Apple Stores have long been leaders when it comes to the customer experience. But that’s starting to change, as decisions made by Apple erode some of the things which once made them great.
At least, that’s according to a new article from Bloomberg, which singles out a few key examples.
Apple’s new store at the 116-year old Carnegie Library in Washington D.C. is the “most historic, ambitious restoration” project the company has undertaken, per CEO Tim Cook.
Doors of the Carnegie Library store will open to customers on May 11. Apple spent around $30 million on the restoration project, but Tim Cook insists the goal of the store isn’t to sell more iPhones, iPads and Macs to people. In fact, he doesn’t even really like calling it a store.
An 18-year-old student is suing Apple for $1 billion, alleging that he was wrongfully linked to a series of thefts at Apple Stores.
Ousmane Bah, who lives in New York, was arrested in November. He blames facial recognition software used in Apple Stores, which makes it possible to track suspected thieves. He also claims that he could not possibly have been the thief in question.
A new Apple Store is destined for one of London’s most luxurious shopping districts, according to a new report.
Apple plans to open a new location in Knightsbridge between high-end department stores Harrods and Harvey Nichols. It will be the company’s sixth store in the capital.
U.S. shopping malls are losing customers at an alarming rate and there appears to be little Apple can do to help save them.
Apple stores are usually viewed as an anchor store for malls because of their high sales volumes and foot traffic they bring in. But a new study found that experimental tenants like Apple aren’t drawing in extra traffic.
Apple’s Palo Alto retail store was targeted by mask-wearing thieves this week, who stole MacBooks worth almost $20,000 in total.
The robbery took place in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Two thieves, wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts, smashed the glass doors outside using rocks. They proceeded to grab nine Macs, although two of these were dropped during their escape.
One of Apple’s most expensive services for Macs is finally getting cheaper. In fact, in a rare move, Apple actually decided to give something out for free.
The company has dropped the price of its Data Migration fee to zero dollars after charging a $99 fee for year to customers that purchased a new Mac and needed help moving data over from their old Mac.
Apple has scrapped a controversial plan to build a flagship Apple Store in Melbourne, Australia’s Federation Square.
Apple had been battling to build the store for much of last year. It even scrapped its original designs and came up with new ones, only to have those criticized as well. Government agent Heritage Victoria ruled that the Apple Store would be too “visually dominant.” It also said that demolishing the existing Yarra Building to construct Apple’s flagship store would “diminish” the public space.
Federal agents recently busted two college students who allegedly made nearly $1 million by returning fake iPhones to Apple.
Officials charged Quran Juan and Yangyangg Zhou, both Chinese nationals attending college in Oregon, with participating in a counterfeit iPhone scam. The duo reportedly submitted more than 2,000 iPhones to Apple claiming, the devices were broken and wouldn’t power on. The fake iPhones were only worth about $30, allowing the scammers to pocket nearly $600 for each successful return, authorities said.
Whether it’s ensuring that the back of the original Macintosh looked as good as the front or hand-painting the corners of every single iPhone box to make the color uniform, Apple has always sweated the little details.
The latest example of this kind of obsessive perfectionism? That Apple reportedly insists that the tiny screw divots in its temporary Apple Store barricades are covered up. Because Apple.
Apple’s plans to open its first official retail store in Israel appear to have run into problems.
A new report claims negotiations between Apple and the property developer and mall owner of the proposed location have broken down over financial terms.
Apple is closing a pair of retail stores in east Texas, and opening a new one nearby to take on their traffic. But this has little to do with customer convenience; it’s likely all about patent lawsuits.
The move could easily save Apple millions of dollars.
Apple Stores around the world will be hosting Apple’s ‘show time’ keynote on March 25.
As part of a special Today at Apple session, locations with video walls will invite fans to watch a stream of the event, live from the Steve Jobs Theater. You can sign up now to take part.
It’s not 100 percent clear whether former retail boss Angela Ahrendts left Apple voluntarily or was pushed out. However, a new report suggests that she didn’t quite live up to the hype.
“Angela Ahrendts was supposed to be the Renaissance that never quite was,” a former Apple store manager says. “We were getting conflicting direction on a semi-regular basis and a lot of new initiatives on what seemed like a weekly basis. Nothing seemed to quite stick.”
It gives a slightly chaotic sense of the time spent at Apple by Ahrendts — who was among the company’s top earning employees.
Cash-rich Apple is reportedly not paying the artists who share their talents for the in-store ‘Today at Apple” sessions.
Rather than money, the session leaders could select from three of the cheaper Apple products.
Looking for a smart air purifier you can control using your iPhone? If so, Apple has just the product for you — with the Wynd Plus Smart Air Purifier intelligent personal air quality system. The size of a water bottle, the portable device promises to create a perfect bubble of clean air around users.
Best of all, an accompanying iOS app will monitor your environment and alert you of any changes you need to know about.
Select Apple Stores around the United States are hosting new health events throughout February to celebrate American Heart Month.
The first took place at Apple Union Square in San Francisco on Monday and featured Apple vice president Dr. Sumbul Desai, fitness trainer Jeanette Jenkins, and president of the American Heart Association, Robert Harrington.
Apple has reportedly ditched ideas to develop an Apple store in Stockholm, Sweden. This came after the Stockholm City Council vetoed plans for a proposed flagship retail store in the area.
According to a member Stockholm Urban Development Committee, Apple representatives were extremely upset after their proposal was rejected. The company had already made revisions to its proposal in order to fit the proposed historic location better. Apple also turned down officials who said they would help find a new location for the Apple Store.
Apple‘s CEO told his employees that the company’s new head of retail sales is “one of Apple’s most passionate and experienced advocates for our customers and employees.” Tim Cook also highlighted Deirdre O’Brien’s previous experience with Apple retail operations.
These comments came in an email sent this morning to retail emplyees. The full text of this is now available.
Apple Stores are known for their high level of service. An Australian dad begs to differ, however, based on his reported experience in a Sydney Apple Store recently.
Specifically, he claims that he was given a hard sell on using Apple Pay on his iPhone. Despite not wanting to use the service, he reports feeling patronized and — worse — as though the store was refusing to let him pay for his product in any other way.
Longtime Apple retail boss Angela Ahrendts is leaving the company after reshaping Apple’s online and retail strategies over the last five year.
Apple revealed today that it has named Deirdre O’Brien as the new senior vice president of Retail + People. Ahrendts, who was once looked at as a possible successor to Apple CEO Tim Cook, is leaving the company for new personal professional pursuits.
Apple is in “advanced talks” to lease space in the prestigious Hudson Yard complex in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
The almost-completed 55 Hudson Yards office, which is part of the largest private real estate development in the United States by square footage, is home to hedge funds, major law firms… and, very soon, probably Apple, too.
The most iconic Apple store in the world is finally getting ready to reopen its doors.
Apple’s glass cube store on Fifth Avenue in New York City has been temporarily closed for over two years, but according to the property company Apple leases the land from, construction on the store’s expansion is nearly done.
A fresh attempt is being made to demolish Federation Square’s Yarra Building in Melbourne, Australia to free up space for a proposed flagship Apple Store.
The application has been made by the square’s management, which argues that the building to be demolished is not in keeping with the other building designs in the precinct.
Apple is expanding its slate of Today at Apple sessions with 50 new classes that offer free educational experiences for iPhone, iPad and Mac users.
Today at Apple first started at Apple store in 2017, providing 18,000 free sessions a week that have been attended by millions of people around the world. With the new sessions, Apple is expanding on its most popular sessions, giving participants more opportunities to create and explore with their products.