14 DAY TRIAL // Apple's Retail Store are quite famous, and not only for their design or services, or their stellar performance, but also for being a very cool place to hang out and keep up to date with MySpace. It appears that Apple is having such a hard time with teens spending time in the store that they have decided to pull the plug and block access to certain sites from the stores.
Usually stores have to deal with the problem of how to get potential customers to come in. Apple on the other hand, has to deal with the issue of how to get potential customers to leave. The stylish stores have now started gathering places for teens and young adults, and many are spending too much time on the computers available for testing. It seems that the stores were getting to many people loitering and using the unrestricted Internet access to the point where the stores become too crowded and people actually there to try out and buy computers were having a hard time finding a free machine.
At the top of the list is MySpace usage, which is not surprising, since quite a number of parent choose to limit access to the site from home computers. By blocking access to the site, Apple has not only giving loiterers one less reason to hang around, but is also avoiding any unpleasant situations where parents could start complaining that their children are using the stores to access inappropriate content.
According to ThinkSecret, "by the close of business Thursday, most Apple retail stores will have implemented the block." So far, it looks like MySpace is the only social networking site that will be blocked, but this might prove to not be enough. There are other similar sites, and if the stores continue to be a popular place for teens to hang out, Apple might have to take other measures.