The newest Apple Store that just opened in Austin on March 11 will be closing in 2 weeks… as planned.
It’s no surprise that the company that ‘thinks different’ thought differently about how to position themselves (and the new iPad 2) to the 13,000+ temporary SxSW residents of Austin. Once again, they did what now seems obvious… they found a great retail location, installed hardwood floors, painted the walls white and put oversized product hero shots in the windows… and they created this ‘pop-up’ store in 3 days.
What resulted was what we’ve now come to expect from the launch of any new Apple Product (read as slight upgrade): long line-ups, sold out product and lots and lots of conversation. The interesting part however was being there to witness the process of how that conversation radiated. From pre-opening tweets about a possible store (due to unusual amounts of Apple hooded employee sightings) to the posts and critiques about how Etsy had an even better temporary store, the conversation about the Apple Pop-Up moved like a wave into the presentations of keynotes and material of stand-up comedy and podcasts.
It was instant and you could feel the conversation moving… arguably and sadly, maybe even more than the conversation about Japan (at least initally).
So, what’s so impressive? After all, SxSW is a community where a Pee Wee Herman sighting will radiate in short time and many brands like Etsy and Playstation set up temporary shop. The difference is that at SxSW, being part of a conversation is now a requirement and even creating some ‘buzz’ is becoming table stakes. The true challenge is to be one of ‘the top conversations’ and whether they did it by design or not, Apple once again filtered to the top of the conversation.
As for the shortage of product, I like how my new favorite podcaster, Chris Hardwick put it… “temporarily sold out product at a temporary store can only be considered temporary sadness.”
As for Japan, the hot topic of ‘influence’ was put to work and the conversation about Japan was there as well… The SxSW community raised $65,000.
Note: Check out Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist Podcast #69 with a tiny, but special guest appearance by Darren Wood and Jim Kim (near the end).
