Apple to open virtual stores - Rumour

Mon Apr 21 2008, 16:30 PM

Apple may be planning to open a virtual-world shop, more sophisticated than those that already exist in virtual worlds such as Second Life, based on a technology patent. The patent application, entitled "Enhancing Online Shopping Atmosphere" and submitted in Sep 2006, has just been published by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Speculation that the project may lead to a virtual world environment is supported by some of the invention details. For instance, Apple says that "visitors to the site are represented by human-shaped icons" moving in a virtual retail store with a shopping cart. Users will be able to see other shoppers and to interact with them and with the sales staff. Items will also be represented by icons, along with other "realistic" details such as indicators of the season and the time of the day.

The key point of Apple's project is to let online shoppers know what other users on the site are doing - for instance which items they are looking at or buying. This is based on the idea that online shopping is at a disadvantage compared to physical shopping from not letting users interact with fellow shoppers and see their behaviour.

"One drawback of online shopping is that the experience can feel sterile and isolating," says Apple in the patent filing. "Customers in such an environment may be less likely to have positive feelings about the online shopping experience, may be less inclined to engage in the online equivalent of window shopping (e.g., will not linger in front of a display), and may ultimately spend less money than their counterparts who shop in physical stores."