Page 235 - The Apple Experience

CHAPTER 16

Pay Attention to

Design Details

For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the
quality, has to be carried all the way through.

—Steve Jobs

An American couple living in the Yunnan Province in China’s remote

southwest corner walked into what they thought was an Apple Store. It had

all the elements: Apple products, an interesting spiral staircase, an upstairs

lounge, and staff in blue shirts with name tags. But the American woman

noticed something strange about the staircase. It was poorly made, and it

showed. The walls had not been painted properly, the staff’s name tags had

no names, and Apple never writes “Apple Store” on the sign. It just puts up a

glowing image of its iconic fruit logo. In the photographs the couple took

and published on their blog, wires and cables could clearly be seen cluttering

the wooden tabletops instead of hidden from view as they are in real Apple

stores. This particular store in Kunming, China, did turn out to be a fake,

and other rip-offs were soon discovered, up to twenty-two in total. The fake

stores were exposed because Apple pays attention to the details of design and

aesthetics. And someone noticed.

Those blue shirts the fake store attempted to copy were the result of
paying attention to design details, down to how retail store employees dress.