I made a brief mall detour this AM to spend a few minutes with Bose QuietComfort headsets and see if Apple has those new iPod on display (nope). While there I noticed a Vonage booth going in. The cabinets are bare and the store rep is still waiting for his broadband connection, but it was pretty interesting (and surprising) to see them making this retail push. If you’re familiar with the DC area, Vonage plans to have a presence in Montgomery Mall (above), Tysons Corner, Potomac Mills, and White Marsh.
Bonus coverage: I also ran into Verizon’s mock living room with desks, a leather couch, and flat panel TV. I thought it was new, but the rep said it’s been there a few months. Combine these kiosks with the Apple and Bose stores, plus all the wireless carriers (saw the CDMA Moto Q9 in person for the first time), and the mall is a more interesting place for geeks like me these days – though they’re obviously targeting the mainstream.
I am glad the malls are bringing geek to the masses, if anything it’ll lower the price through volume…
…but nothing beats the “Fry’s experience”. Zero comfort, zero style, zero mark-up ( well, almost zero ).
Vonage is so great, I forget all about it.
I was to the Montgomery Mall for the first time a few weeks ago and I also was quite impressed with it’s geekiness. I’m looking forward to checking out the new iPods, but I don’t think they’re all available until the end of the month.