Apple Store - page 41

Apple’s retail stores are famous for their wow-factor, with the iconic glass cube above the Fifth Avenue store in New York City, the rooftop gardens atop the Boylston Street store in Boston, Massachusetts, and the glass cylinder that leads into the Pundong store in Shanghai.

But there could soon be another store to add to our list of the weirdest and most interesting Apple stores on Earth, with plans of a huge new store on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica that features a breathtaking glass roof.

Apple has allegedly begun work on its upcoming retail store in Grand Central Station. The world-renowned terminal in New York City’s Manhattan area serves 700,000 commuters daily.

According to MacRumors, Apple is expected to operate under a “very tight construction timetable” in order to get the new store ready for Black Friday.

Remember those fake Apple stores in China that were uncovered last month? It turns out that faux Apple stores abound in other continents, like Europe, and unauthorized resellers have even been popping up in the US.

After an investigation by the Chinese authorities, 22 fake Apple stores were shut down. One of the main stores in Kunming, China has been rebranded with a clever new name: the “Smart Store.”

At least the store owner didn’t have the nerve to call it the “Genius Store.”

Following the discovery of some pretty convincing fake Apple stores in China a few weeks ago, the Chinese authorities have been on the hunt for more. Their last find uncovered a whole 22 stores in the city of Kunming along.

After Apple’s plans for its flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City where show off yesterday, Apple has released a rendering of what the final design of the store’s glass cube will look like.

In the land where you can see Russia from your front porch, Apple will open its first retail store. That’s right, Alaskans will soon have access to all of the retail goodness that Apple has to offer. A new location is set to open in the 5th Avenue Mall in Anchorage this Saturday.

Separately, Apple is also set to unveil four more stores this Saturday, including another US store and three international stores in Canada, Australia and Italy.

Apple’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City is a beautiful piece of architecture, with its shining glass exterior and 20,000 square feet of underground retail space. The giant Apple logo suspended midair in glass is an unmistakable landmark for daily commuters and tourists alike.

Apple started renovating its Fifth Avenue store last summer. The $6.6 million project focuses on upgrading the plaza and iconic glass cube that stands on top of the retail space.

Having watched Mark Malkoff’s hilarious video earlier this week, we now know it’s possible to have a pizza delivered to your local Apple store, take your pet goat to check out the latest Mac minis, and get your iPhone repaired while you’re dressed as Darth Vadar. But will a real Apple store help you troubleshoot your knockoff MacBook Air?

This is one in China did!

If you walk into an Apple store these days you will find tons of iPads on display. No, we aren’t talking about the iPads that are actually available for purchase, but instead the ones that sit next to each and every Apple product with descriptions, details and interactive elements.

These iPads run an internal Apple app called “Smart Sign,” and the app is meant to help connect you with Apple store employees and show you information about products. If you’ve ever wondered what these iPad “Smart Signs” are actually made of, someone has been able to see what’s going on under the hood of one of these iPad displays. Let’s just say, it isn’t your typical iPad.

Following over a year of rumors and anticipation, Apple is finally set to build its largest retail location ever right in the heart of Grand Central Station, New York.

In classic Apple retail tradition, the new store is expected to be a crown jewel among architectural achievements. A beautiful rendering of “Apple Store, Grand Central” shows just how incredible the new flagship store will be for Apple and Grand Central commuters alike.

Those impressively fake Apple stores in Kunming, China, were undoubtedly destined for doom after they enjoyed global fame last week. Two of the five stores have already been shut down, but surprisingly, Apple has had nothing to do with it.

Apple has begun to discontinue the selling of boxed software in its retail stores. OS X Lion was made available this morning as the first download-only version of OS X, and Apple is placing a strong emphasis on the Mac App Store as its main method of desktop software distribution.

Other flagship products from Apple, like Final Cut Pro X, have been also offered exclusively in the Mac App Store.

Apple is on track to launch another flagship retail store in Grand Central Station, New York. This store location has been rumored to be in the works for the past year, and Apple could see approval to begin construction as soon as next week.

Apple’s last earnings call echoed the company’s desire for aggressive retail expansion, and this upcoming Grand Central Station store will most likely prove to be a very profitable business venture.

We’ve all seen those copycat iPhones that come out of China, the majority of which can usually be identified as counterfeit within a few seconds. However, when it comes to faking Apple stores, China does a pretty damn good job.

Remember when Apple said to drag your Mac into your local Apple Store and piggyback their WiFi to download Lion if you didn’t have high-speed internet? It seemed silly at the time, but we didn’t take into account that Apple might set up dedicated Lion install servers in their retail locations to help with the load. Silly us.

It’s almost here, folks! After weeks of anticipation and rumors about OS X Lion’s public launch, we’ve heard word that copies of Lion are shipping to Apple Stores for the Mac demo units on the store floor. Additionally, Lion is also getting installed at AppleCare support centers.

Lion is rumored to be dropping this Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM ET.

Every time there’s an anticipated release — a movie, a book, a new gadget — there’s always someone clamoring to be first in line to get it. Some of these people are just honest fans literally counting down the seconds until release. Some are just addicted to seeing their names in the paper. And some are just there to cash in on the notoriety of being first.

That all being true, we’re not surprised that even though the iPhone 5 hasn’t even been announced yet, there’s already someone camped out in line for one. What is surprising is he’s so open about why he’s doing it: for the publicity.

While there’s still hope that OS X Lion will drop today, the chances are slim. Previous speculation was that Apple would announce Lion alongside new Mac hardware today, but that hasn’t seemed to pan out just yet.

So when is it coming? We’ve received a tip that claims a July 26th Lion launch date, seemingly confirming a similar report earlier today… and our tipster received his word straight from an Apple Store Genius’s mouth.

In the classic tradition of those classic “My brother went to Vegas and all I got was this stupid t-shirt” souvenirs, here’s one of the t-shirts you can buy at the Apple Company Store.

Hilarious. Beats my “I Got An Early Look At The iPhone 5 And All I Got Was Raided, Flashbanged And Maced” t-shirt by a mile!

[via OS X Daily]

Finally, right? After almost four months of availability, the iPad 2 is now available to order online with shipping times of only 3-5 business days. I think we can officially say the iPad 2 supply crisis is over.

Apple is planning overnight shifts at international retail locations around the world to prepare for a July 14th release of OS X Lion, according to reports. And new Thunderbolt-equipped Sandy Bridge MacBook Airs with blistering 400MBps SSD drives might also be in the cards.

A 25 year old digital artist who installed a program that secretly took photographs of the people using the Macs at two New York City Apple Stores has had his own computers confiscated by the United States Secret Service. He may face criminal charges.

Apple’s developer betas of future versions of iOS are just that, betas, which means that there’s all sorts of problems that can come up when you install one. Total device meltdown, though? That’s the sort of thing that ought to be ironed out in alpha, yet that’s just what at least one iOS 5 Beta user is reporting after installing the dev preview on his iPad: massive, device crippling overheating issues. And Apple says it’s a known issue.

A series of interviews with retail employees conducted by a labor movement website paints a scathing picture of what it’s like to work at the Apple Store: underpaid, demoralized, physically drained and with no way to secure full-time benefits without turning your personal life over to Apple.

Apple’s currently in the process of sprucing up their New York retail locations, most notably taking down and reinstalling the 5th Avenue Store’s iconic Glass Cube. But the slate of renovations won’t end there: Apple will also close its landmark SoHo store this summer and replace it with a temp location somewhere else within Manhattan to compensate.