Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront - Gizmodo Comments

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

CharlotteBartlett1- — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:47:53 EDT

Actually I am pro virtual environment. Personally I don't want to wait for an appointment in store to get attention my questions asked.

In addition, if Apple teamed up with say Adobe (hint!) and then provided training and coaching for things such as photoshop in that environment I would jump on it like hot cakes. I was never a good manual reader and like to interact but don't have time / live distant from a place I could train for real.

The website is still great if you know what you want and get in and out...but those of us who want a more considered approach and also socially connect who can't get to a store, I think great idea!

And Apple should get into Second Life (Trademark of Linden Labs) their stuff is already bootlegged in there for at least 18 months that I am aware of which profits are made from and if a company is not actively protecting it's trademarks.....need I say more?

CharlotteBartlett1-

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Gofastmazda — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:07:46 EDT

So instead of making their products less expensive and more accessible, they're going to drop millions of dollars into making their website more tedious to shop on.

And people wonder why apple will never breach 15% market share. Crap like this maybe 1% of the population cares about, the rest will abhor.

Gofastmazda

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

jvt — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:54:34 EDT

looks very 90's. do not like

jvt

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Subterfuge — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:42:17 EDT

I'm a PC guy. This is brilliant.

Why? Because people will start to go there just to hang out. They will be exposed to the products more frequently while wandering aimlessly in the store/world-complete-with-shifting-weather-patterns because virtual worlds are addicting and you all know it.

Subterfuge

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Geisrud — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:13:22 EDT

So I can get to deal with crowds and get rained on

...complete with changing weather and avatars...

from the comfort of my own home?!?!

Isn't technology grand.

Geisrud

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

hooked-on-tronics — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:48:39 EDT

I choose the websites that occupy my time based on their simplicity and ease of navigation. I hate splash pages and flash and any page that has to reload all its animations everytime I hit "back". I'm in, I'm out, I'm movin' on and I have games for those times that I need a little interactivity. Now get the hell off my lawn, Jobs.

hooked-on-tronics

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

thepeopleselbow — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:01:43 EDT

Will it be like other virtual worlds? Where one customer drops totems of 10% discount and is immune to sales tax, and other gimped customers can't purchase items when they are in feral forms?

thepeopleselbow

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

frigg — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:19:31 EDT

A 3-D evolution of the online store seems inevitable, but if you turn an online store into a social network, what stops people from networking socially? I can't see Apple letting that happen.

frigg

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy! — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:49:27 EDT

I don't see this happening for a long time, if even at all. Seems too....silly.

Apparently, the candies in those big glass bowls in the lobbies at Cupertino are a bit too "natural" for their own good.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

meropealcyone — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:50:07 EDT

" C'mon Jobs, time to get a JOB!"

What does that even mean?

meropealcyone

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:32:47 EDT

Because Apple wants to model its next business plan on something that is a bunch of hot air, caps out at 75,000 users online at any given time (most of whom are unpaid subscribers), and is down for maintenance every weekend from 10 AM Saturday to 10 PM Sunday.

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

aR-Tard — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:48:58 EDT

Looks like Apple version of PS Home to me.

Oh wait, PS Home still isn't out. My bad. :(

aR-Tard

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Hiphopopotamus — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:40:14 EDT

The online Genius Bar won't be able to fix the MacBook WiFi dropout epidemic either.

Hiphopopotamus

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

DW — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:52:28 EDT

I love this idea. But, a LOT of iTunes users are people who are not computer-savvy, so I can also see how it would confuse people.... unless this is intended to be an EXTENSION of the Apple services (a la Zune Social) instead of a storefront replacement. That might work well.

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

phryed — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:49:34 EDT

i remember eworld, it was so exciting on my new 66mhz powermac.

phryed

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Messer — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:48:38 EDT

I'm pretty sure life only exists in the minds of marketing execs who believe it is some great untapped resource.

Messer

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Falconfire — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:43:33 EDT

@dOk: they all do, you realize that? Microsoft and Apple alone issue about 20-30 patents a month, and they are the low end orf patent hounds.

