Apple retail - page 2

iMac Shipping Times Slip Again In Europe, Now Stand At 4-6 Weeks

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It’s a bad time to purchase one of Apple’s latest iMacs if you’re living in Europe. Shipping times for the all-new, all-in-one have slipped for the second time in under a month, and customers are now facing lengthy waits for both the 21.5-inch and the 27-inch models. The former currently has a 3-4 week shipping delay, while its bigger brother will keep you waiting 4-6 weeks.

Apple Retail VP Jerry McDougal Resigns To Be With Family

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The recent departure of John Browett has left Apple searching for a new senior executive to lead its retail division. Internally, Apple has had a couple of execs who could fit the bill. One of the top contenders, retail VP Jerry McDougal, has now left Apple for personal reasons.

McDougal’s replacement will be VP of Finance Jim Bean, according to an official statement provided by Apple.

Who Should Apple Hire To Replace Former Retail VP John Browett? [Let’s Talk]

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John Browett didn’t last long at Apple. He was brought on by Tim Cook at the beginning of last year to lead Apple’s retail division and then he was fired 9 months later. The former Dixons CEO didn’t mesh well with Apple’s culture, and he caused unrest among Apple Store employees.

Since legendary retail guru Ron Johnson left Apple for JC Penny, Apple hasn’t been able to find the right executive to fill his shoes. Now that Browett is gone, who should Apple give the reigns of Apple retail to?

Tim Cook Kicks Off Keynote With Apple Retail Update: 380 Stores In 12 Countries [iPhone 5 Event]

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Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at today’s iPhone event and opened with an update on the company’s retail presence. Cook started by showing off Apple’s new Barcelona store and playing a video of the store’s launch.

Apple now has 380 retail stores in 12 countries. The company’s first Swedish store will open on Friday, September 14th. 83 million visitors walked through Apple’s retail stores last year, making the Cupertino company one of the most successful consumer electronics retail chains in history. “Apple stores offer the best buying experience and customer service on the planet,” exclaimed Cook.

While Apple retail is definitely a force to be reckoned with, the company’s digital downloads are also setting the industry standard. Apple customers have downloaded 7 million copies of Mountain Lion since its launch in July, according to Cook. That figure makes Mountain Lion the fastest selling OS X release in history.

Image: The Verge

Why Apple Stores Don’t (And Shouldn’t) Pay Commissions

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Apple made a conscious and important choice about sales commissions and customer experience
Apple made a conscious and important choice about sales commissions and customer experience

Over the weekend, The NY Times posted another investigative piece in its iEconomy series that about Apple. This installment focused on Apple’s retail stores. As with previous articles in the series, this one focuses on legitimate concerns about the American economy in an age of globalization. Like the other pieces, this one targets Apple specifically and ignores the range of Apple competitors that employ similar practices.

The primary issue that the Times brings up with regard to Apple retail stores is that employees can sell thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of Apple products and still earn a relatively modest wage. The underlying sentiment is that if a retail employee sells so much hardware, he should earn more because he is contributing to Apple’s vast revenues.

The only way for things to shake out that way and remain fair would be if Apple offered performance-based awards or commissions. Apple chose not to do that because doing so would have delivered a fundamentally different customer experience than the one envisioned by Steve Jobs – a fact that the NY Times chose not to explore in any real depth.

Is Apple’s Genius Bar The Future Of The Corporate Help Desk?

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Companies challenged by BYOD should consider Apple's Genius Bar as a tech support model
Companies challenged by BYOD should consider Apple's Genius Bar as a tech support model

One of concerns for IT departments as first iPhones and then iPads and other consumer-focused technologies began creeping into the workplace is how to support the personal devices and apps of employees. That issue took center stage this week as security vendor Fortinet identified that most millennial workers feel that support and security for their mobile devices and other technologies is their responsibility and not the responsibility of an employer or IT department.

What that means is that many IT departments may need to rethink what technical support means. That isn’t a new concept. Various studies and reports have shown that members of Gen-Y prefer to engage support resources using a range of technologies beyond a helpdesk phone line including email, texts, and social networks. As this new vision of support emerges, one model for the future help desk is the Genius Bar from Apple’s retail stores.

What It’s Really Like To Try To Get A Job At The Apple Store

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These guys might look more prestigious than your usual retail employee, but they're often far worse suffering.
These guys might look more prestigious than your usual retail employee, but they're often far worse suffering.

