How Apple Gets You to Touch Its Laptops

Sure, you can mess with the computers for as long as you want—but Apple Stores aren't as casual as they seem. Everything is carefully measured, from the angles of laptop screens to employees' beard lengths. Every MacBook screen is calibrated—using an iPhone app, of course—to a 70% angle from the keyboard, and the computers are spaced apart according to precise measurements. And beards must be three inches, writes Megan Garber at the Atlantic.

The rules and regulations could fill a book—and they soon will, as author Carmine Gallo writes an insider's account of how the stores function. "The main reason notebook computers screens are slightly angled is to encourage customers to adjust the screen to their ideal viewing angle," Gallo notes; "in other words, to touch the computer." The stores are aimed at building brand loyalty, which develops when customers get free rein to play with the products. In fact, "the ownership experience is more important than a sale," Gallo writes. (More Apple stories.)