We received a question from one of our readers earlier this week that made me cringe, cower in fear, and heavily debate posting the answer. He had just been to the Genius Bar and they had replaced his under-warranty iPhone for a hardware issue. He then asked us what the quality of said iPhone would be; is it new or refurbished, and will it be a problem in the future?

Having spent time working behind the Genius Bar, as a technician at an Apple Authorized Service Provider, and now as the owner of my own repair shop in Denver... I know the history of the replacement parts and where they come from. If you have been involved with Apple repairs, you will probably know what I'm reluctant to tell you. If you are merely a consumer, prepare to be disappointed.

The vast majority of parts that Apple ships to repair centers are what they consider "re-manufactured." As a Genius, I was coached to explain that process when we were asked where the parts came from. Customers would always respond with, "Wait, so you're giving me a refurbished iPhone?"

I was told to say no, and to follow it by saying, "re-manufactured parts or products are different than refurbished. Someone may have used your device before you if it's a refurbished product... but in the re-manufacturing process, Apple uses known-good parts and builds new units out of them." So, they added a fake, nonsensical name to pretend that their parts or products weren't refurbished.

What does this mean? The iPhone that you just received looks new on the outside because it has new glass, a new case, new battery... but the rest of the device is fair game for refurbished parts. The logic board, audio assembly, LCD, pretty much anything else on the inside that isn't visible from the exterior could be from another person's iPhone. I'm not saying that every part is used, every time... they'll use new parts if that's what they have in stock. But if they have working used parts, they won't hesitate to put them in your replacement iPhone. There is usually one scenario that will allot for a new replacement: if you purchased your device less than 14 days ago. In that case, they have the ability to do a POS (Point of Sale) swap instead of a repair. Any swap outside of 14 days needs a very good explanation and a manager's approval.

This doesn't just apply to iPhones and iPods; it actually applies to any part they put into your Apple product. The logic board they put into your MacBook Pro: refurbished. The optical drive they put into your iMac: refurbished. The DC-In Board they put into your PowerBook G4: refurbished. There are many, many parts out there that Apple will happily replace for you, but beware -- it's probably not new. Re-manufactured is no different than refurbished.

If you look at it from the environmental aspect, I have to give Apple some respect for repairing broken parts instead of just tossing them in the dump. Still, that doesn't mean that I -- as a consumer -- want someone's "fixed" two-year-old logic board going into my computer. At this point, though, I don't have much of a choice.

Even morons buy Apple products.

There's a story on ifoAppleStore today about one Mr. Donald Goodrich, who was having trouble with his iPhone. As many customers have done, Mr. Goodrich brought his iPhone to his local Genius Bar in Cincinnati, OH. While talking with an Apple Store employee, he allegedly said, "I'm so mad, I could pop a 9mm at it," meaning the iPhone.

According to police, he then said, "I'll do it right now! Look!" and pulled his shirt aside to show the employee the handgun he was carrying. While that employee escorted him to the Genius Bar (clearly not the right place for Mr. Goodrich), another called police who quickly arrived and arrested him.

We should note that Mr. Goodrich did have a permit to carry a concealed weapon and was cooperative with his arresting officer. We should also note that flashing it to a young person in a crowded mall while visibly upset and threatening to use it was a very dumb idea. Also, as Brandon points out in the comments below, the mall housing the Apple Store is private property and has posted "no weapons" signs.

Editor's Note: Some comments to this post suggest that TUAW is "giving advice to pedophiles" by reminding readers that sensitive information could be read or copied by service technicians when you bring your Mac in for repair. While one assumes (present example to the contrary) that people who keep illegal content, such as child pornography or evidence of other crimes, on their computers would already be alert to the possibility of discovery, in this case we are addressing the innocent Mac users who would prefer to keep their personal, legal information private rather than inadvertently sharing it with the Geniuses.

Another commenter objected to our publishing of the accused man's name; this information was revealed in the source article in the Stamford Advocate and we repeated it. The post has been edited to clarify the source of the name.

A Fairfield, Connecticut man took his Apple G5 desktop to the Genius Bar at the Stamford Town Center store complaining about some issues with his image file thumbnails. It seemed some thumbnails were overwriting thumbnails on other images and they didn't match up.

As reported in the Stamford Advocate, according to court documents, the Genius started examining the files, and allegedly found pictures of naked juvenile girls in suggestive poses.

The tech called a policeman who was stationed at the mall, and the customer Raymond Miller was promptly arrested and charged with possession of child pornography. If convicted, Miller faces a minimum of 5 years in jail.

Police also searched Miller's home, but found nothing illegal.

Remember, when you bring your Mac into a store for service the technicians will likely see whatever is on your machine in the course of repairing it.

The tech could have ignored the alleged porn, but that could likely make him an accessory under some state laws. Apple warns people to always have a good backup of their data when they bring something in for repair. It's also a good idea to remove anything you don't want anyone else to see -- financial data or home inventories, for example.

