Apple Store retail guru Angela Ahrendts says that the secret behind Apple’s success is its culture, telling an interviewer that, “The company was built to change people’s lives.”
The dedication to keeping not just customers, but also employees, feeling like they’re part of a greater mission is paying off in a big way, too — with Ahrendts noting that last year Apple Stores had their highest employee retention rate in history, with 81 percent of people staying put.
When LynnMarie Rink and her son, James, got to the Nashville Apple Store to replace his broken iPad last week, they weren’t expecting anything unusual. Of course, for James and his mom, atypical is their way of life.
James has Down syndrome and autism, and uses his iPad to communicate. When he got to the Apple Store last Thursday, he got excited at something out in the mall and ran out of the store at top speed. Unfortunately, there was a big glass wall instead of a door in front of him, and he ran into it face first, causing a little scene with tears and a fat lip.
It was just then that an Apple Store employee came up and offered to help them get their new iPad — and did something amazingly gracious.
The Chinese economy may be down, but Apple’s not taking its foot off the gas for a second when it comes to hitting its target of opening 40 Apple Stores in China by the end of 2016.
The country’s 33rd Apple Store is set to open at 10am local time next Saturday, January 31, at the giant MixC shopping mall in Qingdao, a city in eastern Shandong Province on the east coast of China.
With the Chinese economy slowing, Apple’s got another heavily-populated country in its sights — with Apple India filing an application to open official Apple Stores with the country’s department of industrial policy and promotion.
“We have just received Apple’s proposal. We are examining it,” said India’s DIPP Secretary Amitabh Kant.
Photos have surfaced online showing work underway on Apple’s first retail store in Singapore.
The photos show that Apple is taking its regular security measures by covering the windows in order to keep the work inside a secret, ahead of the grand opening later in 2016.
Apple is reportedly set to start selling new accessibility-related peripherals and accessories for both Mac and iOS in its brick-and-mortar Apple Stores as well as online.
The accessories, which are reported to be going on sale in the first quarter of calendar year 2016, are designed to help users with disabilities to better engage with Apple products.
Devialet’s Phantom speaker is a ultra deluxe bit of audio gear, and Apple’s about to favor it with some serious retail real estate as the Cupertino-based company places the company from France’s product front and center in select Apple Stores.
If you head to one of them, you’ll see the Phantom starting Wednesday, December 9.
The wireless Phantom has a crazy 3000 watts of distortion-free sound, claims its maker, and starts at a cool $1,990, which makes it a perfect match for Apple’s retail stores, which aim to showcase high-quality items that are worth their high-end price.
Apple is once again supporting Code.org’s “Hour of Code” initiative by offering a range of workshops and other special events for kids aged 6 and above at Apple Stores around the world.
Other participating tech companies include Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon. Apple is presenting a range of interesting sessions, including a free one-hour introduction to the basics of computer programming taking place on December 10 at local Apple Stores.
Microsoft’s rivalry with Apple heated up this year when the company opened a flagship store on Fifth Ave in New York that looks a lot like an Apple Store. In the spirit of Christmas though, the company is calling for peace, and to show they mean it, they sent their employees caroling to the Fifth Ave Apple Store.
In Microsoft’s new holiday ad, employees selected across the country gather at the new Microsoft 5th Ave Store and join NYC’s children’s youth choir to spread some holiday cheer. Their march ends at the steps of the iconic Apple Store on Fifth Ave where they sing “Let There Be Peace on Earth” before being rewarded with a rousing round of high-fives from the Apple gang.
Watch the full ad below:
For the fifth year in a row, Apple Stores across the globe are showing their support for World AIDS Day today by turning their logos red.
The global event is used to raise awareness about the ongoing fight against AIDS and help fundraising efforts in the race to find a cure for the disease that has already killed 39 million people.
Apple has expanded its Personal Pickup scheme — which allows customers to order products online and then pick them up in their nearest brick-and-mortar Apple Store — to six new countries in the European Union, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
Black Friday may have handed Apple its strongest Friday sales in history, thanks to third party retailers heavily featuring the company’s products in their own promotions.
According to a note sent out by analyst Trip Chowdhry from Global Equities, the Apple Watch is likely to emerge as the M.V.P. of the shopping holiday — as the result of retailers offering big discounts on the device, as well as free shipping and zero sales tax.
