Hey, speaking of those Apple retail stores, they may not have finished out the year in the black, but it looks like most observers admit that they've been a positive move for Apple overall. We base this on nothing but a gut feeling, but it seems to us that the number of industry analysts and pundits bad-mouthing Apple's decision to open its own stores has dropped dramatically since the company first announced its intentions back in May of last year. Back then, there were an awful lot of people stating in no uncertain terms that it'd be a costly experiment doomed to failure-- and they pointed at the closing of scads of Gateway Country stores as justification for that viewpoint.

Of course, there were a few big differences between Apple's proposed retail stores and Gateway's boutiques. For one thing, customers could slap down the plastic and walk out of an Apple store burdened with the Mac of their choice and an extra helping of high-interest debt; the Gateway stores don't stock any inventory, meaning that customers would walk out with the debt and a promised ship date-- which doesn't strike us as being nearly as satisfying. There's also the fact that Apple's stores are sleek and roomy, with snazzy hardwood floors, swooping white and matte black surfaces, a theater, a Genius Bar, and even their own bathrooms. We've never had occasion to venture into a Gateway store, but we're told they have a "barn motif." Mmmm, yeah, that ought to inspire confidence in people who are considering parting with hundreds of dollars to take home a piece of high technology... or, um, order one to be shipped later.

So it doesn't come as a total surprise to us that, according to a CNET article pointed out by faithful viewer David H. Dennis, Gateway is "overhauling its retail strategy" in a suspiciously Apple-like direction. For one thing, the company is "replacing the stores' barn motifs with more high-tech interior designs"; apparently the marketing folks at Gateway must have commissioned a massive focus group study which indicated, much to their surprise, that prospective customers don't want to buy computers in a building that normally houses farm animals. Go figure.

But that's not the big change. Starting today, most of the 277 Gateway Country locations will actually keep two (Yes, two! You get a choice!) specific computer models in stock and ready for customers to take home with them. The focus group comes through again, and an analyst with Technology Business Research concurs: "There undoubtedly is a percentage of customers that walk into a store that want to walk out with a computer." This stuff is gold. What we want to know is, how did Apple ever figure all of this out ahead of time? We figure maybe Phil Schiller is secretly psychic.

This scene was taken from the 3/15/2002 episode:

		Friday, 6:17 PM: A Virginia Mac reseller goes under due to Apple's unfair policies-- or does it? Meanwhile, Gateway appears to be remaking its less-than-successful retail stores in the image of Apple's own boutiques, and Apple product placement in the movies hits a new high (or low)...

Other scenes from this episode include:

Trouble With a Capitol "T": So there's been a lot of blustering lately about how Apple has been keeping what few G4 iMacs that dribble off the assembly lines primarily to itself instead of playing nice and sharing the goodies with the rest of the class... Scene

Serious Product Placement: What do you mean, you're still counting Mac sightings in movies and TV shows? Geez, folks, given the near-omnipresence of Apple's hardware on the tube and the silver screen, you'd be better off listing which productions don't have Macs onscreen-- it'd save you an awful lot of time... Scene

Click on one to see it. Or perhaps you'd like to see the whole episode as originally broadcast?

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What disappoints you most about the video iPod 1.0?
	It doesn't get Cinemax
	It requires far too much physical effort to cram a DVD into the Dock connector
	You can't stick your face in the screen like with the TV in Videodrome
	Showing home movies on the iPod makes it too easy for viewers to escape
	I can fit 140 hours of TV in my pocket, but it sure is a hassle lugging this couch everywhere I go
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