UPDATE: An Apple representative just informed me that its retail stores have NOT banned access to Facebook.
There’s been a lot of talk about how Facebook has been banned at all Apple stores to prevent customers from loitering. We did a little investigation on our own and found that Facebook was able to be accessed at Apple stores in Washington D.C. and Palo Alto. However, two stores, one in Richmond, Virginia and one in LA, confirmed that Facebook and MySpace have both been blocked from use on in-store computers.
MySpace was banned in May of 2007 from all 251 Apple stores, in an effort to prevent loitering and internet cafe use of in-store computers, so it’s very well possible that other social networking services will be banned in the future too. Apple reports that their retail stores see an average of 2 million visitors weekly. If anyone is going to an Apple store today, check it out and let us know in the comments what you find.
Our guess is some store managers are just getting a little overanxious.
Austin, TX
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Berlin, Germany
