Don’t try to use your iPhone inside an Apple store

Great, Robbie, get rude to the poor sap who is making 8.50 an hour trying to enforce “corporate policy” to keep his/her job. I am sure s/he has a direct line to retail management and your rudeness to that person will go straight up the line and effectuate change.

Regardless of how you feel about the policy, why be such an ass? “Rude policies deserve rude responses” is that really what you think? Is this the best your generation has to offer: rudeness to the tyranny of a store policy? Man you live in a small, small world.

Bob: I wasn’t THAT rude. I said “you’ve gotta be kidding.”

Is that rude? Maybe. It was shocking cause I’ve taken pictures in dozens of Apple stores before without anyone saying anything. Even an Apple store employee here says there’s no such rule.

I’ve taken pictures in Apple Stores. Some of them are of Genuises and clerks. Seems to me that it turns on what store you are in or how some individual behaves.

Starbucks is another story. It did have an official policy of not allowing people to take photos in its cafes.

I think it depends on what store your in. My friend took pictures with her iPhone in an apple store and the staff didn’t seem to care.

@Podesta – I didn’t know that about Starbucks and I have taken pictures in there cafe and had no problems with staff.

As a former Apple Retail employee, I can confirm that Apple did indeed have a “no photographs” policy when the stores first opened. Then they did away with it in 2002 or ’3. Either that employee has been around quite some time and missed the memo, or she didn’t like you. I’m not setting the odds, but …

Giving “some lip back” to an employee for doing her job and enforcing company policy is rude and absolutely deserving of being asked to leave.

Donovan: in my store being rude to a customer that spent $20,000 was a fireable offense.

It seems very reasonable to have a no pictures policy, it seems like every business serious about security doesn’t allow cameras anymore. It’s harder and harder to have a personal cell phone at work anymore because they all have cameras.

Our first local Apple store was broken into the first month it was open. If having a policy against pictures helps prevent this, or if having such a policy reduces their insurance premiums, it seems quite reasonable.

I’d rather pay for the hardware and software than pay for the theft and insurance premiums allowing people to take photos costs us.

If you’re asked not to do something, don’t be a Scoble and give lip to the underpaid employees there to help you (do everything except waste store space taking photos for your own gratification and publication), do what the place is there to do… help you, and help other customers get access to the Apple products they want.

If you want to take photos, buy the product, take it to your own building, and photograph it there.

Wow, you come off as a real jackass with this one. You used to blog about interesting things, back when you worked at Microsoft. What happened to you?

Matthew: I got an iPhone. No SDK. Shoot me. If asking a store employee “you’ve gotta be kidding me?” is a jackass, well, then, I think you don’t get out very much.

And you might be happier reading my link blog, or watching my videos. There I just talk about cool stuff, not about stupid experiences in Apple stores.

Yeah sounds screwy!! But they cant bend over backwords just because we bought their products can they

Amusing!

I had a similar run-in at an Apple store and my first comment was about the posters on the wall that promote blogging and podcasting. Later the employee apologized and explained that I could take photos of the products and the store, just not the customers and employees.So there is some sort of policy in place, just be careful what you are taking pictures of.

Ed sez: “As a former Apple Retail employee, I can confirm that Apple did indeed have a “no photographs” policy when the stores first opened. Then they did away with it in 2002 or ‘3″

As another former Appler, I can confirm this as my experience as well. Unless they re-reversed their decision, I believe the employee was incorrect in disallowing photography. It should be noted the vast majority of corporate retail environments, esp. malls, disallow photography. Usually they fear people ripping off their designs. Spend millions on a redesign and have a competitor send in a photographer posing as a customer to steal it (it happens). Can’t really blame the employees. I don’t support it, since someone in the store design biz could just see your design, and go outside your store and write down notes or sketch… but never the less, that’s the thinking.

One can take pictures. You likely had a picture of someone’s credit information. You’re lucky you didn’t get locked up by mall police.

