We all know how vigorous and serious Apple is about their brand. Even when there’s a hiccup. Apple’s mastered the product launch, and gets everyone talking about them constantly.

The biggest lesson from Apple is really how far they’ll go to create a specific image to maintain and enhance their brand.

Apple’s currently planning to open a superstore in Montreal.

Great news for Mac fans.

And now we have news that Apple asked the city to remove 3 parking meters from in front of where the store will be to “simplify the look.” Parking meters are ugly after all – hardly representative of the Apple brand.

Apple was willing to compensate the city for lost revenues over 5 years. And guess what the city said? No.

It could have been a very interesting PR move for the city. They’d be promoting a reduction in traffic downtown (one of their goals), promoting the economy, and be able to climb on the back of Apple even further to promote Montreal as a cosmopolitan, techno-savvy place.

As the article says, “But bureaucrats say no; that’s what they do. ‘We’ve never done it before, so we can’t.'”

It makes me wonder what a city would look like if Apple managed it? What would Apple City look like?