A division of
Apple Computer consisting of, at present, 52 retail stores. Though Apple continues to open stores, at present they maintain they have a retail store within 15 miles of 1/3 of the U.S. population. In the past
fiscal year the stores as a whole did not make a profit, however they made substantially more than the previous year, implying that perhaps unlike
Gateway Country and oher similar computer maker retail ventures, the Apple Stores may yet become a valuable asset to the company.
The stores have 4 types of employees. Mac Specialists are what the rest of the world would call Sales Associates. Apple decided against the term Sales Associatebecause it implied that the employee was there solely to sell a computer, when instead they are encouraged to 'present solutions' whether said solution involves new machine purchase or not.
A Mac Genius is a tech support employee. They have a Genius Bar to stand behind and answer any question from anyone who comes in. They'll also do maintenance, either for a fee or under warranty, as well as a number of other services. In the first few months of the Apple Retail initiative, the Genius Bar would also give a free bottle of water to anyone who asked, which is why there remains 2 large refrigerators behind the genius bar.
The final two are similar in task, not pay. Keyholders and Managers both do the administrative tasks and sometimes stay on the floor and do sales, as well as being the only employees with keys to the cages in back in which are stored any of the smaller and more expensive items like iBooks and PowerBooks and the like.
Other points of interest include a smell generator over the door which wafts down smells of food and coffee, as people are more likely to buy things when they're hungry; every demo machine is connected to the 'net via T3 either by ethernet, as in the desktops, or by Airport Wireless, in the notebooks.