Long story short: An Apple employee at the Apple Store in Palo Alto, California, spills the beans on how they track customers in their stores. Employees armed with iPod touches get notified when customers enter the stores with their location-aware iPhones (for services like in-store pickup or an appointment), or when customers request help using in-store iPads. All the employee has to do is select a customer in a queue, get their position on an in-store map, and voilà! An an employee walks up to the customer and assists them.
While new Apple Store customers may be dazed by the busy store’s atmosphere and integration with technology, experienced shoppers can take advantage of a unique shopping experience tailored for the customer.
We’re basically seeing the map-side of Apple’s in-store toys like Concierge, Scout, iQueue, etc. This isn’t new technology, but as geeks it’s nice to get behind the scenes sometimes.
