The Apple Store invades the world
On the 30th of November 2003 Apple opened its first retail store outside the United States, as Owen Linzmayer and Bryan Chaffin promptly note on the “This Week in Apple History” website.
The honour was given to Japan with a five-floor Apple Store designed by Paul Warchol, located in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district and staffed by Mac specialists who speak 10 different languages including Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Korean, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and English.
The first Tokyo Apple Store joined the 70+ the company had opened in the USA since May 2001 and, according to Apple’s senior vice president of Retail Ron Johnson it was meant to bring “the best personal computer buying experience to one of the greatest shopping destinations in the world”.
Picture of the Ginza Apple Store window by Matthew Tammers
The hands of Cupertino
If you take a look at Apple’s output of information and promotional material there is one thing that stands out: the prominent use of hands.
During its’ thirty year the Cupertino company has conceived, produced and release an incredible amount of products and strategies but has been incredibly consistent in its imagery. Be it the need to explain the workings of the mouse, to show the very small footprint of its computers on the desktop or the reduced thickness of a player, the professional results one can get, the revolutionary interfaces or just how easy the networking is, Infinite Loop’s “hands on” and extremely personal approach is unmistakable and very clear from the iconography of Apple’s ads throughout its history.
