[wonderyak]

Sure its fun to laugh at things people said that turned out very, very wrong. I think one of the basic premises isn't all that far off though:

>The way Jobs sees it, the stores look to be a sure thing. But even if they attain a measure of success, few outsiders think new stores, no matter how well-conceived, will get Apple back on the hot-growth path.

Sure, that's short sighted but its not quite wrong. The stores worked out because new and exciting products drove people there. Apple finally had a way to sell their vision the way they wanted to.

[Smushman]

Absolutely. It was not the stores that made it work, it was the new products. If it was just Macs for sale, it would have likely turned out as the author prognosticated.

Still though, reading this, I wonder if Steve knew that as well going in, and already had bigger plans in mind.

[tantalor]

The first store opened on 15 May 2001. The iPod was launched 5 months later.

[omilu]

very good point, store front or no store front, the "secret" to achieve apple like success is to design something with the mass appeal of the ipod et al. The article wasn't explicitly wrong.