Apple Shop with a Specialist launches to bring a virtual Store experience to its online sales pages

Customers in search of the "real" Apple customer service experience are best off living within reach of one of the Cupertino giant's official Stores. For some who are not, however, the new option of Shop with a Specialist may be available.

It consists of a "safe and secure" one-way (in that the consumer can see the "Specialist", but not vice versa) video chat the user can activate while on apple.com/shop/buy-iphone, in order to access "world-class service and expert advice" as they mull a purchase of a new iPhone - one of the new vanilla 14 SKUs in yellow maybe, as Apple hints in unveiling this new service.

The fact that the company has not resorted to bots in rolling this new service out to the US market (from 07:00 to 19:00 PST Monday to Sunday) might be a boon to an Apple retail employee looking to keep their jobs in what is reportedly an increasingly uncertain time.

Their company may not have indulged in the current craze of post-pandemic lay-offs thus far; then again, job security in its Retail arm is depicted as more and more precarious these days, with practices such as hiring freezes, less available hours and more capricious firings reportedly going on.

This, along with rumored tactics such as the postponement of updates to the HomePod line, is how Apple may be dealing with the current economic climate.

Pick up an iPhone 14 Plus renewed on Amazon