Samsung Wants to One-Up Apple's Genius Bar With New WeWork 'Care Centers'

Samsung is teaming up with co-working startup WeWork to create customer "Care Centers" that are similar to Apple's own in-store Genius Bars, reports Fast Company.

Apple's Genius Bars are designed to allow customers to receive technical support and repairs on a range of Apple products, including Macs and iOS devices. Samsung's upcoming Care Centers will work in the same way, but Samsung wants to one-up Apple with a better waiting experience.

weworknewyork

A WeWork facility in New York

At one of three pilot service centers opening in WeWork locations in Detroit, Miami, and New York later this month, Samsung customers can come in and get help for their products while also using the WeWork facilities.

Because it's a co-working space, WeWork gives customers a place to get their own work done while also enjoying fresh coffee and fruit-infused water.

Samsung Electronics America VP of design Mick McConnell tells Fast Company that he came up with the idea while waiting for an hour and a half at a Genius Bar at an Apple retail location. "I was like, there's gotta be a better way to do this," he said.

"Service is a hassle. I know I'm going to have to take time out of my day to do it," says McConnell. "The concept was, if I take time out of my day, at least I can sit in a conference room, make phone calls, and do work, as opposed to sitting in a busy room with a bunch of angry people."

Samsung is taking over a portion of each WeWork location and installing a steel and glass box with shared tables and Samsung workstations. The space features a midcentury-inspired design that matches up with the rest of the WeWork facility, but with special touches like higher-end furniture and Samsung video conferencing systems.

applesamsungwework

Image via Fast Company

Samsung Retail Design project director Danny Orenstein told Fast Company that the aim is to make Samsung customers "feel welcome" at WeWork while also making WeWork subscribers feel comfortable working in the Samsung space in an effort to expand Samsung's potential customer base.

Along with offering Care Centers at select WeWork locations, Samsung also plans to host after-hours talks with creatives in WeWork spaces, much like Apple does at its own retail stores.

Samsung will use the WeWork spaces to experiment with what works and what doesn't work before considering expanding to additional locations. WeWork currently has 235 locations, and should the project pan out, it could mean a major expansion of Samsung customer support locations.

At the three centers opening this month, Samsung will offer "tier 1" support, letting customers get help with using features on their phone. Staff can also send Samsung equipment to repair centers, but there are no on-site repairs available.

Popular Stories

election results 2024 live activities

Track 2024 U.S. Election Results Live on Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday November 5, 2024 5:02 am PST by
Apple News is providing Live Activities support for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, allowing iPhone and iPad users to track electoral results in real time directly from their Lock Screen. The feature is rolling out for U.S. users over the course of Election Day, November 5, providing continuous updates of the electoral count. So if you're interested, you don't need to repeatedly check...
ios 18 2 chatgpt plus

iOS 18.2 Beta 2 Shows Siri ChatGPT Limit, Offers 'Plus' Upgrade Option

Monday November 4, 2024 10:54 am PST by
With the second beta of iOS 18.2 that's available for developers today, Apple has further fleshed out the ChatGPT integration that's available with Siri. In the Settings app, there's now a section that shows the ChatGPT daily limit, and offers an option to upgrade to the paid ChatGPT Plus plan. The beta includes an Advanced Capabilities section with a "Daily Limit" reading that shows up as...
New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

10 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Thursday October 31, 2024 9:42 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well. ...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.2 Beta 2

Monday November 4, 2024 12:34 pm PST by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 updates to developers, and Apple is continuing to refine the Apple Intelligence capabilities. There are also a handful of smaller features that are worth knowing about. Find My Find My has a new option to Share Item Location with an "airline or trusted person" that can help you locate something that you've misplaced....
best early black friday deals

The Best Early Black Friday Apple Deals

Friday November 1, 2024 8:21 am PDT by
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 29 in 2024. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment,...
M4 M4 Pro vs M4 Max Feature

When to Expect New M4 MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro Models

Monday November 4, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Apple's fall 2024 Mac announcements have included new iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro models, all of which debuted with variants of Apple's M4 chip. Apple intends to update the rest of its Mac lineup with M4 series processors over the next 12 months, which will make it the first time that Apple has used the same chip generation across all of its Macs. This means we can expect new M4...
M4 Pro on Blue

M4 Pro Chip Benchmark Results Reveal an Extremely Impressive Performance Feat

Thursday October 31, 2024 7:06 pm PDT by
The first Geekbench 6 benchmark results for the M4 Pro chip surfaced today. Impressively, the results that are available so far show that the highest-end M4 Pro chip is faster than the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance. Here is a comparison of the results: Mac mini with M4 Pro (14-core CPU): 22,094 multi-core score (average of 11 results) Mac Studio...