For many Apple fans, there’s a hypnotic allure to the idea of working for their favorite tech company, even if it’s just a job manning the Genius Bar at the local Apple Store. But what happens when you actually get called in for an interview? What’s it like to actually work at the Apple Store?

The truth is few applicants will ever know, as it’s almost impossible to get a job at an Apple Retail store at anything besides an entry-level, part-time sales position, no matter how qualified or educated you are. Once in, it’s almost impossible to move up the ladder, you will be poorly paid, you will probably never see a raise above basic inflation, you will be overworked and you will be abused day-in and day-out by customers. If you soldier through and rise up the ladder, the job can be rewarding, but more often than not, it’s not just retail hell… it’s worse than retail.

Apple Online Store, Amazon Named Top Online Retail Experiences

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Apple's online store named second best online shopping experience
Apple's online store named second best online shopping experience

Apple’s online store delivers one of the most satisfying online retail experiences out there. According to customer experience researchers at ForeSee, only one company delivered a better experience than Apple – Amazon. ForeSee also said that Apple (and Amazon) had achieved what it refers to as “the threshold of excellence.” 

Are People Who Work At Apple Actually Happy?

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Ever wonder what it'd be like to work for Apple at its HQ or elsewhere?
Are the folks working at Apple HQ happy with their jobs?

Are you curious about what it’s like to work for Apple? Here’s a chance for you to find out. Career advice site CareerBliss recently complied a list of the “Happiest Companies For Young Professionals” – a top ten list for which Apple didn’t make the cut. Even though Apple didn’t make that list, CareerBliss does offer a lot of insight into what life is like for Apple employees.

CareerBliss allows people to rank and describe their experiences in their current or past workplaces. Users researching potential jobs and companies can then see overall rankings (based on a one to five ranking scale) and browse through the individual reports. For Apple fans, that means a treasure trove of data about what it’s like to actually work for the company.

JC Penny Hires Another Apple Retail Exec With New CEO Ron Johnson At The Helm

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Apple's beautiful Covent Garden Store in London
Apple's beautiful Covent Garden Store in London

JC Penny can’t get enough of Apple’s retail talent, as the American retailer has announced the hire of yet another Apple exec. Back in November, former Apple retail guru Ron Johnson left Apple to become the CEO of JC Penny. Now a high-level Apple retail exec has left to work under Johnson.

Ben Fay served for 8 years at Apple as the worldwide head of retail store design, and he will now be in charge of overseeing JC Penny’s own retail design strategy.

Apple Welcomes New Retail VP John Browett With $60 Million In Stock

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Apple's newest VP comes from the European retailer called Dixons.
Apple's newest VP comes from European retailer Dixons.

Following legendary Apple retail guru Ron Johnson’s departure to JC Penny, former Dixons CEO John Browett has officially joined Apple has the new Senior Vice President of Retail. Apple announced that Browett would be coming to the company back in January, but a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that he has officially joined the company with $60 million in stock.

Apple To Build Massive Store In Grand Central Terminal [Signed, Sealed, Delivered]

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Apple will build its biggest store yet in Grand Central Terminal, in the space currently occupied by Charlie Palmer's Metrazur restaurant on the upper balcony.

Just as we exclusively reported last year (and no one believed us), Apple will build one of its biggest retail stores yet in New York’s Grand Central Terminal.

Apple has signed a 10-year lease with New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build a whopping 23,000-square-feet store on the upper balcony, the New York Post reports.

The store will fill Grand Central’s north and north-eastern balconies, displacing Charlie Palmer’s Metrazur restaurant. It will be among Apple’s largest stores, about 3,000-5,000 square feet larger smaller than Apple’s biggest stores in London and West 14th Street.

The MTA is offering Apple a special move-in rent of $800,000 (a cool half-mill more than Charlie Palmer’s restaurant is currently paying), and then up the rent to $1 million annually. Apple will pay to refurbish the space, and the MTA estimates it will make $5 mill profit on the deal, and revitalize retail at the popular station.

This Is The App At The Heart Of Apple Store 2.0 [Screenshots]

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(Update: By the request of Apple’s legal department citing trade secrets, we’ve been asked to pull the images from this post.)

Screenshots of Apple’s new RetailMe application for internal iPads have surfaced today. Full of attractive new features, the software is expected to be the tool every Apple retail employee uses when ‘Apple Store 2.0’ goes live on Sunday.

