Asus is planning another assault on the cut-price laptop market by using ARM's chips to help bring down the cost of the devices again.
CEO Jerry Shen has said the company will be launching a machine based on the chip manufacturer's architecture, bringing a device that bridges the gap between smartphone and netbook (although we can't stomach calling it a smartbook).
According to Reg Hardware, the CEO says the new device, which may launch for around آ£150, will help keep the company at the sharp end of the cut price laptop market, after the success of the early EEE PCs.
Smarter than nets
A smartbook would traditionally have an even smaller form factor than a netbook, which nowadays packs a 10-inch screen on average, but would need smaller batteries thanks to processors sucking less power.
The company has been seen demoing such a machine at Computex in June running Android, which would make sense as the mobile OS has obviously been optimised for chips that were created for phones.
The likelihood is we'll get a UK release date of Q1 2010, so the next year could herald a year of even smaller and cheaper netbook - who would have guessed that?
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Opinion: Halloween? The perfect time to kill some zombies
This weekend it's Halloween. A time for those of us without children to turn all the lights off and hide under the bed, in case surly teenagers come knocking on our door demanding "treats" with menaces.
Yes, it's all very cute when it's six-year-old kids ringing your doorbell, covered in bedsheets wearing fake vampire fangs, but when it's happy-slappy ringtone-downloading hoodie wearers, Halloween can lose some of its sparkle.
So here's something you can do this weekend to cheer you up while you're avoiding the trick-or-treaters: see if there's a zombie lurking in your house.
I'm not talking about the zombies of 28 Days Later or Shaun of the Dead, but zombie computers - the infected PCs that hackers hijack in order to silently send out spam, steal identities and distribute malware.
It's estimated that over 99% of all spam is sent from innocent compromised computers which, unknown to their owners, have been commandeered by cybercriminals to send out adverts for Viagra and fake FedEx delivery notices.
Hackers control networks of hundreds of thousands of zombie computers, known as a botnet, from a single point - enabling them with one click of a mouse to start a new spam campaign or spread a new computer worm. So you can see that it's essential that computer security starts at home - and everyone does their bit to make sure that they are not adding to the problems on the internet.
So, here is my advice if you want to turn Halloween into International Kill-A-Zombie Day.
1. Scan your computers, and those of your friends (remember to ask permission!), with an up-to-date anti-virus which can detect the latest malware and rootkits. Remember that if your PC is a zombie it won't be announcing the fact by displaying images of skulls dripping gore - announcing that they have infected your computer is not going to help them make money after all.
2. Ensure that your computer is up-to-date with the latest security patches. I don't just mean for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X (although those are, of course, essential if you want to run a tight ship). What I mean is that you also need to update the security of your web browsers, your PDF reader, your internet plug-ins, and other software that could be exploited by hackers.
3. Always be suspicious of unsolicited email attachments and web links. You shouldn't blindly install any program on your computer without being confident of its nature. You wouldn't pick up a sweet in the street and pop it in your mouth - so why would you trust a website you've never heard of before when it suggests you install a codec to watch the latest nude video of Vanessa Hudgens?
4. Keep abreast of the latest security threats. Follow security blogs and sign-up for notifications of new threats that are emerging. Keeping one step ahead can stop your computer becoming one of the zombies.
You can find out more about International Kill-A-Zombie Day at http://www.sophos.com/killazombie or join the Facebook group.
Have a happy, and safe, Halloween.
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Graham Cluley is senior technology consultant at Sophos, and has been working in the computer security field since the early 1990s. When he's not updating his blog on the Sophos website you can find him on Twitter at @gcluley.
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