Best Buy is Ruining the Ipad.....

[samcraig]

I didn't have any problems at my local BB in Manhattan - a very busy location too. The apps loaded at the store were all iPad apps - none were iPhone apps.

Apparently - YMMV as per this thread. But you can't just make a blanket statement that Best Buy is ruining the iPad. What does that even mean anyway? Having some crappy apps on display doesn't "ruin" the device.

 

[keyofnight]

I've had equally sour experiences with Best Buy, but I also know people who work there.

I don't mean to start a flame war or anything like that, but a lot of the attitudes I see here are a little snobbish. (; I know people that work at Best Buy. They have lives, drama, workplace stress, and so on—of course, we all do. They simply choose to just do their job and make fewer intellectual investments in Apple products.

Are we better than them for knowing more about the technology (namely, what apps would sell) than they do? What do they have to gain? The iPad sells itself.

As far as I'm concerned, Best Buy employees only have two responsibilities: (1) tell me where the hell things are, (2) handle the cash transactions.

Don't get me wrong: a knowledgeable employee can be a life saver, and I've had my fair share of incompetent employees making things more difficult. I just think it's just pointless to stew over their shortcomings.

 

[Abyssgh0st]

That isn't true. If an Apple Expert went to the store and installe the correct firmware, there are over 20 iPad specific applications that work and look great. At my store none of our iPads have stock iPhone apps.

 

[col sandurz]

But I must admit, besides cell phone plan details, I don't think there's a single subject regarding their merchandise that a Best Buy floor employee knows more about than do I.

This is so true for merchandise all across the stores. The problem is with BB's hiring and training model. They want to hire people who are interested in electronics and have some knowledge of the field to begin with. Unfortunately, they get young people who just want a job and don't care about the product. For this demographic, a bunch of information in a binder is not going to cut it. They won't even crack that binder beyond the day they receive it. Many times, they are so unaware of the products features, they don't know how to optimize the product or let you test all of the features. I once had a BB employee get irritated with me because I was fiddling with the settings on an HDTV, changing it to an SD channel, and trying to get it to pillarbox instead of stretch.

 

[aristobrat]

APPLE sent BBuy the demo units... They're NOT just units taken out of the normal stock, but special Demo units with specific software pre-loaded on them.

Apple did the same thing to its stores.

All iPads opened the morning of the launch, to be used for store displays, came with an image that only had iPhone apps on it.

However, Apple Stores were instructed to download/install a new image (that had iPad apps) before putting the iPads out for display.

Maybe Best Buy didn't get those instructions. Or maybe they did, and just failed to do it.

I think Best Buy and Apple both suck for not having discovered and corrected this issue by now.

 

[2002cbr600f4i]

Exactly... Keep in mind that the typical retail employee doesn't make much above minimum wage, you shouldn't expect superior product knowledge. As the person above said - I expect them to tell me where stuff is, handle the financial transaction, and that's about it.

The problem is that many people who come into the stores to buy technology know absolutely nothing about it, and look to the employees for help. It's a case of blind leading the blind. If they REALLY knew tech stuff, would they be working at BBuy for minimum wage? I think not. So you have people giving out incorrect or bad information to people who don't know any better, and that often leads to headaches later.

Frankly, I blame the buyer in that situation for not being an informed consumer as much as I do the employee for not giving accurate information. I used to jump in and give my $0.02 when I'd hear an employee giving incorrect info to another customer, but more often than not it just got to be a huge hassle so I don't do it anymore. If people can't do a little research in order to spend their money wisely, they deserve to get products that don't do what they need.

 

[barkomatic]

I went to both the Apple Store and the Best buy store.

While the Apple store has alot of apps catered toward the Ipad's full screen. There are many units at Best Buy that just used the Iphone apps. That's the worst thing to do. They look beyond ugly and it just adds the "big iphone" legend.

People who were like ..."oh wow" were people who saw the Ipad's true potential and that requires IPAD APPS!!!!.

Reason Number 1230805373498437 on why Best Buy has the dumbest employees EVER.

I don't stress about this because that's Apple problem! It's always surprised me a little that Apple chose to allow big box stores to carry their products-- because we all know the condition of demo units at these places and the employees who aren't knowledgeable about them. I suppose they felt the extra retail channels outweighed the negatives.

