As we discussed yesterday, there have been quite a few instances where Apple’s retail plans have been re-evaluated or changed to meet the needs of the business or traffic in the store. Without further ado, here’s the final installment of my Top 10 Apple Retail Flops. If you missed the first half, you can read it along with the great commentary here.

One to One

This service, originally called ProCare when it was launched many years ago, has evolved and evolved and evolved more times that we can count. Originally offering simple one hour personal training sessions on whatever a customer wanted, the service transitioned into more outline oriented topics, including generic Getting Started and Moviemaking Basics type sessions.

Customers were eventually limited to one appointment per week and were given a nice book to track all of their notes from the sessions. The cost of these notebooks were expensive and were eventually replaced by a series of cards containing the One to One curriculum.

In yet another attempt to go green, or save money, Apple moved the curriculum online and now limits customers to renewing their One to One membership two times (for a total of three years of service). This is similar to AppleCare, but leaves many users upset because it must be purchased at the same time your Mac is purchased. Upsetting? Read some of the feedback from our readers.

Rhonda

Many were unaware of the existence of Rhonda, which was ultimately the reason for its failure. As a solution for missing customers who are unable to get the attention of a Mac Specialist, Rhonda was a system that allowed, upon activation, the desktop background of the Mac to turn a bright red, alerting the attention of any nearby employees. (Think about the Beach Boys song “Help Me Rhonda.”)

Many customers were scared off by this sudden color change and even more didn’t know the system even existed. If you were using a Mac and you clicked a button and the screen suddenly turned red, would you run away from it? Adding insult to injury, a timer also started when Rhonda was launched so a Mac Specialist knew exactly how long it had been since the system was launched. When the screensaver would activate, employees would have no idea if Rhonda was on or not, leaving them to eventually find timers that had been running for hours at a time. Rhonda quietly disappeared about half a year after it was launched.

The Welcome Desk & Cash Wrap Removal

Around 2006, newer stores experimented with the idea of a “welcome desk” or a central place when you first walk in where visitors could register or check in for Genius Bar appointments. An evolution of the cash wrap, the welcome desk was designed to house several stowaway portables to be used as a cash wrap during busy times. As the stores shifted towards more EasyPay usage, these portables were used less frequently (unless the EasyPay devices failed).

Eventually, many stores were remodeled to remove their cash wraps and welcome desks, leaving the only POS besides an EasyPay to be at the Genius Bar, which is often already crowded as it is. Customers are often quite confused and they tend to congregate towards the crowded Genius Bars anyway where a Mac Specialist will ring them up.

Mac Express

During the 2004 holiday season, Apple introduced the idea of an iPod Express area, where visitors could quickly purchase an iPod and the most popular accessories without having to wait in long lines. For the 2005 holiday season, this concept evolved into also having a Mac Express area. The only problem is that for most, the process of buying a Mac is more than just a quick five minute process and the Mac Express area really was a dead part of the store. Some say that Apple championed this concept into Personal Shopping (as you could always find a lone Mac Specialist over in the Mac Express area to show you all about a Mac), but it was still quite a failure and a waste of space.

Acrylics

The acrylic displays found in the Apple Stores are quite iconic and specialized, from older displays that showcased the AirPort Express to newer acrylic displays that house iPods. One of the biggest blunders in Apple’s retail history were these iPod acrylics which made an easy target for shoplifters to quickly run off with thousands of dollars in iPods. The stores kept the acrylics stocked to show customers that plenty of iPods were in stock, but even this became problematic for Specialists to stay on top of because they never knew if a customer had removed an iPod to purchase it, or if someone had simply stolen it. Eventually Apple began using locking acrylics, which would allow only employees access. Still many stores had issues with thieves simply taking the entire acrylic unit and running away. Much to the happiness of employees and after an untold, but likely staggering, amount of product loss, Apple decided to remove the acrylics.

A big thanks for all the commentary and follow up that many of you provided for part one of this series. Once again, this list is purely my opinion and commentary on Apple’s retail initiatives and if you agree, or disagree, I would love to hear what you think.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
• Report: A Mobile Video Market Overview
• In Q3, the Tablet and 4G Were the Big Stories

As Microsoft proudly ventures into the retail world that has already seen quick entrances and exits by other vendors like Gateway and Dell, many Apple fans are looking towards the new Microsoft stores with mixed feelings.

Some of the more dedicated fanboys are quick to call Microsoft a copycat (and perhaps rightly so), but one thing that is certain is that retail is a tricky environment where you can quickly sink or swim. With Microsoft’s first retail stores right around the corner, I wanted to look at some instances in Apple’s retail history where it, for better or for worse, missed the mark.

EasyPay

With the stores seeing more traffic every year, Apple devised an innovative way to maintain more personal experiences with Specialists while also keeping traffic moving as quick as possible. The EasyPay solution, based on Windows CE, is a mobile device that functions as a Point of Sale (POS) for Specialists to use in completing a customer’s transaction.

