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Rumors at Apple's Genius Bar

macgeekery.com — Apple is famous for managing to keep the vast majority of their announcements completely secret. How many people are in the loop during the development process? A lengthy article at Mac Geekery discusses Apple secrecy from the perspective of an Apple Store employee. A very interesting read.

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  • soof, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12This is a good article. I won't be asking any more apple employees about new products anymore, lol.
    • ahknight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6If the page doesn't load, go here. http://www.macgeekery.com.nyud.net:8090/column/pure_genius/rumors_at_the_bar
    • rye425, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Keyword: "Rumors"
    • JetwingX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6" I won't be asking any more apple employees about new products anymore, lol."

      Thanks,
      We appreciate it.
    • TheReport, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2ahhh yes the dreaded burn, this has happened to me with the powermac g5, I bought a dual processor 2.3 and a month and a half later they roll out with the dual core processors, suffice it to say I wasnt exactly pleased with what happened but what could I do? thank god they didnt roll out the intel versions that havent come out yet or I would probably have cried for days. The G5 is a great peice of hardware dont get me wrong, it does everything i need it to plus more but when its in the prescence of a newer brand you just feel a little cheated.
  • danpsmith, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12Yes, how many do know of the new superadvanced leather iPod cases that will be sold for $100?
    • XTrek, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10My jaw dropped when I saw this thing for a hundred bucks...
    • nuclearpenguins, on 10/12/2007, -45/+9And the funny thing is Appletards will pay for it too just because. Morons.
  • holysaiyan1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9How long till they get sued for blogging about this?
  • goat4, on 10/12/2007, -91/+8fanboy *****, reported.
  • superset, on 10/12/2007, -19/+1digg effect
  • DrWho, on 10/12/2007, -39/+7what, this is stupid....reported as lame
  • GeneHACKman, on 10/12/2007, -3/+23Genius my arse. My experience at the 'cough' GENIUS bar at the downtown SF store was far from being helpful. I ended up explaining how something works to her.
    • Kazbaeden, on 10/12/2007, -11/+18Yeah. The title is so pretentious it hurts. I've met more knowledgeable employees at CompUSA.
    • doce, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20depends on the Genius. i've visited several stores in Texas and California. i've encountered Geniuses what were really geniuses. i've encountered others who were dumbasses. on the balance, i've met more geniusy Geniuses than the Dumbasses... but those dumbasses were.... wow.
    • ThinkBox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@Doce

      Yeah, pretty much just like everywhere else in life - some are dumbasses, some are geniuses...

      But one things is for sure (in all my experiences) most the people working at the apple store are very nice - customer service is ranked pretty high in my book.
    • cphuntington97, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3I took my laptop, my first mac, in for the a display problem under warranty. The "genius" was very polite, saw the problem right away, didn't give me a hard time or anything.

      The only thing was, he had to ask me what version of os X was on my machine. I said, "oh, uh.. ten dot three." Then he said, "ten dot three doooot.....?" "Um, it's the most recent version." "ok so ten dot three dooooot...."

      UGH! The whole reason I bought a mac is so I wouldn't have to know these kinds of things!
    • ahknight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3A lot of times what you think is the most recent version is not the most recent version. If they ask "10.3.9?" you'll just nod your head and he'll never know you're on 10.3.4. :)
    • GeneHACKman, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2I waited for almost an hour PAST my scheduled time. What's the point in making an appointment if they see you an hour later? Anyway, I was having an iChat problem, and had weighed every single possibility of what it could be, just to make sure my time with the 'genius' was well spent. Well, turns out it didn't matter, because most of what I had already tried the 'genius' didn't even think to do, she just kept asking stupid crap like, 'are you sure your volume was turned up?' "Yes, Einstein, I did. And if you like, I can also 'turn up' my middle finger which happens to be pointing towards the ground right now if you like."
    • johnjreiser, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@Gene

      I had a legit hardware problem and was bumped because the mayor (who they knew by name) didn't know how to use iPhoto.
  • jonbruc, on 10/12/2007, -21/+14Waste of an article. I want my five minutes back.
  • KevinJ, on 10/12/2007, -17/+4Dead
  • DrWho, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12They did keep the Apple BoomBox secret.

    Apple, masters of deception and hype.
    • dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I was about to say, "It's not hard keeping secrets when you spin hyperbole about them so high, that people end up guessing on something amazing (but usually not correct)."
    • milkfilk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Then don't buy one. Religion, favorite color, OS, favorite food, favorite type of music.
  • diggdon, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Can anyone provide a link to the story that works?
  • firemillen2, on 10/12/2007, -41/+7ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER SPAM FROM CUPERTINO FANBOYS.

    I'm telling y'all....DIGG has become the marketing arm of Apple. Really sad that a great concept has been warped into a free spam site.

