Londoners stuck in the tube now have a handy iPhone app to request ticket refunds.
Tube Refund, which costs $0.99, zaps off the request for riders whose journey is delayed over 15 minutes.
Depending on where you go and what time of day, a one-way tube ticket can cost from £1.80 to £4.00 ($2.75 – $6 circa) [...]
Way back in 1991, just as Apple was transitioning from 68k to PowerPC chips, the braniacs at Xerox PARC were predicting it’s entire iPod, iPhone and iPad strategy. And next up for the iPad is a blackboard-sized device.
Nearly 20 years ago, just as personal desktop computers were taking off, researchers at Xerox started thinking about [...]
A new app called Silent Bodyguard features a panic button that sends an SOS distress signal with GPS coordinates to potential rescuers without alerting onlookers.
While the $3.99 app, available on iTunes, isn’t the first ICE (in case of emergency) app, this one is backed by Dr. Clint Van Zandt, former FBI chief hostage negotiator and criminal [...]
If there’s a good thing about the recession, it seems to be bringing some fine Apple memorabilia out of storerooms and closets.
Cliff and Dick Huston — ex-Apple engineers, for the record employees 27 and 25 — have decided to part with a treasure trove of Cupertino collectibles by auctioning them on eBay.
Full category list for displayed posts: Retail Stores, iPad
9:42 am, March 12th, 2010, Nicole Martinelli
Though a few early adopters have noted that the confirmation emails for pre-ordered iPads are slow, it looks like the in-store pick up option should be fun with some kind of launch fete in the works.
Via AleVH of Tech info team
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Retail Stores, iPad | 5 Comments »
7:55 am, March 3rd, 2010, Nicole Martinelli
The intact side of the 250lb stair from Apple's 5th Ave. store
Controversy pays: after going public about pressure from glass company Seele over the eBay sale of a fractured stair, former Apple employee Mark Burstiner sold the cracked keepsake for $9,950.
It comes from the spiral staircase in Apple’s 5th avenue store, Burstiner saved the glass heading to the trash after it was fractured by a customer’s Snapple bottle.
The final sale price is about four times what Burstiner first thought a 250lb glass stair from the staircase was worth, $2,500.
We can’t wait to hear the buyer gets the thing home and what they do with it. And whether the suits will have any more to say about it.
Stay tuned.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, Retail Stores | 5 Comments »
10:42 am, March 2nd, 2010, Nicole Martinelli
Weighing in at 250lbs, this glass stair may be the heftiest Apple keepsake yet.
You’ve got about 10 hours to place the winning bid on an unusual piece of Apple memorabilia: a cracked glass stair from the 5th Avenue store’s stunning spiral staircase.
As we predicted, Apple wasn’t happy about it. Former Apple employee Mark Burstiner, who rescued the stair from the trash after it was cracked by a customer’s Snapple bottle, got into an email tussle with a VP from Seele, the company that makes the glass stairs, over pulling the auction.
Burstiner pulled the item, then, in a post on Gizmodo, explained why he decided to put it up for sale again:
As far as Iʼm aware, I have done nothing illegal. I have not stolen. I have not deceived in any way. The step is not confidential, and it is not IP. The step is the very same that any New Yorker could see by walking into Apple Fifth Ave. The only thing I am guilty of is taking the risk of throwing out my back through having to move the step multiple times. I saw an opportunity, I asked for permission, received it, and proceeded. I wonʼt allow a major corporation to bully me into a corner. At the time of this posting, it has been seven full days since I put the listing up, and I havenʼt heard from Apple directly a single time. I have every right to sell my property, and I plan to do so.
The controversy is turning what might’ve been yet another quirky, deserted auction into a potential moneymaker.
Read the rest of this post »
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Apple, Cult of Mac, News, Retail Stores | 2 Comments »
2:45 pm, March 1st, 2010, Nicole Martinelli
Apple style on the high seas? @Image courtesy Celebrity Cruises
So the architecture isn’t spectacular like some bucket-list worthy Apple stores, but the iLounge looks like a good excuse to check your email or harass expert staff about flash cookies while on vacation.
This is a rendered first look at what will be rolling out on Celebrity Cruises fleet launching in April: funky retro carpet, comfy armchairs and workstations with bar stools and more comfortable-looking work benches.
This new seafaring iLounge is an Authorized Apple Reseller where cruisers can check out the latest MacBooks, iPods and accessories. (No word on whether it will also have iPad, yet). It also has a classroom plus an “enrichment center” where trained staff offers tips.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, Retail Stores, Top stories | 5 Comments »
7:40 am, February 25th, 2010, Pete Mortensen
Picture via Kamran Kazempour
Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Fortune has a mole at the Apple shareholders’ meeting today. Not much to report, other than that Steve is in good spirits and cracking jokes, but there is one piece of pretty huge news: Apple is planning to open 25 stores in China, signs that the company sees a lot of untapped growth potential in Asia, where it currently has a retail presence in Japan and one store in Beijing so far. The iPhone launch has been regarded as disappointing in China, but this could good go some way to changing things.
