Secret Weapon Labs

So I came, I went, and I almost, almost bought. The draw of Apple’s new store is quite magnetic. In this interview on CNBC, Jobs goes behind a tad of the history of the store and onto current Apple products, AMD chips, the iPhone, and more. Hit the Play button below:

Some History

767 Fifth Avenue is an interesting and famous address in New York City. It has housed the corporate offices of prominent Fortune 100 firms from General Motors, Avon, Estee Lauder, and a slew of other Wall Street and related law firms. At one point it was owned by Donald Trump, if I am not mistaken, and was sold to Harry Macklowe of Macklowe Properties, who proposed to Apple to open a subterranean store in the main plaza. It wasn’t always the most charming of spaces and used to house a below-ground Houlihan’s and other small stores. This plaza is directly across the street from The Plaza, The Plaza Hotel, Central Park, Bergdorf Goodman, and Cipriani (a famous Italian restaurant constantly filled with power-brokers and deal-makers).

Apple wasn’t thrilled with the idea but came back and proposed the 32ft cube entrance to the store. Which Harry Macklowe apparently liked.

The Execution
The plaza of 767 Fifth Avenue became a rather gargantuan pit. Below are chronological images of the construction progression (from Macklowe.com)

The Result
Apple has done it yet again. Few if any of the spaces that occupy the real estate centered around midtown Manhattan actually makes money. That is, the profit margin for a number of these locations is actually negative, and despite Apple’s significant $2,500 profit per square foot (according to the NY Times and CNN), it wouldn’t surprise me if the significant construction costs and operating expenses significantly outweigh the revenue generated by the Fifth Avenue Apple Store. Please remember this store does not have the lesson studios, Apple Theatre, and some other niceties as Apple Soho does. Nonetheless, I project this to be a temporary imbalance that will surely be normalized and “put in the black” within at the most, a year.

More importantly, Apple has laid an indelible mark on passive, noise-numbed, and blasé New Yorkers (and others) who now have, in addition to the generational icon sitting in their pockets and attached to their ears (and hearts), a near magnetic landmark that will likely become a large monument and mecca to Mac faithful, as I.M. Pei’s Louvre is to the art world.

In its first 24 hours, the store has already touched hearts and made connections. Surely, lovers have proposed in front of the Louvre and it only took 11 hours for it to happen at the Apple Store (Quicktime movie link - the stills are below). The point being that Apple has, yet again, notched up the ability for a small computer company to become a part of people lives out of love and not brute force. A post like this, certainly gives some insight into that.

I made it in at 2am, posted a comment on Binary Bonsai (just for fun), and then stayed for three MacBook raffles, which were done on the hour, every hour until 6pm. The gentleman next to me, a scrappy and tired 50+ yr old, was fading when they called out his name. His surprise and thorough enjoyment actually made me happy that he got it and I didn’t. There are few companies, if any, that could generate such a reaction. I can’t wait to see what they do next.