    DIGG JUMPED THE SHARK !!
    • DrWho, on 10/12/2007, -26/+8Fight these fanboys, mark their crap as lame or spam.
    • nuclearpenguins, on 10/12/2007, -22/+3DrWho has it right. It's what I do to most of the Apple fanboyesque stories.

      Between Apple and Nintendo there's way too many fanboys here.
    • Xenstier, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4What the hell digg is about SOCIAL bookmarking not just about firemillen2 likes
  • ahknight, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Site's not dead. The host is having a problem. Just a moment, please....
    • ahknight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's mostly working now. Just give the page a moment. The choices were swap hell or fewer procs. I chose the latter. It'll load in time.
  • bSimms, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8My one experience with a genius was great. I had spent hours trying to fix computer. They fixed it in literally seconds.
  • m0nk, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17I read it before it went down, finally getting around to posting a comment. For all of those who are going to bitch about the "Apple Fan-boy club" that'll be digging this one, stfu - go elsewhere with your hate.

    I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a Linux admin and user and most likely will be for the long term. I had a G4 Powerbook at my disposal and really liked using, so I'm a fan but not a regular user. I also, like many others, have an iPod.

    I think this article is actually valuable knowledge for anyone who has even a remote desire to stop in an Apple store for any reason what-so-ever. It gives insight into what their day is like, dealing with stupid people AND getting asked the questions they can't answer. Anyone who has ever worked in retail can relate to the typical customer questions, and not knowing an answer would make it 100 times worse. Now we all know not to ask about new products.
    • DrWho, on 10/12/2007, -14/+4It's still a retail job with retail sales people.

      Never trust retail sales people. These apple retail nerds are no different than Best Buy retail nerds. Never trust their answers.
    • jackdiesel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Never trust retail sales people. These apple retail nerds are no different than Best Buy retail nerds. Never trust their answers."

      If you don't trust them, then why would you even ask them the question in the first place? Go look it up the answers yourself and don't waste their time.
  • 7diesel, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4"DIGG has become the marketing arm of Apple."

    yeah, me like. :)
  • matrox212, on 10/12/2007, -10/+6How did a machine specifically designed for people afraid of regular computers become a "genius" machine?
    • DrWho, on 10/12/2007, -18/+8Just like how Bush said so and so is a risk to the world, repeat it often enough, stupid people believe it.
    • milkfilk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Because it has ruby, ssh, apache, tomcat, gcc4 installed out of the box (with the dev CD). Freshmeat.net founder switched entirely from Linux to Mac. That is what sold me. "It can do anything I would require".
    • unknowndomain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Why are people such retards if I choose to like an article its my choice why should I have to put up with your bitching, if you dont like it go else where but the majority of people do because its on the front page
  • badnewsblair, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Without breaking and post-employment NDA, I can attest to the general gist of this article.

    You will be hard pressed to get any information from the sales staff in an Apple Store. The only people that know anything about upcoming releases either work exclusively in the back are are management that get paid enough to not want to risk any part of their job. And even then, they only know a day or two in advance.

    Everyone is pretty much kept in the dark.
  • ACoolie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Host is back up. Coral cache just incase: http://www.macgeekery.com.nyud.net:8080/column/pure_genius/rumors_at_the_bar

    Also, great read with a good moral =D

    You gotta feel bad for this guy on the PowerBook =(
  • jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Coral link
    http://www.macgeekery.com.nyud.net:8090/column/pure_genius/rumors_at_the_bar

  • piecewise, on 10/12/2007, -13/+1Apple retail employees don't care about rumors. Why?

    Any time I've asked, they've told me either 1) I don't know; or 2) definitely no new products any time soon. They make money off of commissions, people. "Leaking" means you're waiting. Waiting means a smaller check for them.
    • doce, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12apple doesn't pay commissions to retail employees
    • badnewsblair, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11The Apple Store is commission free. I wish it was commission based!
    • JBracy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Yep Apple Retail employees earn no commission and they really don't know anything about product announcements. The store manager may know a little in advance due to the need to change signage, POS, etc... but in general employees find out at exactly the same time as everyone else. When I worked at the Genius Bar I remember a few times being behind the bar on the day of an announcement and hearing about new iPods from customers (I remember telling one guy that Apple didn't make a 6GB iPod Mini, and then going on my break and seeing them on the shelf!)
    • piecewise, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I double checked this online. You all are 100% correct. Apple employees are not commissioned. My fault!
  • kolop1, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2zzzzzzzzzz
  • jk_baller23, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1doesn't work anymore :(

    Guess I'll have to try again later.
  • schlagzeuger, on 10/12/2007, -16/+5"genius bar" --- never has there been something so poorly named. My personal experience with Apple's so-called geniuses is that they are only slightly more intelligent than the ignorant ***** working at Best Buy.
    • frem001, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5they are knowlegable but can only offer a certain amount of support... things are carefully controlled working in any technical assistance post, you have to do things by the book and also make excuses when things go wrong.
    • milkfilk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Einstein, the genius, had the relative theory. To many people, all the tech speak makes them relative geniuses (how topical). That's why it's named that. When my girl's pb had a bad disk controller, I brought in the syslog text proving it was a disk controller issue. I was more knowledgeable than the "genius" behind the bar but I wasn't a dick about it. I presented the evidence and courteously waited for him to see the same thing I did. He saw the problem and it got fixed (quickly and nicely).

