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.