One evening earlier this month here in New York City, in between the end of a media conference and the start of a cable network's holiday party near 30 Rock, I decided on a first in my life -- a visit to an Apple store. My report follows.
Sure there was an intention behind this walk north on Fifth Ave., over to the space designated by a glass pane across from the Plaza Hotel and the southern border of Central Park. For the last three months, I've been reporting about Apple TV 2.0, the long-awaited set-top device allowing all those 1.3 million developers of smartphone and tablet applications to reach a new Holy Grail -- the TV set -- with their creations. Now, on a street filled with holiday revelers and shoppers and with free time to spend, I had the perfect opportunity to test-drive those apps in public.