Apple Online Store And Apple.com Are Now One And The Same
The biggest change to this new design is the decision to remove the Store link from the main navigation bar at the top of the screen. The bar had become crowded in recent months with the addition of the Watch, but it’s an interesting decision to remove that store rather than one of the other products.
Instead, the ability to shop for Apple gear has been integrated into each product page. As before, a “buy now” button appears on the page for each model. A shopping bag button has been added beside the search button to allow customers to quickly manage their bag, favorite items, Apple Store account, and more.
I had rather embarrassingly ignored the separation between Apple’s online website and its online store. I had always overlooked the amusing inelegance of a fragmented website for a company that prides itself on integration and simplicity.
Anyway, with no fanfare, Apple updated its site on Thursday to bring both parts together into one site. When you go to buy something now, you don’t get carted off into the ‘store’ subdomain to actually make a purchase. Everything happens from the same combined interface which means your basket is now visible from any page too, in the header. Neat and tidy.
On Twitter I quipped about what happens to the website on keynote day. How does the store go down when the whole site is the store? There’s a part of me that thinks this transition means the iconic ritual of ‘We’ll be back soon’ on new product day will never happen again. I can see how Ahrendts would think it was dumb and can it.