      You can be a techie and be an *****. The later of the two will keep you from getting a job more than the former. ***** trumps skills. Play nice.

      The term genius is "usable" to non-techies. Usability
  • biff198, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"silence

    The guy actually didn't say another word. He just sat there soaking in my receipt, trying to make sense of it. It was as though I'd destroyed his world view. He'd come in so certain that we'd known all along that he was having trouble comprehending that it was even possible, let alone likely, that we actually don't know."

    I had a beautiful little movie rolling in my head as I read this. Funny....

    __________________________
    -biff198
    http://www.crusaderflash.com/
    • davidkain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Me too :D I wish I could have had a moment like that during my stint in the hell of retail.
  • aaryn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9The users choose the stories here.... so why do people keep whining/trolling/flaming about it whenever Apple comes up? Nothing to do with bias, people are digging it, get over it
  • trod13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Really good article. I also learned the return policy, yes. This is a must read if you continuously nag apple employees or if you want to learn how the other side works.
  • n0tquitehuman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9screw people and their opinions, I'm an equal opportunity hater... some people have to make a living somehow, and being a Mac Genius is better than flippin' burgers or being a glue sniffing Best Buy Geek Squad member.
    • liquidoc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6you really just hate macs.....is it just because you like Bill Gate's rectum around you, or do you have a real reason?

      I dugg this story just because I hate Sebhelyesfarku. Also because.....well.....I digg it. ;)
    • frem001, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4awwww did one of them dump you Sebh...?
  • Kerrigore, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4What's with all the mac haters? I mean really, what is your problem? The whole point of Digg is that the stories that get posted and rise to the tops are the ones the majority wants to read. If you don't like it, there are other websites readily available. My question is... what is the point in running around flaming, whining, and trolling the comments sections? Is it fun to see how many "mactards" you can piss off into responding? Because that strikes me as incredibly immature.

    I guess if that's what you want to do, that's the reason why the digg system was implemented for comments =)
  • diggerphelps, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I used to work at an ad production house where Apple's agency did a lot of work.
    There were certain people who would work on Super Secret Stuff that the rest of us never got to see.
    They would make them sign NDAs and hold their firstborns hostage in case they spilled the beans.
    I remember catching a glimpse of the first G3 PowerBooks back in the day.
    Steve Jobs would have burned my eyes out if he knew.
  • GuineaPig, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Apple is extremely secretive even within the organization. I have a friend who's a developer there working on a high-profile Apple application, and he didn't even know about the Intel switch before it went down in public.
  • djnick, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1god damn how many freaking stories about apple are gonna be on the main page? i think if steve jobs goes to take a ***** it will appear on the front page. omgwtf
  • ThisIsBrianB, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have worked for Apple in the past and now work for a national retailer selling Apple products, and the one that can I hear at least every day whether it was at Appple or my current job is a question about upcoming Apple products...well none of us no, we never knew at Apple and well it's nice to see somebody try to get the word out.
  • ophello, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO ALL THE MAC DEMONIZORS IN THIS FORUM:

    Why are you incapable of accepting mac users, and mac articles? This was a good, interesting, and honest read about the corporate practices of a well-known hardware/software company, and it is no different from the other articles in terms of quality and usefulness of information. It didn't appear to be spun or biased. It has EVERY right to keep its place on digg. Your immature desire to quash and subjugate an article simply because it is Mac related, or on the grounds that it is dugg by "fanboys" is COMPLETELY unfounded and EXTREMELY unfair. If you expect everyone to agree with your hardware/software preferences, you are living in a fantasy world...but that you are activelly trying to bury and flame people just for having something positive to say about an article you dont like is...insane.

    No one forced you to read the article or digg it. That's the beauty of Digg...you digg what you want to. If its popular, it's because people dugg it.

    In short, grow up, move on, and let digg users control their own content instead of whining when an Apple-related article gets kudos from users. You don't see us flaming and attempting to bury IBM/linux/MS articles, do you?

    I didn't think so. In the meantime, enjoy the content on Digg, and participate in the forums, but please stop acting like a bunch of sixth-graders (though I'm sure there are plenty of them on here...) and show some decency. Please. Pretty please. With sugar on top.

    P.S. I have seen dig users take a serious nosedive in the Maturity department lately. Just what is up their collective asses? What happened to Respecting People With Different Opinions?
  • kstar6, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Good Read
  • rspeed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As a former Mac Genius I can commiserate fully with the author. Dugg.
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