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My Apple Store Experience

I just got back from my Genius Bar appointment at the Chadstone Apple Store and boy am I stoked. My iPhone 3GS dock connection has been playing up for a fair while, and I was getting tired of not being able to fully utilise my phone. I went to the store with reservations; StreetWise told me they no longer repair iPhones and warned that Apple themselves don’t do repairs, only $200+ replacements.

When I checked in the bar, we got to talking and I’ll admit I played a bit coy: “Really? My phone is 154 days out of warranty? Is that bad?”. Regardless, the lady was so helpful and we worked something out. It probably helped that the entire time we were talking about upcoming products, and how much I’m going to be spending in the store this year… iPad 2 (when it comes), iPhone 5 (when it comes), a next gen Mac Book Pro (when they come)… I even talked about how my girlfriend wanted to get me an Apple TV for my birthday, but even the Apple lady agreed that they’re not that appealing until something like an App Store delivers that “killer functionality”.

All in all, it was a great experience. We both talked openly about which features were great, and which ones needed work. I walked away with a brand new iPhone 3GS. Apple walked away with a new loyal customer. I’ve been thinking pretty hard about making the jump from Windoze this year. I think tonight’s experience pretty much sealed the deal.