Apple Worship Market Team wants to know
[image: flickrich]
While some people just couldn't wait for my recap of a meeting at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, as you may have heard via the twitter chatter of last week, I was invited to Apple's main headquarters to meet with the newly formed Worship Market Team at Apple. Yes, you heard right, Apple must have read this post of mine and thought, hmmmm . . . . "maybe this church thing is alright." Or . . . someone at the Presbyterian Center simply talked with our Apple Rep and made the connection. Smart money is on scenario number two.
Regardless of how the connection was made, it was made and I was invited down to the main headquarters for a meeting and tour. And yes, I played it cool - I do have a rep to uphold - despite the geek-inspiring Apple feel of the entire place. I even resisted buying anything at the corporate Apple store. And no, contrary to popular belief, they do not give out iPhones or PowerBooks as visitor thank you gifts ;-)
So here is the deal. Apple has decided that the church worship market might be a great place for Apple's interface to well . . . interface. Everything from podcasting to presentation to marketing to church management, they are looking at ways that Apple can be part of the church/worship experience. It sounds like this is mostly applications at this point with some hardware integration. They seem to have a good grasp of church culture regarding particular needs of different sized churches regarding all things technological. This new venture is only six-months old, but has good support from the powers that be.
So what's next? First, I will get to be part of some official conversations in the future as they roll out more products and need more input from practitioners. Second, I told them I would get some input and thoughts from you all . . . So, what does Apple need to know? What would be helpful in terms of applications, hardware, etc. to make the church leadership experience all that you would hope it would be?
Apple is asking . . .