This incident is reminiscent of 2 cases in Florida where the Best Buy Geek Squad techs found illegal porn on computers brought in for repair. The employees reported the porn, and both men were arrested.

Then in an ironic turnabout, a three-month investigation by the Consumerist blog caught Geek Squad employees taking porn off a computer and sharing it with others. It was also alleged that some employees routinely stole music, pictures and other data from computers that were in for repair by copying the data off to personal thumb drives.

Via The Stamford Advocate and thanks to Doug for the tip.

Apple's service options for iPhones have improved since 2007. Back then, long-term repairs meant traveling to an Apple Store and paying the $29US fee for a loaner. Later that month, Apple released the Apple Care Protection Plan for iPhone. Among other things, this plan extends technical support to two years from the date of iPhone purchase, and extends hardware coverage to two years from the same time period.

This week, Apple announced that a specific repair, screen replacement, can be performed at Apple Store Genius Bars while the customer waits. The service is free if your phone is under warranty, otherwise it will cost you $199. Yikes. Of course, "Under Warranty" refers to the date purchased as well as other factors like liquid damage* or jailbreaking.

Here's hoping you won't need this service (hold on tight or buy a case), and if you do, you aren't 200 miles from the nearest Apple Store like yours truly.

Speaking of repairs, we've seen iPhones and iPod touches survive some serious knocks, like a run-in with a pickup truck.

*Note that Apple will let iPhone owners swap their liquid-damaged iPhones for replacements, provided that it succumbed to an out-of-warranty encounter with liquid.This post was about screen repair specifically.

According to a Friday article on Yahoo! Finance, Microsoft is introducing "Microsoft Gurus" at Best Buy and Circuit City stores nationwide. They plan on having 155 Gurus deployed by year-end, and will expand the program based on its success.

While it may seem like this is copying Apple's Genius program, it's not. The Geniuses hang out at the Genius Bar in the local Apple Store, helping new Mac owners migrate data or resolve problems, fixing iPod and iPhone issues, and otherwise giving the customer help when they really need it -- after they've committed money to a product and can't get something to work properly.

In contrast, the Microsoft Guru program is only concerned with pre-sales questions. Gurus provide demos of how Microsoft applications work together, as well as answer questions about PCs in general and Windows in particular. This is reminiscent of Microsoft's previous attempts at having in-store sales reps, particularly in 2004 and 2005 when the company had contract staff at stores to push the ever-popular MSN Direct Smart Watches. You say you've never heard of MSN Direct or Smart Watches? That should give you an idea of how successful that pre-sales program was!

What do you think about the Microsoft Gurus? Leave a comment and/or take our poll.

We're sure that our friends down under have been wondering where is all the Apple love for Australia. Well, they can stop the sorrow and feel the joy as Apple is set to open it's first Australia Apple Store on Thursday, June 19. The store in question will be located in Sydney and will feature the "world's largest Genius Bar" according to a recent Apple press release (see, that's what you get for waiting so long).

Apple also notes that the store will accommodate over 80 Macs and 60 iPods (talk about Apple goodness). The Apple store in Sydney will open at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday June 19. The Apple Store Sydney is located at 367 George Street, one block North of the Queen Victoria Building.


[via ifoAppleStore]

As we all well know, Apple tends to be a rather secretive company and this extends to their retail operation procedures, etc. Nonetheless, many of us have wondered what it takes to become an Apple Genius, those black-shirted folks manning the Apple Store's most distinctive feature. Well, Apple employees are not supposed to talk, but one former Genius and one current Genius speaking anonymously have let MacLife pull the curtain back a bit for a look at what it takes to be a Apple Genius.

To get your foot in the door you have to pass a test on diagnosing Mac problems, then if selected you're sent to Cupertino for two weeks of training en route to gaining three Apple certifications. Then comes some "real-world" training at Apple Retail headquarters, before finally ending with some on-the-job training at an actual retail Store locations. If you've ever been curious about how Apple makes their Genius quota, MacLife's look is worth a read.

[via Digg]

For the past several years Apple has offered the ProCare program for $99/year. Basically, there were two classes of service that ProCare subscribers were entitled to: 1) priority service at the Genius Bar, including 14-day advance appointments (versus 2-days for regular folks), and 2) one-to-one personal training from Apple Store "Creatives." Now ifoAppleStore is reporting that these two classes of service are being split into separate programs, each $99/year.

According to ifoAppleStore, ProCare will continue to offer priority repairs and access to the Genius bar, while the personal training will become a new program called "One2One." If there's any upside to this doubling the price/halving the service move, it is that it's supposed to take place on May 2nd. That means you have the rest of today to get in under the wire for the old price. If you had ever been seriously considering ProCare, today might be the day to act.

If you've every tried to get a spot at an Apple Store genius bar during a busy time, you know how frustrating it can be. Fortunately, you can set up an appointment using Apple's concierge service (either on a Mac at the store or online at home). But until recently, unless you were a ProCare member ($99/year), you could only make an appointment for later the same day. Fortunately, however, Apple has finally realized that it would make much more sense if you could schedule appointments further in advance. They have opened scheduling up to two days in advance for "guests" and 14 days in advance for ProCare members.

