Select Apple Stores to offer personal Mac setup service

Starting as soon as tomorrow in some Apple retail store locations, the company will be providing yet another service to new Mac owners to make their purchasing experience as painless as possible -- a personalized Mac setup service.

With the service, an employee will sit you down with your new Mac, set up your email account(s), demonstrate the Mac App Store, set up your iTunes account and then guide you through some of the things that "make a Mac a Mac."

This service is similar to the setup room at Apple's Covent Garden store in London, and is expected to become as much of a fixture in Apple Stores as the Genius Bar. While it's a plus for customers and a way for Apple to sell more Macs, it's also going to cut into the business of Apple Consultant Network members, many of whom have been relied upon in the past to provide setup services in the homes and businesses of new Mac owners.