Kevin Rose received an email from an Apple Retail Manager in Japan documenting how Apple responded to the devastating earthquake. Here’s a snippet:
7 hours and 118 aftershocks later, the store was still open. Â Why? Because with the phone and train lines down, taxis stopped, and millions of people stuck in the Tokyo shopping district scared, with no access to television, hundreds of people were swarming into Apple stores to watch the news on USTREAM and contact their families via Twitter, Facebook, and email. Â The young did it on their mobile devices, while the old clustered around the macs. There were even some Android users there. (There are almost no free wifi spots in Japan besides Apple stores, so even Android users often come to the stores.)You know how in disaster movies, people on the street gather around electronic shops that have TVs in the display windows so they can stay informed with what is going on? Â In this digital age, that’s what the Tokyo Apple stores became. Â Staff brought out surge protectors and extension cords with 10s of iOS device adapters so people could charge their phones & pads and contact their loved ones. Â Even after we finally had to close 10pm, crowds of people huddled in front of our stores to use the wifi into the night, as it was still the only way to get access to the outside world.
The support provided by the Apple Store is amazing. Read the rest of the story via the link below.
