Sydney eclipses Hub as the apple of Apple's eye

Much Mac ado was made last month when Apple Inc. opened its Boylston Street shrine to the iPod, the iPhone, and the MacBook Air.

For local Apple buffs, the store's debut was a case of high excitement only painfully restrained, and Apple publicists duly noted that the new Boston store, with roughly 20,000 square feet of space, was the company's second largest in the world, exceeded in size by only the company's store in London.

But such second-place primacy is fleeting, and Apple envy may soon envelop the Hub.

According to a story from Australian Macworld, the new Boston store has been displaced in size by an even newer Apple emporium in Sydney.

The new Sydney store is the second largest Apple store in the world, that story claims, and its Genius Bar (the Apple euphemism for the help desk) is the longest in the world, even longer than the one in the London store, the article's author assures readers.

"Whether this is because Australia is seen as more in need of help than other countries, or whether it’s just because we have an unusually high concentration of Geniuses (Genii?) was not explained," wrote the author in attempting to grasp the significance of locating the world's longest Genius Bar Down Under.

Meanwhile, the Hub will just have to make do with the world's third largest Apple store and a Genius Bar that doesn't quite measure up to record length.

To read more about Boston's Apple store, please click here.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)