I don’t always know for sure what I want when I go into an Apple Store, but I never want to wait 45 mins for an appt! Usually it comes down to 1-2 questions about storage, photo quality, screen tech, etc.

It doesn't make sense economically, and it is likely a side effect of a metric used on employee performance. Quick sale -> less time in store -> more time to help those that (actually!) need it. If you truly can't be bothered to take the money for an unambiguous transaction, Something Is Broken.

You’re not a candidate for upselling and both they and you know you’re going to wait or walk over to Best Buy and get an iPhone.

Revenue lost = 0

The percentage of HN types storming out screaming “I’m going to just go buy Android” is a rounding error.

Yeah but the shop itself has a long-standing user interface, ie people go into a shop to buy what they want. Ok Apple are catering to people who might not be certain and amenable to upselling, but not easily catering to people who are fairly clear about what they want, for example long-standing and valuable existing customers, is seriously stupid. It’s not like people are casually wandering into an Apple store looking to purchase a hoover or a Linux netbook.

> the shop itself has a long-standing user interface, ie people go into a shop to buy what they want

Over the last twenty years, more and more shopping is done online. Fewer people want to visit shops - those that do are usualy there to seek advice. The need for shops is changing and will become more like showcases for what you can do with the products and how they might fit into the lifestyle that you aspire to have.

It's probably actually about the opportunity to upsell. A single upsell on a MacBook to the next better specs pays for enough apple store employee time to make up for everything.

Citation needed. "Most Apple customers don't know what they want and need expert assistance and guidance."

Seriously? You think most Apple customers are developers or tech enthusiasts or meticulous shoppers? That's neither the majority of Apple customers nor their intended primary audience.

Your use of dysphemism in that paraphrase suggests a defensiveness and personal identification with your own consumption choices that are not helping you assess Apple's strategy here.

You hit the nail on its head. This is HN where mostly everybody knows tech, geek out about specs and learn about devices ahead of time. But Apple sells to a general population that is far less knowledgeable and mostly lives by "new phone good". Either guidance or upsell Apple knows what they're doing. We are not the usual demographic in an apple store.

ill gladly bang the drum about how insulated the HN bubble is, but this opinion specifically is bizarre to me. why does this have to be one size fits all? when someone walks in and says "i know i want this, let me buy it" how is it unreasonable to expect Apple to realize that it can skip the default flow?

Maybe they've found that most of the time the customer is mis-informed and doesn't really know what they want. I don't know, but I expect they've got more data than you or I.

But tons and tons of stores cater to customers seeking guidance through their purchases, yet if you show up knowing exactly what you want, they are only all too happy to take the easy sale.

I always excessively research big purchases, and so I have never in my life walked into a store like this without already knowing what I want. For example, walk into a sewing machine shop ready to buy without asking for any demonstrations, and see how almost giddy the staff get about it. Salespeople and shop owners often tell me how much they appreciate the rare customer who comes in ready to buy; it means more sales for less work.

It seems weird to turn those customers away instead of perceiving the sale as an unexpected-but-welcome freebie like 99.9% of other retailers do.