When will other retailers understand what Apple has done and apply it to their own businesses?

It’s a measure of how influential Steve Jobs was and Apple is that news of the founder’s demise flashed around the world last week and was the top news item in almost any country you might care to mention. This magazine ran a feature on how Steve Jobs changed retail and it was the most commented piece on the website over the last 7 days.

Nothing particularly extraordinary in any of this really - it merely confirms what most seemed to accept - that through Apple, Steve Jobs took traditional retailing and gave it the kind of shake that should mean real change. And walking around Westfield London yesterday before the shops opened it was easy to see why the brand has its devotees and why it may be a good brand, but it is also an extraordinarily effective retailer.

By 10.30 (and bear in mind the stores at Westfield London don’t open until Midday) there was a full complement of staff in the store and all of them were having a group huddle at the back of the floor. And in spite of it being an hour and a half before opening time, they were of course all dressed in the same polo-shirts and chinos - in-store consistency is one of the brand’s hallmarks.

Above almost any other retailer, this is the one that makes more of less and where if you removed the outsize Apple logo from the shopfront, you’d instantly know what you were looking at. And all of this in spite of the fact that while the interiors may be similar, it is rare to come across an Apple store that is exactly the same as any of its sisters.

This kind of thing does not come cheap, and neither do its products. You can get most of the technological functionality that’s available in an Apple store cheaper elsewhere, but acolytes still storm the shops on a daily basis to do nothing more than play…or perhaps lust after the products.

The best design, the best service and the best interiors then, and while this may sound like a paean of praise it is deserved and has been won by looking at every part of the shopper in-store experience. Interestingly, when Apple first went into retail it took its models from businesses beyond the retail sector - such as fast food operators and dry cleaners. Others might envy what has been done, but they would be better off understanding the underlying principles as a forerunner to improving their own shops.