Inside Apple’s Shareholder Meeting (Apple 2.0)
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Apple, News, Retail Stores, Top stories | 2 Comments »
5:34 am, February 22nd, 2010, Nicole Martinelli
The intact staircase of the 5th Ave store. Courtesy Apple.
This one puts the “cult” back in “cult of mac:” someone is auctioning off a broken piece of glass from Apple’s Fifth Avenue store on eBay. It’s a step from the retail locale’s elegant glass staircase, to be precise.
“They replaced it with a new one after a customer dropped a Snapple bottle on it and cracked it. I picked it up before it could be thrown out over a year ago, figuring it’s a collectible.Read the rest of this post »
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, News, Retail Stores, Top stories | 4 Comments »
8:47 am, February 19th, 2010, Nicole Martinelli
Lots of folks have proposed at Apple stores or even had Apple-inspired wedding cakes, but do you love Apple enough to say iDo there?
This might be the first couple to get hitched at an Apple retail without permission, flash-mob style, by a celebrant dressed like Steve Jobs who pronounced the solemn vows from an iPhone. The news was first tweeted by an Apple employee of New York’s Fifth Avenue store.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, News, Retail Stores, Steve Jobs, Top stories | 6 Comments »
11:22 am, February 18th, 2010, Nicole Martinelli
Tough times for Julie McCoy: who will take disco lessons when there’s an Apple reseller on board the ship?
The iLounge, aka a cruise director’s worst nightmare, will be making waves on a new Celebrity Cruises fleet launching in April. The upscale cruise ship company already offers onboard computer training as well as wine tasting courses and art auctions.
This new seafaring iLounge will be kitted out with 26 workstations for passenger use. It’s also an Authorized Apple Reseller where you can check out the latest MacBooks, iPods and accessories. (No word on whether it will also have iPad, yet). It also has a classroom plus an “enrichment center” where trained staff offers tips.
Easy to imagine promising your beloved a true holiday with a computer fast, then being caught sneaking off the sun deck to get a monitor tan in the iLounge.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in News, Retail Stores | 1 Comment »
8:58 pm, January 7th, 2010, Leander Kahney
UPDATE: My apologies, this story is incorrect. I followed up with Buffalo Technologies, who now say Apple had only an advisory role in the inclusion of Firewire. The decision was not an Apple mandate, and not all portable drives sold in the Apple Store have Firewire as well as USB, as readers have noted. In an email, Buffalo’s Brian Verenkoff says:
“Apple never insisted we do anything, nor can they force any company to do something they don’t want to. Obviously given the nature of this product, we designed it for the iPod/iPhone user base and did have ongoing dialog with Apple to make sure we developed a product that was compatible with their store and their customers. At the end of the day, every decision was made by Buffalo as to the product features.”
LAS VEGAS – Here’s something I bet you didn’t know. Every portable hard drive sold in Apple’s retail stores must include a Firewire port.
I found this out while getting a demo of Buffalo Technology’s Dualie, a combination iPhone/iPod dock and 500-Gbyte dockable hard drive. Read the rest of this post »
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, News, Retail Stores, Top stories | 26 Comments »
12:12 pm, December 21st, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
If the new blue "Expert" tee fits, wear it. Courtesy Apple.
If you know your way around Macs, can untangle the gnarliest iPod problems and love sales, Apple wants you for its retail stores.
To handle the general surge in customers — Apple’s 5th Avenue store is outperforming Tiffany’s, to name just one — the stores are adding a new role called “Expert.”
Previously these were internal promotions, so it sounds like you’d have to be a cut above the average “Genius” with an interest in sales and management.
Apple’s ideal Expert from the job description:
• (Seeks) A career in sales where you can share your passion for Apple in a fast-paced and dynamic team environment.
• You love working with people — it energizes you.
• You embrace Apple’s standards of customer service and live them every day.
• You like being the first person on the block to touch new technology. And you like to share that knowledge.
• You love learning. And you’ll learn from people every day.
If you think you can cut it, it looks like every Apple retail store is on the lookout for in-house Experts to don the new sky-blue T-shirt.
Via Ifoapplestore
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in News, Retail Stores | 9 Comments »
3:57 pm, November 12th, 2009, Leander Kahney
Gizmodo toured Apple’s just-opened retail store on the Upper West Side, and calls it a “temple” to the company’s products.
