More people visited Apple's 326 stores than Walt Disney's four biggest theme parks last year. And many visitors don't go to shop. They go to play. They go to have fun. It might be a shop but you know, it's a cool place to hang out.
When Trevor Moran walks into his local Apple store in Temecula, California, the 12-year-old isn't there to buy anything. He's there to dance - and then post it online. And he's not the only one. Uploading videos of dance routines shot in an Apple store is now a worldwide phenomenon.
Check out some of the videos below and you'll see what a craze it's becoming.
Apple is considered a pioneer in many aspects of customer service and store design and people are obviously loving the freedom.
According to training manuals, Apple sales associates are taught an unusual sales philosophy: not to sell, but rather to help customers solve problems. "Your job is to understand all of your customers' needs, some of which they may not even realise they have," one training manual says. To that end, employees receive no sales commissions and have no sales quotas.
As Jobs said when he launched the Apple store, "People don't just want to buy personal computers anymore, they want to know what they can do with them."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i327Inb8qDQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH6zBrBsm54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnCiTSzYHRM&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lyPyxppoFs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGOhr6UBH-c&feature=related
John Fountain is a copywriter.
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Twitter: @fountainjohn
