Hawaii is wired. Literally. Few areas on the mainland 48 states have as much broadband access as Honolulu, so high speed Internet access for Mac users is common.  Honolulu is also home to the only Apple Store in the Pacific.

Literally, “in” the Pacific (well, not in the ocean; all of Hawaii is “in” the Pacific).

What’s the state of Mac-dom in the state of Hawaii? Following the near disaster of losing Apple altogether back in the mid-90s, Macs and Apple have experienced a re-birth, a growth, both in market share and mindshare.

It was no fluke that Apple decided to open an Apple Store in the state’s largest shopping center, Ala Moana. Traffic through the store (per square foot) rivals that of any other Apple retail store in a similar sized market. The Ala Moana Center Apple Store is small, relative to stores in San Francisco, Palo Alto, or Los Angeles.

For example, the Honolulu store does not have a theatre and is dwarfed in size when compared even to the Palo Alto Apple Store, not to mention the huge store in downtown San Francisco or New York.

“Because of so many tourists in Hawaii, Apple stocks the store with more than its fair share of iPods, and iPod minis.”Still, this store is packed regularly with locals, and the thousands of tourists that flock to Hawaii each month.

It’s not uncommon to walk into the Apple Store and see French tourists, German tourists, Italian tourists, and Japanese tourists carrying out bags of Apple Store goodies. The store is also wired with Airport, Apple’s wireless “wif-fi” technology, so locals and tourists can often be seen sitting outside the store with their iBooks and PowerBooks checking email and browsing the web.

Because so many tourists flow through Hawaii’s major shopping center, Apple seems to stock the store with more than its fair share of iPods, and iPod minis. Minis in a variety of colors can be seen behind the checkout counter and are particularly popular with European and Japanese tourists.

As with most Apple Stores, the Honolulu store is well-stocked with PowerMacs, iBooks, PowerBooks, and iSight cameras. On many occasions you can see Japanese and Korean tourists lined up five or six deep checking their email messages on a PowerBook connected to the Internet.

That’s something you won’t see too often at the local CompUSA store. First, most of the machines are not connected to the Internet, most machines are running Windows XP, and getting them to display Japanese or Korean is a major challenge. Of course, Mac OS X handles multiple languages with a mouse click.

Did I mention that Honolulu is wired?

The island of Oahu was one of the first to get Time-Warner Cable’s “RoadRunner” service. In fact, cable penetration into homes on the island is one of the highest in the nation, as is installation of RoadRunner broadband service. While not always up to speed on the intracacies of installing RoadRunner service to Mac users (most of us just ask them to turn it on and we’ll take care of the rest; it’s that easy), local tech reps have little trouble getting Mac users up to speed.

Not to be outdone, the local phone company, Verizon, also has competitively priced DSL service—all Mac compatible, naturally. In fact, this web site has been running for over 8 years on the Internet; much of that while being served from a PowerMac using a Verizon and LavaNet Internet connection.

“Borders is wired as are a number of buildings in central downtown Honolulu. But not hotels.”Hawaii’s largest private school is Kamehameha Schools (part of a $10-billion trust to provide education to children of Hawaiian descent). Guess what? You’ll find hundreds of Macs at the school in all age groups. Hundreds. The school’s got major bucks.

What’s the most popular portable music player at the University of Hawaii, Manoa Campus (near downtown Honolulu)? Judging by the number of white ear plugs, it’s easily Apple’s diminutive iPod.

Hot Spots? We got ‘em. Borders is wired as are a number of buildings in central downtown Honolulu. Hotels? That’s another story. Hawaii caters more to the traveling and casual tourist, rather than the business traveler, so many of our Waikiki and neighbor island hotels are not wired with high speed connections. Yet.

Honolulu has a local Mac user group. Many of the local ISP techs use PowerBooks. The popular Mac utility, CopyPaste? That’s a Hawaii product (from Julian Miller on Kauai). In fact, Kauai, that paradisaical island at the far reaches of the Pacific galaxy is as wired as any other island, thanks to hurricane Iniki in 1992 which ravaged the infrastructure. New is better.

What’s Apple’s market share in Hawaii?

While the big Apple isn’t releasing market share numbers, Apple reps at both CompUSA and the local store simply smile and point a “thumbs up” when responding to that question.

One of the cooler aspects of Mac life in the Pacific is the ability to take your Mac to the beach, snap a few pictures, and then, send them to friends on the US mainland via your cell phone; sarcastic comments about the weather here vs. the weather anywhere else usually find their way into email messages.

What’s a “Mac user’s” life like in Honolulu? As good as it gets. We have high speed bandwidth connections to the Internet and an Apple Store well stocked with the latest goodies, including the iPod mini.

What more could a Mac guy want?

Want to know the best places to eat in Hawaii? Click over to Ono Dining for totally biased reviews on Hawai's best (and not so best) restaurants.