There is an Apple center in Hsinchu off Kuang Fu road near 3c. They have some staff there that have on occasion been fairly friendly and helpful. They don’t know much but they will at least talk to you. Anything too complicated and they always want to send you somewhere in Taipei.
There is a small Apple shop inside Nova as well. That place is staffed by a guy who acts like a used car salesman. Totally slick. Made my stomach turn anytime I had to talk to him.
I’ve never been to a Mac shop full of people who cared about the product in Taiwan. We have a consultant who comes in to configure our Macs and train on some of the more complex software - he is about the only complete Mac Geek I have ever seen here. Great fun when he visits.
Prices are certainly an inhibitor for Apple gaining a stronger presence here. Anything other than a low end iBook or an eMac might be considered a complete luxury item. I know I am in need of a new Powerbook soon and am finding it quite hard to justify an outlay of 120k when I make a local salary.
