Archive for August 23, 2016

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Apple Drops “Store”

Juli Clover:

Apple appears to be making a slight branding change to its retail business, dropping the “Store” moniker when referring to its Apple Store locations. Apple has already made the change online, and all of its store pages now refer to stores by names like “Apple Union Square” or “Apple Valley Fair” or “Apple The Grove,” instead of “Apple Store, Valley Fair” or “Apple Store, The Grove.”

John Gruber:

Now that Apple’s stores are well established, it makes sense to drop the “Store”. Think about the brands that are Apple’s peers in retail. No one goes to the Tiffany Store or Gucci Store, they just go to Tiffany or Gucci.

Daniel Jalkut:

The difference between these brands and Apple is that Apple’s identity has long been independent from the notion of a store. Calling it the “Apple Store” was not only important because the stores were a novelty, but because Apple is a brand that transcends retail.

Michael Rockwell:

I suppose this is the biggest problem with Apple dropping the word “store” — it devalues the Apple brand.

Nick Heer:

Perhaps “Apple at location” would sound better in nearly all circumstances. But, then again, Apple has always been funny about their phrasing — note, for example, their persistence in dropping the definite article when referring to any of their products: it’s always “iPhone”, never “the iPhone”.

Craig Hockenberry:

With the removal of “Store” from Apple retail locations, I’m wondering what we’ll call the one on campus.

Apple Apple?

Mitchel Broussard:

A trio of former Apple Store employees recently delved into some stories of their tenure at various retail locations of the company’s well-recognized brand. Although their names were changed to keep their identities a secret, the group which spoke with Thrillist included: Lucas, a Lead Genius with five years of experience; David, who worked part-time as a Sales Specialist for four-and-a-half years; and Tony, a Family Room Specialist for five years at an Apple Store.

[…]

Lucas and David went further into the specifics of the “distinct hierarchy” of the Apple Store, detailing an “odd” dynamic imbalance between entry level employees and those higher up. Most of the full-time positions were “seen as an accomplishment” due to Apple’s extensive training program that flew out applicants to Cupertino or Austin for a few days. This created an “off-putting” atmosphere for new employees trying to get by in the store and still years off from being able to take advantage of the company’s perks.

10 Styles of App Store Screenshots

Dan Counsell:

App Store screenshots are really, really important, if done correctly they can convince more users browsing the store to download your app. Unfortunately so many good apps get overlooked because of bland or poorly designed screenshots. This is not an article telling you how to design screenshots, it's more of an overview of the styles and options that are out there right now.