Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Apple Park, Visited

Last week, I gave my Apple talk to a delegation of business people from China. After the talk, we visit Apple's HQ at 1 Infinite Loop for a tour, photos, and opportunity to buy unique Apple products only sold there. On last week's tour we had an added bonus by also paying a visit the new Apple Park Visitor Center which had opened about two weeks earlier. The Visitor Center offers a nice view of the new Apple Park corporate HQ building. It's a large building; the Pentagon would fit in it. It's also an expensive building. Its $5B price tag makes it the most expensive building in the United States, and the fifth most expensive in the world.


The Visitor Center has three areas on the ground floor: store, cafe, and an AR experience area with a scale model of Apple Park. The building is covered by a rooftop deck with tables and chairs offering a relaxing view of the main Apple Park building. 


The group I lead was definitely one of the more excited groups I've spoken to. Immediately after my talk, some of them were stopping me for a one-on-one photo opportunity while still in the classroom. After our group photo, about 30 of them queued up to take more individual photos with me in front of 1 Infinite Loop. Then, inside the store, I continuously felt gentle tugs on my jacket sleeve for more photo opportunities. After the group boarded the bus and headed off to the airport, my translator and I had a chance to grab a cup of coffee and relax. She told me that it was almost unsettling to have been literally pulled in multiple directions as the tour group members requested that she translate their wishes to the Apple employees in the stores.

The Apple Park Visitor Center is open to the public – I highly encourage you to pay it a visit.

No comments: