Video of Steve Jobs introducing the Apple Store in 2001

[Video Link] Interesting to see how the store and Steve have changed over the last ten years! (Via Doobybrain)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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pupdog

http://hijinksensue.com/2011/03/03/the-cuptertino-diet/
franko

i was REALLY hoping he was going to mention the “six mp3 players” they stocked… and then subsequently blew off the map. : )
Jake0748

Why the giant poster of John and Yoko in the back? :P
- mrfantasy
  
  2001 was still the “Think Different” era, and radicals like John Lennon and Gandhi were an important part of their advertising.
  - petsounds
    
    2001 was still the “Think Different” era, and radicals like John Lennon and Gandhi were an important part of their advertising.
    
    Yeah, the important new part of Apple’s advertising is “Think Like Steve”.
    
    I do miss the Garamond font in Apple’s materials.
imhotep

Tight jeans and black turtlenecks. Crazy man!
zikman

it’s amazing how exactly the same everything is. in terms of concept, I guess.
Anonymous

What strikes me is his body language and manner – that of a salesman, someone with something to prove. Now he’s a guru, an icon, a showman.
trai_dep

Wow. This State-of-the-Art tech retail space is a remarkable time-slice of the era before ‘Pods & phones, when software shipped in boxes and Steve felt it necessary to explain what wireless internet connections were, and pointing out that *all*. Computers. Were. Connected. TO THE INTERNET!

LOVE the Red Bat-Phone connecting flummoxed Geniuses to call Cupertino for assistance.

Also liked Steve sidling behind the Genius Bar, quipping, “I’m no genius, but there will be those that are when this store opens”.
Anonymous

Why is it that all Mac stores are buried inside shopping malls? I really wish they had stand-alone stores. I hate the mall.
- zikman
  
  never seen the apple store on fifth ave in nyc?
  - penguinchris
    
    There’s also another stand-alone one in Soho in NYC, and there’s one in London on Oxford St. (as I recall). Probably a few more in places like that (shopping areas in big cities – basically all the higher-end mall stores spread out along the street).
    
    But, most people don’t live in those big cities near those shopping areas (hard as it may be to believe, the world does not revolve around NYC and most people haven’t been there). So most people experience the Apple store at their local upscale mall. Not that it’s any different or better to be in a mall or not – the fifth avenue one is particularly bad, for example – typical mall apple stores are better (less crowded, easier to get in and out of). The London one was pretty nice I guess.
Anonymous

I opened up the South Coast Plaza store back in November 2001 and boy what a difference. Most of my job was teaching classes/ doing demos in the theater in the back of the store. The theater is long gone, replaced by a larger genius bar. We used to give out little Evian bottles to people back at the genius bar! Also, Pre-iPod, most of the time the store wasn’t all that crowded. Now whenever I go back the store is packed.
- penguinchris
  
  I was at South Coast Plaza a couple days ago. The Apple store there is as generic as they get… nothing special about it. A lot of the other stores in that mall (which is really quite an incredible, very upscale Orange County CA mall, for those who aren’t familiar with it – it’s completely unlike other mall experiences and worth a visit even for those who don’t like malls, such as myself) set themselves apart from typical mall stores. The chain stores in there set up their stores the same way they’d set up a high street store in a big city, in shopping districts like Soho in NYC and Oxford St. in London – flagship-style locations. Apple’s store? No different than the Apple store in any other mall in the region.
  
  However, Microsoft now has a Microsoft Store at South Coast Plaza too. I couldn’t resist looking around, and while a fairly blatant ripoff of Apple stores, it was not anywhere near as bad as I had expected. They even had hard-to-find Microsoft hardware (I still prefer their mice over anyone else’s) – not even Fry’s carries the mini wireless mouse they make (the 5000) that uses bluetooth rather than a proprietary connector – I got mine online – but they had it there.
  
  I don’t expect the Microsoft Store to last like the Apple Stores have, so if you go to South Coast Plaza (I’m not sure where else they exist) it’s worth checking out as a curiosity :)
  
  It’s better than the Sony store, anyway (though I admit I bought a great Sony e-reader in there a couple years ago).
Micah

I actually just threw away my 2001 iBook (the very first white model) a couple months ago. It stopped working a couple years ago, but lasted me at least 7 years. I did upgrade the memory and the hard drive along the way.

Now I have a 2008 model Macbook that I bought in 2009 (the last model with Firewire) and a PC desktop that I built myself. Both are solid machines that I hope to use for quite a few more years and each has its strengths and weaknesses.

Fanboys and haters alike both suck.
Anonymous

“Ecksetera” lol
Anonymous

Holy sh*t, Jobs has grown thin in the face since ten years ago. Actually, I take that back. He’s grown thin, period. That ill spell must have done a number on him.