To make a reservation, just go to the Genius Bar page and select your local Apple Store from the drop-down list.

Thanks, Alex!

No, we aren't recommending that you pull a drive-by drop-off at your nearest Apple Store, but The Consumerist has a nice tip for beating those Genius Bar blues. Apparently, an anonymous and "disgruntled" Apple Store support employee sent them a tip on how to get the Geniuses behind the bar to whip out a 'Quick Drop' form, which allows you to simply fill out some paperwork and leave your Mac with the store. This allows you to work around all that pesky time waiting in line and getting diagnosed.

So if you're in a hurry, head over to The Consumerist and read the full letter to get the run-down on how to save what little time you have.

[Update: It's sounding like this tip might be bogus. We're receiving comments from those who claim to work at an Apple Store (we obviously can't verify) that the Quick Drop form doesn't exist, and the only way to receive any kind of express service at an Apple Store is to purchase a ProCare membership.]

Popsyndicate has an article today detailing the "Confessions" of a Mac Genius, aka a guy who worked at an Apple Store doing tech support. The guy had quite a lot to say. Here are a few highlights:

• Make your support appointments in advance. "Get a clue. Make your Genius Bar appointment in advance so that you're at least guaranteed a seat, even if it is an hour past your appointment time."
• Don't brag. "Don't come in here bragging about how long you've been using Mac's, or that you're a Mac tech at your company, or anything like that. It doesn't impress us and it makes you look stupid when you don't know how to do something simple, like reset your PRAM. We're only going to make fun of you, behind your back."
• Don't fall in love with your data. "[There is] a situation where a customers HD is failing and there's a high likelihood they will lose all their data. I would say something like 'Well, at least you can start over with a clean slate. How many people get that kind of opportunity in their lives?' Naturally, it is purely a case by case basis as there have literally been times we've had to break out a box of Kleenex at the bar."

So how typical is this guy and his attitude? The spin on the article seems to be that being a Genius is a low-wage, thankless job and that tools like sarcasm and making fun of your clients can get you through a day with crybaby customers, with the occasional "good customer" bringing out one's bright side. I've worked in the service industry. I know how difficult and entitled people can be, but the attitude put forth by this article just strikes the wrong note with me.

Pop over and read the whole thing. It's...illuminating.

Apple's Genius Bar will soon be able to add 'entertainment' to its list of things it does for people, as CBS has given two thumbs up for a show pilot titled Genius Bar. The show apparently follows the employees of a place similar to Apple's Genius Bar and their adventures with "the cool, hip and beautiful" employees of a nearby Ambercrombie & Fitch-like store.

Excuse me while I gag.

Ok, and.. we're back from the gagging break. What on earth are these people thinking? Granted, Apple is flying high right now, but hold the phone. If Apple wanted a show to pimp themselves and their products, they could have conjured (or had CBS conjure) anything cooler than this: a Matrix rip-off where all the white and candy blue code looks like AppleScript, and the Agent Smiths look more like clones of Bill Gates, or a CSI spin-off where all the lab machines are Xserves and Mac Pros, and all the camera work in the field is done with MacBooks and iSights.

Knowing CBS, the hip but slightly-too-arrogant Johnny from the Kinda-Genius Bar will have to cancel his date with Electra from Kimbercrombie & Fitch because he has to fix Heath Ledger's iPod. Ugh.

But who knows - maybe the saving grace of the show might be that its straight-from-radio pop soundtrack will be available from the iTunes Store.

It looks as though Apple's Concierge, their online system allowing for Genius Bar reservations, is undergoing a bit of an upgrade. There wasn't much warning, and we don't have any details of what shiny new goodies are going to debut, but it was an already pretty slick system that is bound to get even better if they're making this big of a deal out of it. Stay tuned.

[Upate: Someone (no, literally: "someone") in our comments pointed out that Apple has already rolled out this shiny upgrade to some of their retail stores, and you can already access it at the San Francisco's store site. Looks like a handy new system.]

I have been enjoying the 'Pure Genius' column over at Mac Geekery since they started running, and the most recent column is no exception. If you have ever wonder how much Apple Store employees know about upcoming products wonder no more (the answer is little to nothing). As always, misbehaving customers figure into the column. Am I the only one that is fairly pleasant to Apple Store Employees?

Go hug your local Apple Genius, and tell 'em Scott sent ya.

ifoAppleStore is pointing to a great Flickr find today: A (blurry) snapshot of John Stewart bringing his iMac into the SoHo Genius Bar for service (how he managed to get an appointment there I'll never know). The picture reminded me of these shots of John Krasinski from NBC's The Office checking out an iPod in an unidentified New York Apple Store.

Since we don't venture out of our secret TUAW offices in the gymnasium of the abandoned parochial school with any great regularity, we don't get to see many Mac-toting celebs in the wild. So, we're posing the question to you: Have you ever made such a sighting?