Top Rated Comments

ActionableMango Avatar
92 months ago
If you don't want to wait at the Genius Bar, go online and make an appointment first.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheHotdog Avatar
92 months ago
There is nothing welcoming about those portable office boxes. I feel claustrophobic just looking at it.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zachcsnyder Avatar
92 months ago
Anyone else wondering why a Samsung VP was visiting a Genius Bar in the first place, if not for competitive assessment?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aforty Avatar
92 months ago
Service is a hassle. I know I'm going to have to take time out of my day to do it," says McConnell. "The concept was, if I take time out of my day, at least I can sit in a conference room, make phone calls, and do work, as opposed to sitting in a busy room with a bunch of angry people.
Now you can travel to a WeWork (because you probably don't work at one) and spend the entire day in a tiny cube with a bunch of angry people.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
spiddyman007 Avatar
92 months ago
nope
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
leftspin Avatar
92 months ago
Wait… What was he doing at a Genius Bar?
('https://www.macrumors.com/2017/10/30/samsung-debuting-new-wework-care-centers/')


Samsung is teaming up with co-working startup WeWork ('https://www.wework.com') to create customer "Care Centers" that are similar to Apple's own in-store Genius Bars, reports Fast Company ('https://www.fastcodesign.com/90148636/exclusive-samsung-and-weworks-plan-to-outsmart-apples-genius-bar').

Apple's Genius Bars are designed to allow customers to receive technical support and repairs on a range of Apple products, including Macs and iOS devices. Samsung's upcoming Care Centers will work in the same way, but Samsung wants to one-up Apple with a better waiting experience.


A WeWork facility in New York
At one of three pilot service centers opening in WeWork locations in Detroit, Miami, and New York later this month, Samsung customers can come in and get help for their products while also using the WeWork facilities.

Because it's a co-working space, WeWork gives customers a place to get their own work done while also enjoying fresh coffee and fruit-infused water.

Samsung Electronics America VP of design Mick McConnell tells Fast Company that he came up with the idea while waiting for an hour and a half at a Genius Bar at an Apple retail location. "I was like, there's gotta be a better way to do this," he said.Samsung is taking over a portion of each WeWork location and installing a steel and glass box with shared tables and Samsung workstations. The space features a midcentury-inspired design that matches up with the rest of the WeWork facility, but with special touches like higher-end furniture and Samsung video conferencing systems.


Image via Fast Company ('https://www.fastcodesign.com/90148636/exclusive-samsung-and-weworks-plan-to-outsmart-apples-genius-bar')

Samsung Retail Design project director Danny Orenstein told Fast Company that the aim is to make Samsung customers "feel welcome" at WeWork while also making WeWork subscribers feel comfortable working in the Samsung space in an effort to expand Samsung's potential customer base.

Along with offering Care Centers at select WeWork locations, Samsung also plans to host after-hours talks with creatives in WeWork spaces, much like Apple does at its own retail stores.

Samsung will use the WeWork spaces to experiment with what works and what doesn't work before considering expanding to additional locations. WeWork currently has 235 locations, and should the project pan out, it could mean a major expansion of Samsung customer support locations.

At the three centers opening this month, Samsung will offer "tier 1" support, letting customers get help with using features on their phone. Staff can also send Samsung equipment to repair centers, but there are no on-site repairs available.

Article Link: Samsung Wants to One-Up Apple's Genius Bar With New WeWork 'Care Centers' ('https://www.macrumors.com/2017/10/30/samsung-debuting-new-wework-care-centers/')
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)