My local best buy in Union Square is no different. The units are working and have decent apps, but none can connect to the internet--which is a big selling point for the iPad. I can't really fault the employees--they have to manage literally thousands of gadgets whereas an Apple employee has a much more narrow product line to be familiar with. I don't think Best Buy employees make that much either so the motivation isn't really there.

 

[samcraig]

Exactly... Keep in mind that the typical retail employee doesn't make much above minimum wage, you shouldn't expect superior product knowledge. As the person above said - I expect them to tell me where stuff is, handle the financial transaction, and that's about it.

The problem is that many people who come into the stores to buy technology know absolutely nothing about it, and look to the employees for help. It's a case of blind leading the blind. If they REALLY knew tech stuff, would they be working at BBuy for minimum wage? I think not. So you have people giving out incorrect or bad information to people who don't know any better, and that often leads to headaches later.

I will say that one area that SOME BB employees are good at is being able to tell you whether or not they've had a lot of returns of product a vs product b. I'm one of those that 9/10 times knows more than the salesperson - I don't begrudge them. But it's always great to pick their brains a bit in finding out, like I said, if a certain model has been "coming back to the store" more than others and why.

 

[fishepa]

I have no problem with BB. I also do not ask them for advice or anything either.

 

[traylorc]

Folks...if at the end of the day Ipads are not displayed in a manner that best represents the product...I have place the majority of blame with Apple.

I'm not Best Buy fan boy, but Apple chose to partner with Best Buy!!! As this thread clearly demonstrates, there are numerous issues with Best Buy ranging from employees that don't know their products to poor customer service. And yet, Apple elected to engage in a joint venture with Best Buy. Don't get me wrong, Best Buy could be handling the situation better...they could make sure their employees are knowledgeable about their products, they could make sure the ipad is ideally optimized.

But when you elect to partner with a corporation known for questionable customer service and suspect employee knowledge does it surprise anyone that BB has dropped the ball?

 

[steviem]

If it means they'll be some 16GBs in stock in a couple of weeks, I don't care if they smear the display models in vaseline and run a vnc session to a Windows 98 terminal....

 

[dojoman]

Bestbuy is the worst place to buy ANY Apple products. They are mostly idiots who just want to help you for commission on sales.

 

[Chodite]

Bestbuy is the worst place to buy ANY Apple products. They are mostly idiots who just want to help you for commission on sales.

Except not at all. BB employees do not receive commission.

Frankly, I blame the buyer in that situation for not being an informed consumer as much as I do the employee for not giving accurate information. I used to jump in and give my $0.02 when I'd hear an employee giving incorrect info to another customer, but more often than not it just got to be a huge hassle so I don't do it anymore. If people can't do a little research in order to spend their money wisely, they deserve to get products that don't do what they need.

THIS.

 

[kas23]

I agree. The Apps on the current iPads are ugly. If I didn't know any better (and believe me, most Apple customers don't), I would never buy an iPod because these Apps look ugly. There is no way the average customer is going to know that these are iPhone Apps that are scaled upwards. They're just going to see all the pixels and cringe. In fact, I'm shocked Apple ever allowed iPhone Apps on the iPad. They're damn ugly and un-Apple-like.

 

[steviem]

It kinda makes you wonder about all this 'Resolution Independence' Jobs was talking up a few years ago...

 

[MacVDS]

I agree. The Apps on the current iPads are ugly. If I didn't know any better (and believe me, most Apple customers don't), I would never buy an iPod because these Apps look ugly. There is no way the average customer is going to know that these are iPhone Apps that are scaled upwards. They're just going to see all the pixels and cringe. In fact, I'm shocked Apple ever allowed iPhone Apps on the iPad. They're damn ugly and un-Apple-like.

Hmmm. So I wonder who all the people are that keep buying all the units BB gets in? Do they really need to convince people to buy one at this point?

 

[Love Juice]

its not always best buy. i went to best buy on launch day to take a peek since b4 i bought it at apple later that day.

people were signing into itunes and dl'ing apps to see how they looked, many of then non-native ipad apps.

 

[danny_w]

I'm not relying on Best Buy or their employees for any of my buying decisions. The only time I talk to them is when I need something not on the sales floor.

I would say the same about the Apple store or most any retail outlet for that matter.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Agree, but ultimately, the blame goes to Apple. It chose BB as one of the few non-Apple launchers, and the only big box store. Apple is falling down by not supporting BB in this area. BB should have rec'd pre-loaded "demo" units the same way they get pre-loaded demo units for game consoles.

