The VAR Guy

Amid the horrifying news of the devastation wrought by the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami in northern Japan, The VAR Guy has been touched by one story in particular. Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com,  posted on his blog e-mails from an Apple Store Japan employee who explained how Apple stores became bastions of communication and safe havens during the aftermath of the disaster.

The VAR Guy can’t believe this one, but it’s apparently true. Apple is poised to build a brand new retail store — its biggest ever — in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. Here’s the deal …

Are you an existing Verizon customer who can’t wait to get your hands on the iPhone? Well, good news if you don’t sleep: You can pre-order one of the iPhones the service provider has set aside for you, dear existing customer, and it can be had Feb. 3 at 3 a.m. Eastern. The rest of you plebians can read on to see when you can get your mitts on the near-mythical phone …

When The VAR Guy attempted to boot up his MacBook Pro this morning, nothing happened. No Mac OS X desktop. No applications. Just blank blue screen. This is the third time in three years that our resident blogger has had a serious Mac issue. Twice before The Apple Store saved The VAR Guy’s day. But can The Apple Store come through again? Here are some thoughts.

For quite a long time Apple Stores depended on Windows CE-based point of sale (POS) devices from Motorola’s Symbol Technologies business. But in November 2009, Apple Stores started to replace those wireless point of sale devices with fancy new iPod Touches wearing a veritable suit of armor. It begs the question: Will Apple ever promote and sell its own POS handhelds to third-party retail stores?

As you likely know, Microsoft plans to open retails stores sometime in the fall (U.S. seasons). But a 140-page slide presentation — featuring a sneak peek at the stores — has been leaked onto Gizmodo.com. Hmmm. Here are some of early perspectives.

The past 48 hours have been filled with drama for me. My MacBook Pro died on March 15, forcing me to scramble for help from Apple while I shifted all of my blogging and business efforts over to a System76‘s Pangolin Performance laptop running Ubuntu. The experience reminded me: Ubuntu fills a growing niche where (A) Apple won’t compete on price and (B) Microsoft hasn’t competed on quality.

Dell launched a bunch of new laptops this week — yada, yada, yada — with a bunch of new features. As part of the product launch, Dell also introduced a new online community called Digital Nomads. Generally speaking, Dell has had a lot of success launching social networks for customers and consumers. But this time around, The VAR Guy is a bit more skeptical of Dell’s efforts.

Apple has found an intriguing way to train thousands of kids on Macintoshes this summer. The strategy involves free “camps” hosted at Apple Stores across the country. Thousands of kids — including The VAR Guy’s own sons — are signing up. Here’s why.

Thanks to poor service and support from JetBlue and a Westin hotel, The VAR Guy estimates that he lost about 5 hours of personal productivity this week. Our resident blogger was pretty darn frustrated — until a trip to the Apple Store restored The VAR Guy’s faith in customer service. Here’s what happened.