Keep hanging in there, Steve. Bring us all the shiny stuff again and again.
GaryG

Reminded of the sleeve of Lou Reeds ‘Transformer’ for some bizarre reason…
tylerkaraszewski

Aside from having new sections for phones and ipods, a much smaller software section, and being a lot more crowded, it really hasn’t changed that much. At the time the fact that the computers were connected to the internet was a great selling point, no other retail store I knew of did that (and as far as I know, still don’t), and of course the standard “test drive” for a new computer would be to pop open the web browser and check out some of your favorite sites on it.

I don’t ever remember seeing that red phone, though. I’m sure I could stump plenty of geniuses if I tried, and they probably don’t want me bugging their hardware and software engineers with anoying questions.
classic01

In 2001 I had two PCs and Two macs. From those PCs one stopped working around 2004 and the other one I’ve upgraded the memory, processor and installed XP and gave to my parents. Now it is running vista it is STILL running well.

The macs… well the macs were all gone by 2005. The upgrade path was basically non existent. :-/
Ernst Gruengast

Steve Jobs.
Best. Camel. Toe. Ever.
Anonymous

I think they are still selling some of those same games in the Apple Store today! Go Steve!
tylerkaraszewski

The upgrade path was basically non existent. :-/

I’ve never understood this argument except when it comes from people who really enjoy the process of upgrading computers. How on earth is “you can buy a new one piecemeal” a selling point? It isn’t for anything else. Do you buy a new sofa by replacing one cushion at a time? A new car by replacing the engine, then the wheels, then the seats, etc? Pretty much anything else but a computer? You will only say “yes” if tinkering on the thing you’re talking about is in-and-of-itself your hobby.

Yes, macs are lousy tinkerer’s computers, but when you’re saying “this computer has lasted me since 1995, I’ve just upgraded the processor three times, purchased 7 hard drives, 2 display, 4 graphics cards, 2 motherboards… etc,” you’ve gone ahead and bought yourself two or three new computers, just like you would have with macs, you’ve just done it one part at a time.
- classic01
  
  It isn’t about tinkering. If you own a computer you should know how to put put more memory, add a hard drive. This is basic stuff. I think this is the difference between one mouse button and three mouse buttons.
  
  It is much simpler when you have a single button… but then when you want to access the context menu you have to use BOTH HANDS. It seems quite backward to me.
  
  Upgrading isn’t the process of buying new stuff one piece at the time.
  
  It is the process of not having to spend $2k when you can spend less then $400 to keep your machine usable.
  
  When the Iphone’s battery die you have to spend a lot of money to send it back for replacement. Where any other phone you can simply buy a new battery on ebay and off you go.
  
  Usually Apple stuff is very durable, but don’t last much. :-)
  - Joe Dokes
    
    Gee, Apple has been shipping a two button mouse for several years now. Are you trolling?
    
    You can install your own battery in your iPod. Check out iFixit.com
    
    As for keeping your computer usable for 400 rather than 2K. Well that may well have been true at one time, but I have a 6 year old iMac G-5 that is very usable. I also have an 6 year old emac with a G-4 processor which is also very usable. As far as upgrading, I can add memory and change hard drives.
    
    I really question the value of swapping out mother boards. I’ve had/built several franken computers, the end result has largely been the same, a computer that worked but constantly required some forms of tinkering. Kind of the antithesis of a Mac that “Just Works.”
    
    Regards,
    
    Joe Dokes
  - malthusan
    
    As long as we’re sharing anecdotes, I’ll share mine. In 2002, I had a PC running XP and a laptop running Win2k, and I bought a G3 iBook (the icebook) after playing with OSX for ten minutes. I gave the PC to my mom when I got the iBook and she used it for another five years with some RAM and hard drive upgrades. The PC laptop is long gone. I still use the iBook. I maxed the RAM (640MB!), and I’ve replaced the hard drive and battery once each. It runs 10.4 without a hitch and gets upwards of 4.5 hours on a charge (no wifi; 3.5 with wifi and general browsing). I’ve since added a G4 iBook to the stable, and I use it daily, in addition to my Win7 desktop and netbook.
    
    The point is, just because technology advances doesn’t mean older hardware loses its utility. There are people who can find uses for older technology, and there are people who will discard the old for the new. The difference lies with the person, not the technology.
- JiveBowie
  
  I know what you mean. Whenever my car breaks down or gets a flat I just leave it on the side of the road, call a taxi and run off to the dealership. If I spill something on my carpet, I usually just burn down my house and call the realtor. Look I can’t be bothered. I have limitless amounts of money and I love the smell of new.
mikerbaker

Yes, well, some things never change.
http://www.stevesoutfit.com/
Mr. Winka

I’ve never seen an Apple store like this. I wish mine had a solutions section. Great ideas!!
Giles

In other, less sentimental Apple internet news: http://usuncut.org/targets/apple (via reddit)
Beryllium

Is it just me, or does he look kind of like Alexi Volkoff, just not in as nice of a suit?

(Oh, who am I kidding – he looks more like Severus Snape.)