A 68-year-old O.A.P. has been awarded £1,200 ($1,800) in compensation after Apple Store employees accidentally deleted the photos and contacts on his iPhone.
Newly-married Deric White took his iPhone 5 to the Genius Bar at Apple’s flagship London retail store after it suffered a technical fault — only for staff to delete his data, which contained photos of his recent honeymoon and 15 years of contacts, without White having a backup. A judge ruled that Apple staff had been “negligent.”
A 68-year-old pensioner is suing Apple for “[wiping] away his life” after staff at the Regent Street Apple Store in London accidentally deleted his photos and contacts while fixing his iPhone 5.
Londoner Deric White lost photos from his honeymoon, along with 15 years’ worth of contact numbers.
Apple’s string of brick-and-mortar Apple Store openings in China is set to continue with the upcoming opening of its new Chaoyang Joy City shopping mall store in Beijing.
Apple’s fifth Beijing store will open its doors next weekend, Sunday November 29 at 10am local time.
Stunning new renderings, depicting the rumored Chicago Apple Store at the gateway to the city’s North Michigan Avenue shopping district, have appeared online, obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
Check them out below.
You’re just so excited for your new Apple TV that you can’t wait until tomorrow to get it, can you? That’s why Apple has teamed up with Postmates to bring same-day delivery of its wide range of products and accessories to a new market: New York City.
We’ve written about it previously, but Apple has finally come out and confirmed that its first retail store in Southeast Asia, located in Singapore, will open soon.
Tim Cook has weighed in on the Apple Store accused of racially discriminating against six black students who were barred from the store because security felt that they might steal something.
In an email sent to all Apple employees this morning the CEO called the situation ‘unacceptable.’ Cook said he thinks the Highpoint store issue was an isolated incident, but notified employees that leadership teams will be ‘refreshing their training on inclusion and customer engagement,’ starting with Australia.
Read Cook’s full email below:
Apple’s first brick-and-mortar retail store in Singapore is one step closer, with Cupertino hiring staff to man its next Apple Store expansion.
The company’s website lists 14 job postings for the store, with positions including business manager, business specialist, and Apple Store leader. The retail store itself is expected to open in 2016.
An Apple Store in Australia has come under fire this week thanks to video footage of a store manager kicking six black school boys out of a store because security was worried they might steal something.
Footage of the incident at the Melbourne store hit the Internet on Tuesday, causing a an outcry on social media that the store was being racist to the boys, who are all black and in Year 10 at Maribyrnong College in Melbourne.
“These guys are just a bit worried about your presence in our store,” an Apple staff member can be seen telling the teenagers in the video. “They’re just a bit worried you might steal something.”
You can catch a clip of the exchange below:
Everything we’d previously heard (including Apple’s own official statement on the matter) suggested that the iPad Pro would be available for ordering today, but that customers would only be able to physically get their hands on one later this week.
Well, taking a page out of the “under promise, over deliver” playbook, it turns out that a number of Apple Stores are offering in-store pickups for its new super-sized tablet — starting today!
Apple’s retail guru Angela Ahrendts took to the stage at Fast Company‘s ongoing Innovation Festival to talk her role as senior vice president for retail and online stores.
With the highest sales-per-square-foot of any U.S. retailer, the Apple Stores were hardly in need of a total overhaul, but Ahrendts nonetheless discussed the ways she’s trying to tweak the physical shopping experience for the better — with some fascinating insights.
Apple won’t have to stump up the cash for back-paying thousands of current and former employees at Apple Stores across California, according to the ruling of a federal judge.
The lawsuit was brought against Apple in 2013 by two former retail employees — claiming that Apple’s policy of mandatory bag searches after work had cost them dozens of hours of unpaid wages, totalling around $1,500 per year.
It’s been years since Apple got rid of CD drives in Macs, but apparently Adele didn’t get the memo. That’s all we can conclude from a new report, claiming that the team behind the gazillion album-selling songstress tried — and failed — to persuade Apple to sell physical CD copies of her upcoming album, 25, in Apple Stores.
Because, you know, it’s not like the company has a new streaming music service it’s focused on selling people on or anything!