One of the students in my Using Everyday Technology course at Washington University in St. Louis decided to act as a secret shopper for an iPad 2. She had never owned or even used an Apple product in her life, & had never been in an Apple Store. She also visited Target & Best Buy, in addition to the Apple Store. This was the last few paragraphs of her midterm:

The last store I went to as a “secret shopper” was The Apple Store in West County Mall. This is the first time I have ever been to an Apple store. It was quite an experience. The store was crawling with people and was completely packed. I was greeted at the door by an Apple associate. He asked me how he could help me. I told him I was interested in the iPad2 and had some questions. He walked me over to the iPad2 display and told me all the associates were currently with other customers. He suggested I look around at the display and he typed something in the computer and told me the next available associate would come over and talk with me.

The display was a lot more impressive than Target and Best Buy. There were more iPads and a lot of information at your fingertips …

In conclusion, I know that if I ever want to buy an Apple product I will go straight to the source. I won’t go anywhere else except an Apple store. They know their products better than anyone else and go out of their way to make sure you know what you are getting. They offer full support to their customers and quality service. I am very impressed with the iPad2 and would love nothing better than to be able to purchase one.

Interesting perspective from an adult who’s self-described as “behind the times with technology”.