Apple launches One to One and Personal Shopping
Mat posted about the rumor that Apple ProCare was going to be split into a few different offerings, and it has come to pass. ProCare is still available, but now you have the option of getting a year of training for $99 (separately), or having a personal shopper help you out at an Apple Store.One to One costs $99 for a year, and that 99 bucks gets you one on one time with an Apple Pro who is there to help you. Work on a project, get some pointers in iWork, whatever you need help with (Mac and iPod related, of course).
Personal Shopping is free, though you have to register ahead of time (up to 14 days in advance). You get the undivided attention of a Mac specialist who will walk you through the various products at the Apple store to find just the thing you're looking for.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James Cummings said 7:57AM on 5-03-2007
Their kidding, right? Does this mean without an appointment, the sales people in the store won't talk to me? Must not be on commission.
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Kevin said 8:33AM on 5-03-2007
First off, I thought it was common knowledge that Mac Specialists didn't work off commision. I certainly don't know anyone that has hidden that fact.
Secondly, of course the Mac Specialists are still going to talk to you if you walk in without an appointment. Personal Shopping is for people who want to be guaranteed the complete an undivided attention of a Mac Spacialist for an hour. For your average customer, it won't impact a thing.
I'm sure that Personal Shopping sounds fairly ridiculous to a lot of people, and to the mass market it may be. But there are stores that have moved in this direction and are doing very well for themselves (Neiman Marcus, Barney's, etc). Apple is launching a service that a portion of their customers have probably come to expect in a retail environment. But they are not limiting it to the upper echelon of their stores in Manhattan and L.A., they're making it available to every Apple Retail customer in whole world.
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B deR West said 8:48AM on 5-03-2007
You know, I don't know how helpful a personal shopper would be. I mean, for basic things like "would a Mac Pro, iMac or Mac Mini be better for me?" and "Should I buy an iPod, iPod Nano or iPod Shuffle?" they'd be helpful at the start, and they could certainly recommend how my RAM and what size HDD, but who buys procare BEFORE buying a computer?
Once you have your Mac, I can't really think of an instance I would need a personal shopper in an Apple Store. It's not like their product lines are particularly diverse. I mean, what I'm going to ask them, "Would a 20-, 23-, or 30-inch ACD?" That'll take five minutes.
Perhaps with software questions? I suppose there they diversify somewhat.
But it's not like at Best Buy, where you have a gigantic wall of HDTVs and you want to know which one's better for you. With Apple, the wall is kind of small.
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Dave said 9:04AM on 5-03-2007
Actually there might be a fair size market for this. One one that seems most apt to take advantage of this would be small business owners.
Imagine you have a business and you are tired of your window machines crashing, getting viruses, etc.; and you decide to go with Apple. But you have no clue what to get. Not to mention the decision of what software to choose.
Just one example, but any customer that is in need of multiple computers would get a benefit from this service. There are other example with families, but I bet Apple is doing this to help the small business owners.
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Greenline said 9:18AM on 5-03-2007
Morning! This is a cool idea, I think what they might be tapping into is the fact that there are many many Apple customers who buy more then one of various products in a year. $99 bucks a year isn't bad to have personlized service ever time you want to look around (not that you would need any more convincing to buy anything)
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Timothy Hankins said 10:30AM on 5-03-2007
Ya know, every now and then Apple does something that reminds me that, beneath the ultra hip, laid back surface, it is still a behemoth corporation.
This is an excellent case in point.
I remember when .mac first came out. It was a service that was unparalleled. I could have some storage, a grovy @mac.com email address and it integrated with my Macintosh desktop experience. Best of all, it was free. Sure, sometimes it was slow; maybe it was unreliable at times, but it worked fairly well and I enjoyed it.
But then Apple wanted to start charging me for it and not significantly increase the service. So I promptly gave .mac the finger and moved on to greener, more Google-y pastures.
This seems like a similar thing: increase cost and decrease service level. It's disrespectful to knowledgeable customers and disingenuous to less savvy consumers.
When it comes to the personal shopping service, gimme a break! I've never had a good experience in the Apple Store. In fact, I've often thought that the only way to get any customer service at all would be to pay for it.
Looks like I was right.
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KR said 11:02AM on 5-03-2007
Guys, please read carefully. The One to One service costs $99, but the Personal Shopper is FREE to anyone and everyone, and you can make your appointment up to 2 weeks in advance. No fee or subscription required.
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Anon said 11:21AM on 5-03-2007
Sounds like you guys are unclear on some things, there are now three different now unrelated services.
1) Personal shopping, as number seven mentioned is FREE, and you anyone can sign up at apple.com/retail/personalshopping. And no you don't have to have one to get help.
2) OnetoOne is personal training for $99/year, still a nice deal if you are new to mac, or trying to learn a pro app for the fist time.
3)ProCare is everything now everything else that ProCare had , and now includes a backup consultation, and service for up to three computers
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Kelly said 12:12PM on 5-03-2007
PERSONAL SHOPPING IS FREE
consider it the genius bar, only for BEFORE you buy a product and want help deciding. The apple store has done this for awhile, by handing out TalkMac cards and telling people to go to a website and enter an activation code to sign up for a FREE 1 hour appointment to get help choosing a product. Now the cards are gone and the link is on the retail website (much like the GB appointment system).
You do not NEED an appointment to buy a product, *just as you are able to do stand-by at the GB* but this guarantees you an hour to yourself with a specialist (which, on a busy Saturday afternoon in a lot of stores is IMPOSSIBLE to come by)
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Tom Browning said 1:02PM on 5-03-2007
Err.. I've spent hours with mac specialists in store talking about what piece of kit is best for me, what software, what hardware, etc etc, already - without having to book in advance, and free all round. This just adds a waiting list to what apple employees (at least, here in the UK) offered already...
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rp said 5:55PM on 5-03-2007
From my experience of Apple stores, Apple already provided the "Personal Shopper" experience for people who needed help understanding the switching process and what they would get, what they should get to fit their various needs, and any other questions that arose. I think Apple is just dedicating an entire section of their staff this with special training and sales experience instead of having some guy off the floor try to do it. Like I said, every time I have been in the Apple store, there are tons of clueless people who want to buy stuff and are trying to get their answers. This just formalizes that process and makes Apple stores more boutique-like.
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Kelly said 7:01PM on 5-03-2007
In response to comment number 11 - the personal shopping will be given by regular ol' mac specialists. No special training or distinction will be given
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