The iPad is one product of thousands BB sells. If it draws people to the store but customers leave with a PC or a camera they really are not going to care too much as the iPad takes very little shelf space within the tiny area dedicated for Apple products.

 

[wombat888]

I have seen the iPad only in Best Buy so far - I haven't wanted to go into the Apple Store b/c I fear it's a zoo, and I'm not going to buy until the 3g model comes out anyway. However, I go by Best Buy every week or two anyway, so during visits, I've held/played with iPads twice.

I didn't notice any issues. I spent most of my time using the Web browser and the photo viewer, which are very nice. Also checked the calendar.

I didn't bother launching other apps since I figure the experience I get will vary greatly by app. I also didn't notice the iPads having other apps called up on their screens in active use, ie I don't think other users were really looking much at third-party apps either.

I don't think this is a problem.

 

[MacToddB]

I went to both the Apple Store and the Best buy store.

While the Apple store has alot of apps catered toward the Ipad's full screen. There are many units at Best Buy that just used the Iphone apps. That's the worst thing to do. They look beyond ugly and it just adds the "big iphone" legend.

People who were like ..."oh wow" were people who saw the Ipad's true potential and that requires IPAD APPS!!!!.

Reason Number 1230805373498437 on why Best Buy has the dumbest employees EVER.

My BestBuy has a great Apple rep. He has his own iPad in the closet and shows off his own, purchased apps, as appropriate.

 

[2002cbr600f4i]

My BestBuy has a great Apple rep. He has his own iPad in the closet and shows off his own, purchased apps, as appropriate.

Likewise, though, they're still just retail sales people... My coworker and I were at a BB store a day or two after the new Macbooks came out, which we're both going to be putting in to get here at work. While there, I was playing with the iPads while waiting on him to return some stuff. The Apple sales guy started talking with me, so I asked him what the diff was between the Core i5 and Core i7 chips were since we hadn't decided which to go with yet. Needless to say his answer was complete BS. To the point where I knew it was so blatantly wrong that I went over to the big iMac, pulled up the Apple site and showed point blank to him where it listed the differences and that his info was wrong.

In short - don't think the Apple sales reps in the black shirts know all that much more than the BB blue shirt folk. Again, if they really knew their stuff, they probably wouldn't be working the floor in retail...

 

[MacToddB]

Likewise, though, they're still just retail sales people... My coworker and I were at a BB store a day or two after the new Macbooks came out, which we're both going to be putting in to get here at work. While there, I was playing with the iPads while waiting on him to return some stuff. The Apple sales guy started talking with me, so I asked him what the diff was between the Core i5 and Core i7 chips were since we hadn't decided which to go with yet. Needless to say his answer was complete BS. To the point where I knew it was so blatantly wrong that I went over to the big iMac, pulled up the Apple site and showed point blank to him where it listed the differences and that his info was wrong.

In short - don't think the Apple sales reps in the black shirts know all that much more than the BB blue shirt folk. Again, if they really knew their stuff, they probably wouldn't be working the floor in retail...

Your mileage may vary. This guy is a power user as well, and Apple has flown him to Cupertino (I'm in Upstate NY) for the iPad launch, etc. I also have a senior citizen friend who works at the Apple store. I worked with him 10 to 15 years ago, when I worked at Sun Microsystems and he is quite the guru, so you never know. Some people just like to interact with people and share knowledge. Seek them out.

 

[javaGuru]

Likewise, though, they're still just retail sales people... My coworker and I were at a BB store a day or two after the new Macbooks came out, which we're both going to be putting in to get here at work. While there, I was playing with the iPads while waiting on him to return some stuff. The Apple sales guy started talking with me, so I asked him what the diff was between the Core i5 and Core i7 chips were since we hadn't decided which to go with yet. Needless to say his answer was complete BS. To the point where I knew it was so blatantly wrong that I went over to the big iMac, pulled up the Apple site and showed point blank to him where it listed the differences and that his info was wrong.

In short - don't think the Apple sales reps in the black shirts know all that much more than the BB blue shirt folk. Again, if they really knew their stuff, they probably wouldn't be working the floor in retail...

Sounds like you already knew the answer to your own question. So, why did you bother asking the Best Buy employee?

 

[Soulcrux]

Sounds like you already knew the answer to your own question. So, why did you bother asking the Best Buy employee?

Just because he knew the answer doesn't mean that the multitudes of general consumers who are interested in Apple products do. The fact that he threw the employee down on his face makes me glad.