Apple’s 10th Retail Anniversary Preparations Could Set The Table For NFC iPhone 5

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As we reported yesterday, Apple’s planning something absolutely huge at its retail stores across the country this weekend, possibly to celebrate their 10th Apple Store anniversary. But what could it be? A new product or service? Discounts or goodie bags?

Possibly, but another rumor’s starting to form: Apple is prepping for the September launch of the next iPhone by getting their retail stores equipped to take NFC payments.

Apple Is Planning Something HUGE For Their 10th Retail Anniversary [Breaking]

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Confirming our exclusive report last week that Apple Stores were scheduling meetings with all retail staff in late May, we’re now hearing reports that all Apple Stores in the United States will hold all-hands meetings for the morning of Sunday, May 22nd. And given the preparations and secrecy, something big seems like it’s about to shakedown in celebration of Apple’s ten year retail anniversary.

Apple Abandons Plans for Grand Central Terminal Store?

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Photo from Trey Ratcliff at www.StuckinCustoms.com
Photo from Trey Ratcliff at www.StuckinCustoms.com

Plans to build a 16,000 square-foot Apple store in the balconies of Grand Central’s main terminal may have been abandoned by the Cupertino company, according to a source close to the M.T.A., who says that preliminary negotiations have fallen through.

Jeffrey Roseman, a retail executive for Newark Knight Frank, posted a tweet on Thursday that backed up these claims, and indicated plans for Apple’s largest store in the world weren’t going ahead: “Lets see if Apple NOT coming to Grand Central, gets as much press as it got, when the rumor started.”

The store was expected to open this September, celebrating 10 years of Apple retail, and attracting some of the 700,000 people who visit the terminal each day. A source for Cult of Mac confirmed Apple’s plans to build the superstore back in February, however, it seems that the M.T.A.’s strict guidelines made Apple’s plans too good to be true.

<strong>Note from Leander: I’ve reached out to my source who said the deal was signed, sealed and delivered. I’ll report here what they say.

The iPad 2 Lines Are Growing: Here’s the Pictures

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“line is around the block” — Paul Arrington in Charlestown, SC.

“Hmmm, I wonder what these could be?!?” — Joey Egan at Apple Flagship Store in San Francisco.

“Its crazy how many ppl r standing in line 4 the new iPad,” tweets Tracie Cooke-Wilkes from the Oxmoor Mall in Louisville, Kentucky.

Here are some more pictures from around the U.S.:

Send your own to news@cultofmac.com and we’ll post them up.

Steve Jobs Hides In Bushes To Spy On Customers

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The bushes outside the Apple Store Stanford in the Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, Calif. Steve Jobs hides in the bushes outside the store to spy on customers.
The bushes outside the Apple Store in the Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, Calif. Steve Jobs hides in the bushes to spy on customers.

We all know that Steve Jobs is obsessed with crafting top-notch customer experiences. Of course, he’s famous for being dismissive of focus groups, but did you know he spies on customers at his local Apple Store?

Is Stanford’s New Hospital Based On Apple’s Retail Stores?

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Apple is helping finance a major remodel of Stanford Hospital (where Jobs was photographed by the sleazy National Enquirer). But is Apple also helping design the $2 billion facility, perhaps based on the design of its retail stores?

Check out the rendering of the atrium above. Look familiar? Note the massive skylight, the marble floors. Is that a Genius Bar on the right?

Most important, the brains behind Apple’s stores — Ron Johnson — is intimately involved.

Confirmed: Apple To Build Biggest Store Yet In Grand Central Terminal [Exclusive]

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Apple will be building its largest store to date in Grand Central Station. CC-licensed photo by Stuck in Customs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/4223949477/
Apple will be building its largest store to date in Grand Central Terminal. Photo from Trey Ratcliff at www.StuckInCustoms.com

Apple will be building a massive store in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, we have independently confirmed.

The store will open in the fall, likely early September — and it will be Apple’s largest retail space in the world.

The store already has a name: Apple Store, Grand Central, according to a source close the company. The source said Apple will be making an internal announcement within the next month or so.

“The company will certainly pull out all the stops on this one,” said the source, who asked not to be named.

This year is the 10th anniversary of Apple retail, and Apple wants to make a big splash, our source said. Apple’s retail operation has been a spectacular success, helping fuel the company’s explosive growth and creating shops that make twice as much money as Tiffany & Co.