Talk by Scott Smith, Changeist

The shop as we knew it is disappearing. The Apple Stores are becoming almost cathedrals. It’s a physical representation of an invisible idea. It’s a ghostly idea of commerce.

A store is no longer a store. A store is a data set, a predictive model of you that predicts something you like. Your supermarket probably knows what you did last summer – through what you bought.

You do that a few times, then they have a pattern they can use to target you with. A good servant can anticipate what you want before you ask. That’s what shops are becoming.

Read more