I call it a temple because the architecture conveys a nearly religious aesthetic, a place to worship Apple, beyond any other Apple store you’ve ever been to. The top floor’s a vast open space, enclosed by spartan stone walls which support a massive glass ceiling. The rows of tables in the main room feel like pews.
I can’t tell you – and the pictures can’t show you – how utterly open and expansive the room feels. Apple says it has more demo units than any other store in the world. To give you an idea of the space, the walls are 45 feet tall, and could fit 11 Apple 5th Avenue Cubes inside. It’s the spareness that’s breathtaking. It’s cold. Not literally, but the stone walls, the glass, the sheer space rob it of any sense of warmth or feeling. The only sense of life in room is the products. It’s a temple to them, really.
More pictures after the jump.
Posted by Leander Kahney in AppleTV, News, Retail Stores | 15 Comments »
5:01 pm, October 27th, 2009, Leander Kahney
New pictures from CNet show that Apple’s latest store in NYC looks to be a beauty.
Located on the Upper West Side at 67th and Broadway, the massive store will have an all-glass front and a huge glass roof (watch the amazing fly-over from Gary Allen at IFOAppleStore. Allen’s also got a cool mockup). The store’s glass facade will measure 54 feet tall, 75 feet wide and 30 feet deep.
In anticipation of the store’s opening before the end of the year, Apple has removed the big black tarp which covered the construction site, replacing it with a latex wrap. The wrap looks like a red curtain that’s been opened slightly to reveal the teasing message: “Opening soon. Apple Store Upper West Side.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, News, Retail Stores | 3 Comments »
1:21 am, October 24th, 2009, Eli Milchman
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — On opening night, Microsoft’s first retail store here drew lots more visitors than the long-established Apple store right down the street.
Microsoft’s store might be a plank-for-plank remake of Apple’s groundbreaking shops, but it’s got one thing Apple’s stores lack — walls of Xboxes.
Hit the jump for more retina-burning retail pix, Microsoft-style.
Posted by Eli Milchman in News, Retail Stores | 38 Comments »
4:47 pm, October 22nd, 2009, Leander Kahney
Here’s a video of the opening of Microsoft’s first retail store in Scottsdale, Ariz. As the video proves, Microsoft’s business plan is to shamelessly copy Apple, right down to the whooping and high-five ritual when the store first opens. If you blur your eyes slightly, you’re inside an Apple store. From the wood floors and tables to the staffs’ brightly-colored tshirts. Shameless.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, News, Retail Stores | 48 Comments »
11:32 am, October 2nd, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Frustrated iPhone owner Donald Goodrich. @HCSO
There’s frustration over stuff like dropped calls and tethering troubles, then, you know, there’s Frustration.
The latter was apparently what fueled Donald Goodrich, 38, to threaten to pull a gun on his iPhone at the Kenwood Towne Centre Apple Store in Cinncinati.
Goodrich came in with an iPhone that wasn’t working properly, telling the employee he was “So mad, I could pop a 9mm at it.”
To prove he meant business, Goodrich flashed the employee a gun hidden under his jacket.
The cool-headed employee told Goodrich she’d get his phone fixed and walked him over to a Genius. She then told her manager of his iHomicidal intentions, who called police.
Goodrich was charged with aggravated menacing, causing fear of harm to an Apple employee. He’s expected to be arraigned this morning.
No word on exactly what drove him to want to kill his phone.
Any guesses?
Via KY post, ifoapplestore
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in News, Retail Stores | 14 Comments »
10:34 am, September 22nd, 2009, Leander Kahney
Staff at an Apple retail store in Seattle are planning a walkout over “abusive” management, the first labor dispute to hit the company’s super-successful retail chain, IFOAppleStore is reporting.
Employees at Apple’s Alderwood Mall store claim the store’s management is “abusive” and cite unspecified violations of state and federal labor laws.
Apple’s human resources department hasn’t properly investigated their complaints, and even an appeal to the head of the chain, Ron Johnson, went unheeded, the staff told IFOApplestore.
Workers are planning a walkout at 1PM on October 3 if no action is taken before then.
The threat of industrial action is unusual for Apple’s stores, which have a reputation as a good place to work and an unusually high retention rate for retail.
Apple claims the turn-over rate for Apple store employees is just 20%, compared to an industry average of well over 50%.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, News, Retail Stores | 16 Comments »
10:01 am, September 22nd, 2009, Leander Kahney
Microsoft is attempting to hire Apple retail managers to staff its new stores, Jim Dalrymple of The Loop reports.
Citing anonymous sources, The Loop says managers are being offered better money and in some cases, relocation expenses. They are then encouraged to recruit their former colleagues with similar incentives.
The strategy seems to be in line with Microsoft’s playbook. Earlier this year, Microsoft reportedly tried to lure iPhone developers to the Zune platform with cash incentives.
Which means that Microsoft’s retail strategy can be summarized thus:
What’s next? Stock the stores with Apple products?
Microsoft’s first retail store is scheduled to open in October near Apple’s retail store in Mission Viejo, Calif., at The Shops.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, News, Retail Stores | 7 Comments »
9:09 am, September 21st, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Used with a cc-license, thanks to sabellachan on flickr.
Apple can keep the porn off iTunes, but it may be having a harder time keeping Apple retail stores smut free.
A 10-year-old girl was dragged, bug-eyed, out of the Apple store in Lakeside after her mom found her looking at porn on one of the iPod demo models.
“I called to complain and was told matter of factly by staff this happens a lot as people come in and download it for a laugh,” mom Helen Goodman told website the Echo.
“I don’t find it funny and all my friends think it’s disgusting, but Apple say there is nothing they can do to stop it.”
C’mon. There has to be a way to make the Apple store kiddy-safe — or maybe there’s something else behind the looks of wonder on those retail store field trips?
Via the Echo
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in News, Retail Stores | 24 Comments »
1:23 pm, September 7th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Milan’s first Apple retailer is not in the heart of the fashionable city, as we noted last week, but that didn’t stop people from turning out in groovy headgear and giving stadium cheers for the first to walk out with the signature inauguration tee after camping out overnight.
Giving a touch of style to the event, web designer Marco Tognoli came adorned in Apple logos from old iMac G3s, topped by this fanciful conical hat with a real apple on top:
@macitynet.it Party time: a headband of iMac logos.
Proving Apple fans will live up to Milan’s reputation for daring fashion to open Apple’s second Italy store. (Hit the jump for more pics).
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, Retail Stores | 3 Comments »
12:13 pm, August 31st, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
@Fotogramma Stefano De Grandis
Apple decides to open doors in Milan — recently named more fashionable than New York — so you’d think it’d be somewhere the city’s whippet-thin Pradamatons would want to be seen sashaying into.
Instead, Apple is opening its first Milan store this Saturday in a place called Carugate. It’s 15 km away from the city center, a place best known to locals because Ikea also calls it home.
It’ll be in a mall — note the pic above of a woman with a grocery cart — and hopefully the inside layout is a bit more interesting than the storefront. And instead of having 24/7 access, like many Italian malls, it’s usually closed on Sundays.
Rumors were that Apple’s first Milan store would be a former Stefanel store in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, a pedestrian shopping zone favored by locals and tourists who stroll from the Cathedral to Piazza San Babila.
Next time I need anything, I’ll be heading to the reseller in the chic Brera area — used as a fashion shoot backdrop and where staff wears “Steve Jobs for Mayor” T-shirts.
People: location, location, location.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Opinions, Retail Stores | 14 Comments »
About a hundred years ago, while I was still a Windows user and thought that a Mac was what you covered in a cheese and slurped down for lunch, I whiled away way too much time playing a DOS-based artillery duel game called Scorched Earth. Dot Matrix Interactive Designs have created their own version in [...]
It’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.
This time, we review Air Assault, Bad Apples, Fire Drop Free, Ghost Capture – Free, Heli Rescue, Internet Radio Box, Sunday Lawn, synthPond Lite, Tiki Totems, and Titanic Rescue.
There must be a special space reserved at the table in Valhalla for any designer able to make a fat brick look hot; if that’s true, then there’s a seat reserved right next to Jonny Ive’s for the Vers 1.5R’s designer (and yes, both design heaven and design hell are Scandinavian. Don’t believe me? Take [...]
Drums are awesome; there’re few things as satisfying as making sounds by thumping something with a stick — even if that stick is virtual. Now, for a buck, the iPhone can be turned into a virtual museum of virtual drums, thanks to Vintage Drum by developer OutOfTheBit.
On Windows, when you’ve finished using a particular piece of software, you close it with the X symbol in the top right corner of the application window.
Many switchers assume that the window close control in the top left of an OS X application window does the same job: but that’s not quite true.
In the Hackintosh community, the MSI Wind is somewhat legendary for being the first netbook out there that could essentially run OS X out of the box, with all features working and no hardware hacking required.
Now it looks like the venerable Wind has another Apple bragging point: with its keyboard ripped out and its [...]
The Menu Bar sits at the top of your screen at all times. Let’s take a moment to get to know it. It’s worth doing, because the Menu Bar is going to be one of your best friends.
When you used Windows, you were used to see menus inside each document window. File, Edit, all [...]
With just a few weeks to go before the iPad hits stores, here’s the best way to ensure you’re at the head of the line to get one (or three).
If history is any indication, the iPad will be in short supply when it goes on sale April 3. Plus there are rumors of production delays [...]