Falconfire

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

dOk — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:23:21 EDT

So...

Apple is going to patent something that already exists in a game thats been out for years?

IS there anything Apple isn't going to try and patent? Or is His Steveness the reincarnated Thomas Edison now?

dOk

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Falconfire — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:45:02 EDT

@calebc: perhaps it was a confusion with iTools? But even iTools ceased to be as it was in 2002 (turning into .mac)

really I dont know where the 2004 date came from.

Falconfire

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Falconfire — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:43:08 EDT

umm eworld closed down in 1996... how could it "unlaunch" in 2004 when it was dead for nearly a decade by that point...

Falconfire

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Computer_Chef — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:21:34 EDT

Looks more like Google Street View to me. They may possibly be interested in unifying their online store with their retail presence. Apple Store View, if you will. :-) Seems like something they should have been pushing back when they were pushing QuickTime VR.

Regardless, it's a bad idea, and for the same reason that Surface is a bad idea. The real strength of a computer interface is to go beyond what a physical experience can offer. Just like I don't want a stack of papers dumped on the table in front of me, I don't want to wander aisles blocked by people trying to find something.

That said, Apple is pretty late to the game when it comes to user-generated content. How long has Amazon (and others) had things like reviews and "also bought" recommendations? You won't find anything engaging like that at all on Apple's site. Rather odd, given that they have technology like that in use for the iTMS. I don't see how any of that requires an "atmosphere" update, though.

Computer_Chef

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

jonahman2003 — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:17:26 EDT

so does that mean i can be hired to work at the store?

jonahman2003

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

calebc — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:06:48 EDT

@ducttape38: According to Wikipedia; Yes. I know I'm getting old and the memory is starting to go, but I though I would have remembered something like that from 2004.

calebc

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

lpranal — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:06:06 EDT

our question for Steve this afternoon is pretty straightforward: How will the Genius Bar respond to a bouncing penis-filled griefer attack?

From the looks of the diagram, it appears they are prepared to respond in kind- with terrible late 90's metal.

[www.spectorbass.com]

lpranal

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Mongoose — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:05:23 EDT

This is less SecondLife and more IMVU. And it's not even that.

Mongoose

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

ducttape38 — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:58:46 EDT

Wasn't eWorld launched in 1994, not 2004...?

ducttape38

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

taoprophet420 — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:46:37 EDT

i could see this being big in itunes since u have to have an apple id anyway. would be a fun way to shop for music.I think the easy layout of the apple store itself is hard to beat, Didn't it win some awards for best company website?

taoprophet420

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

redkamel — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:43:32 EDT

the whole plus of online shopping is I dont have to wander around a store. Why would I want to virtually wander around a store?

redkamel

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

mferrari — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:40:31 EDT

Great, I can let my crappy computer take a half hour to let me walk to the MacBooks.
Fucking integrated graphics...

mferrari

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

DucatiGuy — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:33:19 EDT

What's next "virtual lines" we have to wait on when we purchase items? C'mon Jobs, time to get a JOB!

DucatiGuy

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Jonathan Friedman — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:30:14 EDT

If Apple did give the online store a facelift, they will definitely do something classy. Personally, I'm not really feeling the Second LIfe style store. One, its gonna slow down the way we buy things. Two, Apple's store right now is simple and very easy to use. And three, a virtual world store will just be weird. Imagine virtual employees, virtual geniuses, etc. Check out even more technology and Apple related news over at [blargKABOOM.com] we have the latest technology news that is important to the average computer user.
[blargKABOOM.com]

Jonathan Friedman

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

DanyBrancho — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:24:10 EDT

I would rather have the basic straightforward website. although this patent does appear o me to group itunes music store in with the rest of the apple store.... which would be nice, but having to waste time wandering around or setting up an avatar seems.... stupid

DanyBrancho

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

Evangelion — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:16:50 EDT

Cool.

Evangelion

Apple Patent Filing Hints at Second Life-Style Storefront

thailion — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:15:00 EDT

Looks like a good way to procrastinate.

thailion