While more advanced functionality has been added to these devices over time, including support for education discounts, split tender, and the like, the devices are still plagued by their lack of speed and reliability. Turning a negative into a positive, these devices were the first to allow customers to receive their receipts via email, which for those who have tried it, is super convenient. The question remains though, why has Apple not embraced the iPhone or iPod touch as a device to replace the bulky EasyPays?

Colored Shirts

One of the unique things many realize when visiting an Apple Store is how the employees stand out. For the first six years, Apple employees wore similar colored shirts that sometimes were differentiated by phrases or titles pertaining to an employee’s speciality. Though in more recent times, as Apple has shifted towards segmenting their store into different “zones,” Apple has moved towards having employees wear colored shirts that are unique to their position.

Specialists are found in light blue shirts while Creatives and Geniuses are prominently wearing dark blue. The rhyme and reason behind this could be one of two paths, making it easier for managers to quickly see where employees are located and/or to allow customers to easily determine which employee might be best to assist them based on their situation.

The truth of the matter, however, is that the colors are utterly confusing for many visitors. When stores are crowded, customers rarely seek out the “right color” employee, but rather are just happy to find any employee who might be capable of helping them. Teaching customers to recognize the difference between the colors and the corresponding roles in the store does take time and can be very hard to do, especially when many visitors to the store are still first time customers.

The iPod & Studio Bars

A few years ago, the “big picture” of Apple’s retail plans were to envision the store as divided into two areas, the “Red Zone” and the “Family Room.” The Family Room, located at the rear of many of the stores, is an area where returning customers come back for services like the Genius Bar or personal training. Along with the launch of the “Family Room” came the idea of giving stores a dedicated “Studio” bar and a dedicated “iPod” bar.

Similar to the comments expressed above about “training” customers to realize the right type of employee they need to find in the store, it was very difficult to show customers which bar they needed to visit for their needs. On top of this, the stores still face many customers who just “show up” at the bars (the Genius Bar especially) and are still unaware of the need to or process of making an appointment. Personally, I loved the idea of the dedicated bars as they provided a great resource and focus, but as time passed and space constraints became another problem for Apple to deal with, both of these bars got the boot.

The Red Phone

When the retail stores first opened, the Genius Bar featured a simple white back counter with one lone red telephone in the middle. This red phone, inspired by the original red phone during the Cold War, was to allow stumped Geniuses a quick connection to the Apple mothership where a definitive answer to any problem could be found. In reality, many stores never used the red phone (after all, the idea was the Geniuses are supposed to be geniuses, right?) and it was simply relegated to a more iconic status as it sat on the counter. Eventually the phones were removed.

The Theater

Another staple item found in the original retail stores was the theater, a large area in the back with a large rear projection screen and bench seating for customers. The theater was used often for product presentations and special events, including live streams of the MacWorld Keynote addresses for several years. Eventually the theater’s usage dropped and the area became a place to sit and wait for a Genius Bar appointment while enjoying looping product demo movies.

During remodels in 2006, many stores removed their theaters (though a few still have theirs, besides the flagship stores). The removal resulted in a dramatic increase in the brightness of the stores and allowed for more Genius Bar expansion. This was probably a good move, as Apple could still offer close interaction with large groups of customers via its Studio Bars, but the removal of those has made large product demonstrations more difficult.

Some may see these examples as instances where Apple has put business interests ahead of the customer experience that it prides itself on. Others may see these examples as instances where Apple has learned from mistakes and came out with a better experience in the end. With Microsoft opening its first stores soon, it will be interesting to see the trials and tribulations it experiences and how its retail strategy, like Apple’s, will evolve to sustain growth and profitability.

Stay tuned to the next part of this list tomorrow.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
• Report: A Mobile Video Market Overview
• In Q3, the Tablet and 4G Were the Big Stories

Apple has written the Categories menu on the new Podcast download area of the new app as “Catagories”. The error is even more unfortunate, as the correct spelling of the word can be seen at the bottom of the page.

Macworld humorously referenced back to Scott Forstall, Apple’s vice president of platform experience, who said:

I actually have a photographer’s loupe that I use to make sure every pixel is right. We will argue over literally a single pixel.

I’ve done the math, and in order to miss the word ‘Catagories’, Scott has overlooked eight hundred and six pixels… He needs to have a few strong words with whoever has been delegated the loupe in recent months.

It will be interesting to see what move Apple takes to correct this. Will they treat it as a priority and push out another software release fairly quickly, or will they simply wait until the next iPhone software update is due? Personally, I expect they’ll wait for a future release — updating the software on your iPhone can be a fairly lengthy process for users (especially those with slow internet connections), and they’re unlikely to be too concerned with a minor spelling error.

I’m interested to know — have you ever noticed any spelling mistakes with previous releases (iPhone or otherwise)?

EDIT: Well, it looks like Apple quickly fixed that issue by updating the download package. How unfortunate (for this article).

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
• Report: A Mobile Video Market Overview
• In Q3, the Tablet and 4G Were the Big Stories