[Macworld.com]

Take it from a traveler who’s always forgetting to pack some sort of electronic paraphernalia — Apple should expand its retail efforts into airports. [more]

[Schneb]

Why not on the plane themselves? A small box with 3 batteries, adapters etc. with an ad card in the seat pocket. The airline would benefit from the ad space, and the service of supplying Apple customers will become well noticed. It would certainly be a LOT less expensive then having a static airport real estate.

[fribhey]

i don't see a point to having an apple store in an airport. every airport i've been in has stores that sell ipod accessories and of electronic accessories (including flash cards, readers, cell phone chargers, ipod chargers, heaedphones, etc, etc).

[tomtom]

Same here - at least for major airports likely to be viable for Apple.
I have been able to buy both a Canon Battery Pack (left the battery charging in the cradle at home) and the correct USB cable at a CE Shop.

[salmonstk]

Thi sis true. But why not have Apple take over that need and more. They could surely put the other place out of business. But the key thing here that all their stores also function as is marketing. People get stuck in airports for a long time. What do they want to do? Check email be entertained...
A small Apple store in major airports would offer a great opportunity for that. They would get hords of people just wanting to use the free airport reception (no pun intended) The guy or gal with the unexpected 8 hour layover would probably chucnk down 50 bucks for a game to pass the time.
I think this is a major opprtunity and expect we will see it when goos pace opens at a good airport

[solipsism]

If Apple sells iPods and accessories at Airports (and other such places), I'd like to see kiosks that access ITMS. A sales clerk can sell you a newly charged Video iPod, that you can instantly connect to the ITMS kiosk to DL your items. Even a free ultra-fast charging station for those who already own one. What am I talking about, soon all electronics will be banned from flights.

[mycatsnameis]

I think the idea of Apple Stores in airports is interesting but the premise for the story is a bit lame since all you likely needed was a standard => mini-USB cable and, as has been already pointed out, those types of things are often available in kiosks or stores in airports already.
Whether the concept of having Apple Stores in airports is workable depends, I think, on what Apple would expect people to do when they visited one. If being a cool place to kill time, maybe pick up a few accessories, buy an iPod or (for Windows users) learn about the Mac experience is the goal of an airport Apple Store, then I think it might be successful. But people don't go to airports to buy computers (arguably the primary purpose of a typical Apple Store). There are already vending machines in many airports that sell ipods and most accessories are widely available in airports anyway.
So (aside from having a cool place to kill time) that just leaves having a place for Windows users to learn about the Mac experience in an airport and I don't see that as a particularly viable business model. They need hand holding (knowledgable staff/Genius Bar) to decide to make the leap and besides, are you going to carry your new iMac (or worse, Mac Pro) box onto the plane with you? Not likely. Plus the stores are supposed to make money (or at least break even) so you need to be selling lots of volume to justify the (not inconsiderable) rent of airport real estate. Not going to happen IMHO.

[Ralph_Thornton]

I appreciate some's needs to have things at hand but I don't have an Apple store within a gizillion miles of my home here in Montana. Maybe one closer to me would be better--for me anyway. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[powerbrent]

The Apple Store in major airports is a good idea, but you probably just need an EMU to USB cable, like most camera use. Any cell-phone accessories stand will sell these as this is a very necessary cable for the RAZR & SLVR phones. I think it's more important Apple gets some better flagship sized stores in NW Portland, the Las Vegas strip, and a few other major retail markets before they open mini kiosks in airports across America.

[veggiedude]

With recent talk of banning laptops and iPods from planes, I think Apple and others will stay well away from airports. Who knows what will be banned next and when it will happen.

[Nobody]

Not having a laptop, but having an iPod mini, what is different about the recharger plugs/wallmodule?
Is there any reason that Apple could not combine them into the one unit which would get rid of at least one brick?
Some enterprising manufacturer could work on a similar brick to the iPod adapter but make it capable of working with cameras etc and have alternate voltages, hopefully auto detecting.
This was one reason I went with cameras and other devices that use rechargeable AAs. That way I have one small recharger to cover all my requirements. If someone could also work on rechargeable batteries with an external visible indicator as to state of charge they'd be onto a winner as well.

[Mississauga]

Are you kidding? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
If things go the way America would like, the only thing you'll be allowed to board an aircraft with is a tattoo! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Netizen_Kane]

[indent]Quote:

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Not having a laptop, but having an iPod mini, what is different about the recharger plugs/wallmodule?
Is there any reason that Apple could not combine them into the one unit which would get rid of at least one brick?
Some enterprising manufacturer could work on a similar brick to the iPod adapter but make it capable of working with cameras etc and have alternate voltages, hopefully auto detecting.

---

[/indent]
I've been saying something like this for ages. The big difference is that many devices don't have charging circuits built-in. Most egregiously, digital cameras. We need a circuit built in that can sense charge state and prevent overcharging (which shouldn't be hard since the gadgets can already tell you when they're low on charge and many cellphones already have internal smart chargers) and digicam and cellphone manufacturers should standardize on the mini-USB port so all we'd need is to carry one cable to both charge the device and transfer data if we're already carrying a laptop, just as with an iPod but without the proprietary connector. Or a small additional transformer if we're not carrying a laptop, again just like an iPod. But that's not going to happen. The manufacturers like selling expensive chargers to suckers, of which there are plenty out there.

[celiawessen]

[indent]Quote:

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Some enterprising manufacturer could work on a similar brick to the iPod adapter but make it capable of working with cameras etc and have alternate voltages, hopefully auto detecting.
This was one reason I went with cameras and other devices that use rechargeable AAs. That way I have one small recharger to cover all my requirements. If someone could also work on rechargeable batteries with an external visible indicator as to state of charge they'd be onto a winner as well.

---

[/indent]
Well, the Kensington chargers do have interchangeable tips for many popular devices... although they don't work with the new mag-safe plugs...
As a photo journalist, cameras that work on AAs are a MUST. And recently I found rechargeable batteries in Japan that are ALREAY CHARGED!
Back to the article... So, you need Apple stuff in a pinch. Then, somehow, consumers need to convince more local retailers to carry Apple products. Unfortunately, this saturates the market and nobody makes money. I guess power travellers need to remember to pack everything, lug everything, and pray everyday that nothing breaks on them.