In the quiet hours ahead of tomorrow’s “Let loose” Apple event, I have a few brief items to share.
On Friday, Deirdre O’Brien’s Instagram account disappeared. The account did not seem to be hacked or defaced, it simply vanished. I asked Apple what happened, but didn’t hear anything. Those circumstances, combined with the Friday, post-earnings/pre-event timing of the disappearance, suggested to me that this was possibly a strategic choice.
I spent most of the weekend trying to think through why this might have happened. If not compelled by some legal issue or an internal leadership change, I reasoned, there was no satisfying answer. My initial thought was that perhaps Apple wants to lessen its reliance on social media platforms — a very reasonable position. But I’ve seen more Apple ads on Instagram in the last few months than the entire decade prior. And other Apple accounts still post on Twitter/X, the more unsavory of the two social networks.
Roughly twelve hours before publishing this newsletter, the account reappeared. What a relief! As I wrote in my review of the Vision Pro demo experience:
My Vision Pro demo was unlike any experience I’ve ever had before at a retail store. Outside of Deirdre O’Brien’s Instagram, the store employees making all of this work don’t get enough credit.
For the teams dedicating their lives to making the stores the best they can be, Deirdre’s Instagram is the only external channel where they can celebrate their achievements and feel a public sense of recognition. Store employees love the account, and the Apple community loves to get a glimpse of a side of Apple seldom in the spotlight. Deirdre shares her store visits, news about new locations, and mostly importantly, personal stories from individual employees at Apple making a difference.
The idea of all 450 of those posts published since April 2019 vanishing without a trace was incredibly sad to me, especially because the Internet Archive cannot effectively capture social media profiles. Apple doesn’t delete its old press releases, and even Angela Ahrendts’ Twitter account is still online. I did not anticipate this ever happening.
The temporary disruption has me thinking about the fragility of the ways we communicate and the relatively tiny window of visibility given to Apple Retail as a whole relative to its importance to the company. Maybe one account on a platform outside of Apple’s control does not suffice?
Apple Store app
This past week’s update to the Apple Store app caught my eye because of a 9to5Mac report that claimed the app now offers Shop with a Specialist over Video, the web-based online shopping experience Apple launched last March. As much as I’d love to see this feature in the app, I can’t find any reference to the service inside the latest version, and I think the report misinterpreted the release notes. Here’s what Apple wrote:
Get support during the purchase process with videos, including transcripts for those who need them.
A few years ago, Apple began filming Apple Support videos at Apple Park Visitor Center. The clips covered common Apple Store questions, like how to trade in your iPhone. Later, Apple expanded the series to the Apple Store online with videos embedded in the purchase flow. These clips attempt to eliminate confusion during the checkout process, answering questions like, “how much space do I need?” and “do I need AppleCare?”
I was able to view these videos in a previous version of the Apple Store app as well, but last week’s update is a good reminder of how the video library has continued to grow. There are now videos available for all models of iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro. Even better: every video includes a downloadable transcript.
Committing to producing clips like this requires real, sustained investment. The videos are almost by definition ephemeral and will need be reshot often to stay current.
A fleeting moment
David Di Franco recently uploaded an archival video of his trip to Apple SoHo and Fifth Avenue in early 2007, shortly before the launch of the iPhone transformed the Apple Store experience. There is no shortage of old Apple Store videos online, but I enjoyed this one specifically because it’s so… normal. Most of the Flip camera-era footage on YouTube is from new store openings or product launches, when the store is packed with people and filled with excitement. This clip presents a rare look inside the stores as they appeared on an average day in the early days. I recommend that you watch it.
Featured image
Apple Kärntner Straße
Photo via @LilloCrunch.