Okay, well, apparently we missed something during one of our many unscheduled hiatuseseses over the past year or so, or maybe we just misunderstood the whole situation from the beginning; didn't Apple's retail stores originally downplay their role in a hardware service situation? We could have sworn that early on, the Genius Bars were actively referring customers with Macs in need of repair to local Apple Authorized Service Providers, because promising not to horn in on the service side of the business was one of the ways in which Steve aimed to avoid being taken out by a sniper hired by Apple's own third party resellers. Like we said, we could well be wrong, but if we're right, then it seems that Steve has decided that the benefits of Apple retail stores sucking on a bigger slice of the service pie more than make up for the expense of Kevlar turtlenecks.

See, Think Secret apparently got hold of a recent internal Apple retail presentation which reveals that "Apple stores account for 20-25% of all Mac repairs in the U.S.," and the company doesn't plan to stop there: "by expanding the service business and offerings, the stores can grow revenue, build customer loyalty, and distinguish themselves from competitors." Reportedly Apple has plans to move PowerBook and iBook repairs in-house (right now the stores just ship 'em out for depot repair) and even put together a loaner program so customers needn't go Macless any longer than absolutely necessary. Which all sounds great for Apple and its customers, and like serious trouble for resellers who have already lost sales to nearby Apple stores and soon stand to take a big hit on service, too. Hey, Steve-- duck!

But the presentation doesn't just discuss an expansion of service; it's actually Apple's master plan for future retail success, of which service is but one prong. Most of it seems to be pretty tame stuff that's saturated with motivational buzzwords; for instance, did you know that the Apple retail mission statement is to "enrich people's lives with innovative, easy-to-use technology"? (Can we get that on a Successories poster?) As long as phrases like "total solution," "metrics goals," and "raise the bar even higher" don't make you yench uncontrollably, check out Think Secret's coverage to see where Apple retail is going next-- like a targeting of small business (Apple wants a full 20% of its retail store revenue coming from small business sales) and a "controlled, methodical expansion" of stores through 2004.

Interestingly enough, our own sources managed to obtain another Apple retail roadmap which looks a little further down the pike; whereas Apple is indeed planning to continue its "controlled, methodical expansion" through the end of next year, the first half of 2005 will see a switch to a "haphazard, higgledy-piggledy expansion," followed by two weeks of a "mellow, nougat-filled expansion," then three to five minutes of a "frenzied, cactus-colored contraction," and finally a thousand-year era of "perfect Zen retail balance" and "free Enlightenment to the first billion customers." Hey, it's always good to plan for the future.