CAMPING OUT AT BETHESDA ROW APPLE STORE - IN LINE FOR iPhone 5 [PHOTOS]

BETHESDA LINE

PALES AGAINST NYC

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

While New York's iPhone fanatics waited outside every night for the last week, ahead of today's iPhone release, Bethesda Row's Apple sidewalk was dead, dead, dead.

You may be forced to relinquish your Hipster Cards, Bethesda, should Forbes and the other "Top 10 Towns for ________" curators get wind of this Apple Apostasy.

Fortunately, by last night at 7 PM, a contingent of 6 brave souls had stepped forward to save us from an international embarrassment.  Yes, 6 people who realized that blankety-blank percent of life is just showing up, finally showed up.  As the hours passed, more joined them, to spend the night in the warm glow of the Apple logo, with promises of nothing more than a few slices of pizza.  Maybe.

If it seemed that there were more reporters asking questions than actual iPhone buyers in line, well, it wasn't just your night-before giddiness getting the best of you.  That Mix 107.3 van out front?  Uh, actually, they were across the street for the dog event on Bethesda Lane at Redwood.  Arf!

Personally, I think the new iPhone is a worthy competitor that does get trumped in several categories by the Samsung Galaxy S III.  There should be a good turnout throughout the morning, but it's too late to put the genie back in the bottle:  the fact is, the excitement level just wasn't there.  We know that, because the live bodies weren't there lined up all week outside the store.

iPhone 5 is anything but a failure.  But the response here in Bethesda is a warning to Apple:  the quality is there, but the magic is gone.  What's needed in an iPhone 6, is a feature, a concept, a revolution that brings the magic back.  What that is, has never been up to us, the consumer; Steve Jobs gave us products and features we never imagined or thought we needed.  The problem now is that Steve Jobs is gone.  Let's face it, the Google Glass presentation blew away any of the post-Jobs Apple product reveals.

Jobs/Apple fans like me will always have a nostalgia and affinity for the brand.  But it takes more than that to excite the masses.

After finding 6 people outside the Apple Store T-minus 12 hours before iPhone 5, I do know what Apple needs to address.  "Help Wanted:  Visionary."

BETHESDA ROW APPLE STORE REOPENS, AND I AM SHOCKED...SHOCKED!

RENOVATIONS REVEALED AFTER

FIVE DAY CLOSURE

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!!

Saturday morning on Bethesda Avenue, the matte black window and door coverings were meticulously removed.  The sun shone through the glass storefront at Bethesda Row for the first time in almost a week.

The new Bethesda Row Apple Store was revealed!

But the opening was a bit anticlimatic for followers of this blog.

That's because the renovations were pretty much the exact ones I had predicted last week when it closed.

New Startup Bays?

Check.

New and improved Genius Bar?

There it is.

New, large video displays?

You betcha.

And that is pretty much it.  Of course, as I noted last week, with no permits issued, and only 5 days to work, you couldn't really expect all that much.

But now the Bethesda Row store is one of the growing number that have the new Startup Bays.  In fact, the new startup service was being touted on the home page of machines on display, announcing it is now available at this store.

I think the new video screens are nice, and in general, the changes are all about improving customer service.  Most people in Bethesda are just glad to be able to take their devices in for advice or service, now that the store is open again.

Online rumors suggest the changes - and the video displays in particular - come in response to the hi-tech experience offered at some of the new Microsoft stores.

But, in my opinion, I doubt Steve Jobs ever spent a minute worrying about a Microsoft product.  I remember trying a Mac in a computer store when I was in 7th or 8th grade, and the machine pretty much sold itself.  No salesman necessary.  Unfortunately, I left empty-handed that day.  But Apple products still have that intuitive ability; we'll find out in a few years if Jobs took the magic with him.

Welcome back, Bethesda Row Apple Store!

BETHESDA ROW APPLE STORE CLOSURE IGNITES SPECULATION

What Will the Mystery "Renovations" Be? 

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!! 

The message was posted by the Bethesda Row Apple store without fanfare.  But in perhaps the most iPhone and iPad-obsessed town in the Mid-Atlantic, the reaction is one of shock.

As reported right here on this blog Sunday morning, the beloved Bethesda Row Apple store will indeed be closed today through Friday, for "renovation."

You have to understand, the Apple store is not simply a retail and repair shop for residents of downtown Bethesda.  It is a landmark!  People pose for pictures in front of it, as the luminescent Apple logo glows overhead.  The Apple store is arguably the anchor of the Bethesda Row development, and certainly the epitome of its aspirational character.

Once the surprise subsided, what does a town of iPhone toting, iPad clutching, iPod listening humans do but start speculating just what's going to be revealed on Bethesda Avenue this weekend?

I'm in the same boat as you, readers.  Although you can be sure the old, corporate media will get hold of this story by this afternoon, can their credential badges really get information out of the famously secretive Apple Corporation?

In fact, here's what I can tell you:  other Apple stores around the country - and as far away as Dubai - are closing for the same mystery renovations at the same time.   And folks in those cities are just as puzzled as we are.

It can only be so big of a renovation in only 5 days.  A Seattle Apple store that closed for about the same number of days last year reopened with a bigger Genius Bar, a new configuration of the product displays, and two Startup Bays, each outfitted with 55" monitors.  Startup Bays are the physical embodiment of Apple's shift from "Personal Setup" to "Startup Sessions."  

Rumors floating around the internet include more impressive, giant wall screens, new loudspeaker systems, new store security features and renovations of "Employee Only" areas, where repairs are made and coffee breaks are taken.

No new Apple product is being released this weekend, so it can't be that.

It's likely to be more iPad "smart sign" and furniture shuffling than a planet-shifting event.

But from what we've come to expect from the late Steve Jobs and Apple, it's likely the mystery results will please customers.  And any improvements will be as practical as they are stylish.

And a week of "Why is the Apple store closed?!" and speculation will give way to a weekend of, "Have you heard about the _______ at the Bethesda Row Apple store?"

What do you think is happening at the Apple store?  Feel free to post your speculation, or inside information, in the comments below!

Maybe Siri has the answer...

READING WITH

THE STARS

Bethesda Literary Festival Takes

Over Downtown Bethesda this Weekend

Today through Sunday is the 13th annual Bethesda Literary Festival. Of course, every day is a literary festival at the Bethesda Library and Barnes & Noble at Bethesda Row. If you're an English major or just mad about books, you'll want to attend every event. But for those who are short on time, here are the big stars, and when and where they'll be in downtown Bethesda this weekend.

PAMELA BROWN

ABC 7's news anchor and reporter extraordinare will be Mistress of Ceremonies, as awards for the festival's Essay and Short Story Contest are handed out. *Tonight* 7 PM, Hyatt Regency Bethesda (atop the Bethesda Metro station for those coming from DC).

R.L. STINE

Author of the Goosebumps series. Saturday, 11:30 AM, Bethesda Elementary School.

WALTER ISSACSON

Author of the bestselling "Steve Jobs" biography. Saturday, 12:30 PM, Doubletree Bethesda hotel.

THOMAS FRIEDMAN

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist; author of That Used to Be Us. Sunday, 11 AM, Doubletree Bethesda.

BOB EDWARDS

Longtime NPR host of "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition," now author of A Voice in the Box: My Life in Radio. Sunday, 12:30 PM, Doubletree Bethesda.