Stop being a negative jackass.

Monk: you stop being a negative jackass. The only photo I took is attached to this post. Do you see any credit information?

You also “can’t take” photographs in Macy’s, Sears, Bloomingdales, Nordstroms, Target, JC Penney’s Belk, Kroger, Publix, eatZi’s, Whole Foods, Pikes, Best Buy, Circuit City, WalMart, Walgreens, CVS, Office Max, Office Depot, Staples, Frys. Electronics Boutique, Comp USA, the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and in most shopping malls.
I don’t know why but it’s been like that as long as I’ve been alive.
Most of the time, you won’t hear anything about it form anybody, but that employee was just doing their job. You didn’t get specific about what you said but it sounds like you were being a dick. Considering how thin-skinned and defensive you are when anybody says anything even slightly critical of you or your friends, you’d think you’d be slower to dish it out.

Update on Starbucks’ photography policy: I just asked the managing barista at the Starbucks I’m posting from. She says the no photographs policy is still in effect.

Interesting as I never had problems using my camera phone in any of the stores are starbucks. I guess I have been lucky.

Maybe she just thought you were an ass?

WhoKnows: I didn’t say a thing to her before she came up and said “no photography.” She didn’t ask any questions. I didn’t say a single word to her. So, no way for her to know that.

“I was slightly rude. Here’s why I was: I have spent more than $20,000 with Apple in the past year, including two iPhones that have cameras and a third on the way.”

Did you get what you paid for? If so, you’re even. Spending money doesn’t entitle you to getting to break policy.

And as yet another former Apple retail employee, managers at the stores I worked at were always talking about the no photography rule. If it was no longer in effect, management was not aware, and most employees rely on management to get this kind of info. The official Apple document with such policies is very, very long and Mac Specialists don’t get paid enough to read it, especially if they are part-time.

If you’re concerned, shoot an email to store management and ask if such a policy still exists, as you were under the impression it was reversed. Maybe you’ll inspire someone to look into it.

Lastly, if you had a Genius Bar appointment regarding your troubles taking pictures with your iPhone or iSight, I assure you that the Geniuses would allow you to take pictures to show your problem. Comments regarding the policy as problematic in this way are asinine. Also, in my experience, you can take pictures with DEMO cameras and phones in the store to try out the functionality, as you won’t be keeping those pictures anyway, and store staff can easily delete them.

Many many other retail establishments prohibit photography on their premises. Do you people ever get out???

The policy is probably in effect so people won’t find themselves plastered next to some Anti-Apple article with the caption “Blind dumb lemmings worship idols at Apple Store”.

Many retail and restaurant chains and other businesses have no-photography policies. Whole Foods and Starbucks always come up in these discussions, and Seth Godin wrote about his experiences at a Stop and Shop here: http://tinyurl.com/28xgq6

What I think is clear from this discussion is that these policies are not widely known, are not consistently followed, and are a source of confusion, resentment and general unpleasantness when staff try to enforce them.

I think that private establishments have the right to forbid or limit photography, especially if there are legitimate security or insurance issues. But if they are going to have these policies, I think they need to be clear, posted and followed consistently. Maybe in the old days (five years ago?) no one thought to post these because most people weren’t wandering around with cameras, and the problem didn’t come up much. But these days, if you have to have such a policy, I think you need to post it to avoid such unpleasant encounters.

I was at the Boston Public Library this spring to do a training session about Flickr for local librarians. I was a little early, and when I walked in with my camera, I was wondering if I could take pictures of all the great artwork in the old building. But I was impressed to see the library’s photography policy clearly posted, which told me all I needed to know:
http://www.bpl.org/general/policies/photography.htm

Robert, perhaps the Apple employee was referring to their policy that YOU (Robert Scoble) aren’t allowed to take photos inside an Apple store.

Perhaps they know that photos that you take are going to end up on the scobleizer blog. LOL