Apple Store - page 43

I have a bet for my pinky finger with a certain man from the south that Apple will never release the white iPhone 4.

What’s the point? After long delays caused by light leaking onto the camera sensor, the white iPhone 4 has been delayed nearly nine months… and the next-gen iPhone is, at best, due out a mere three months after the white iPhone 4 is set to debut. At that point, anyone who wants one is going to just wait for a white iPhone 5.

I’d always assumed Apple was just hoping that delaying it until spring of 2011 would just get everyone to forget about the white iPhone 4, but their latest official signage at Apple Stores around the country reminds people that the albino iPhone 4 is still coming.

Crap. Maybe I’m about to lose that pinky bet after all.

Microsoft’s attempts out replicate Apple’s successes in the retail space have always seemed… well… rather bereft of imagination and mindlessly emulative. Microsoft Stores almost always are opened in the same malls as Apple Stores, sometimes directly across the way. Instead of a Genius Bar, there’s a Guru Bar. And so on.

Microsoft’s “Me Too”ism in the retail has simply been painful to watch… so painful that it prompted us to write a post entitled “Why Microsoft’s Mall of America Store Will Fail” just last month.

Looks like we were right. According to the LA Times, Microsoft’s retail stores are a complete bust, despite having been designed by George Blankenship, who helped build Apple’s own retail stores.

Although the rest of the gadget blogging community never has any shortage of scale-model Enterprises or working 8-bit computers built block by blockto write about, it’s harder for us Minecraft lovers here at Cult of Mac to find an opportunity to declare our adoration for the charming and addictive voxel-based world builder.

Thankfully, one resourceful Apple fan has just come to our rescue with an incredible recreation of the famous 5th Avenue Apple Store.

Following Thanksgiving as it does, Black Friday — and it’s smaller and more stupidly named sister “holiday.” Cyber Monday — is generally an America-only affair, but not if you shop directly from Apple, who are now teasing their November 26th “one-day Apple shopping event” both domestically and internationally.

We personally love it, but not everyone thinks the new AppleTV is much of an improvement over the old model, which featured local storage, legacy outputs, was fairly easily upgradeable and was easily hackable with great media center software like the Boxee Box.

If you’re one of those nostalgists and think the AppleTV took a step back when it became a streaming media only affair, good news: Apple’s dropped the price of the 160GB first-gen AppleTV from just $50 more than the new model.

Of course, buy that and you’ll miss out on the inevitable fun that everyone is going to start having once jailbreak developers start really mastering the capabilities of the new iOS-driven AppleTV, but heck, there’s always room for both in your entertainment center.

Earlier this week, Apple finally launched a local version of its online retail store in China.. and within 10 hours managed to completely sell out of all available iPhone 4s. As 9to5Mac notes, since Apple’s attempted on cracking down on iPhone 4 scalping in its retail stores by forcing anyone looking to buy a handset from them directly online, this effectively means there’s not a single iPhone to be had in the country… unless you’re willing to pay a scalper his premium.

The Apple Store app just got some new functionality that that will make it easier and more painless to meet with your local Genius Bar tech barista for the speedy identification of your iMac’s ills.

UPDATE: Well, turns out we were wrong about this one; it’s been around for awhile. Crow, anyone?

That rumor we mentioned yesterday — the one where we thought Apple would announce a new social network based around Apple Genii? Turns out Apple quietly added something very close to what we predicted yesterday during the virtual Apple Store’s refresh for the new MacBook Air and iLife ’11.

Back in the flower of my youth, I took a job at the local mall working as a minimum-wage cashier at a discount clothing outlet permeated with the distinct smell of moth balls. It was awful. My boss had a greasy pencil moustache and a lazy eye and was overly complimentary about the softness of my hands; my only customers were antique, gum-sucking grannies buying pre-soiled brassieres and underpants by the carriage full.

Meanwhile, across the way, my friend Josh had landed himself a job in a posh clothing boutique aimed largely at girls in their late teens and early twenties. It being summer, there seemed always to be a bikini sale going on, and I can’t even count the hours I spent watching him through the greasy yellow plate glass of my work store window, encouraging the buxom and spritely clientele — freshly emerged from the changing rooms in some impossibly flosslike two-piece to show off to their friends — to take a bounce on the complimentary trampolines that had been installed around the show floor. It was enough to make an undersexed teenage boy spill a vein in sheer impotent jealousy.

This memory came flooding back to me when I first saw the picture above of the Mall of America’s new Microsoft Store, which is currently under construction directly across from the Apple Store.

The Apple Store is back up following some downtime this morning and the Magic Trackpad is now available.

At just $69, the Magic Trackpad provides your desktop Mac with all of the multi-touch functionality and gestures you’ll find on your Mac notebook. It looks fantastic and uses the same sculpted aluminum design as Apple’s wireless keyboard, so it will blend in perfectly on your desk.

This morning the Apple Store is down and backs up rumours that product updates and introductions could be imminent.

Rumors have circulated recently about updates to the iMac and the Mac Pro, as well as the introduction of a 27-inch Cinema Display and a “Magic Trackpad“.

We’re not sure yet whether new products will appear, but this is a good sign. It’s also typical of Apple to release/update products on a Tuesday.

We’ll keep our eye on the Apple Store and be sure to inform you when it’s back up and if there’s new goodies to check out!

If you woke up this morning ready to pull the trigger on that long-lusted for Mac Pro, here’s some counter-intuitive good news for you: it’s currently “unavailable” for purchase at both the Apple Store and many retail stores around the United States.

This is good news, trust us. Apple pulling an item from inventory usually signifies an imminent hardware refresh, and rumors have been swirling for the last few days about what the next MacPro might have going for it.

What does the scuttlebutt have to say for itself Try a USB 3.0 capable Mac Pro with FireWire 1600 (or even 3200) ports, and — in all likelihood — a couple of Intel Core i7 processors.

We’ll keep readers informed if and when new Mac Pros go on sale. We’re certainly hopeful that any new Mac Pro update will hearken a company-wide adoption of the faster USB and — in Pro-level computers — FireWire processors.

[via Mac Rumors]

If you’re looking for that last minute gift, an Apple Store is a fine destination. But if, like my hirsute Uncle Bob, your wrapping skills max out at wadding a clump of disintegrating newspaper around your gift and entombing it in an impenetrable, inch-thick layer of duct tape upon which you’ve written your season’s greeting in bold, permanent marker, the Apple Store might also have you covered: select Apple Stores are now offering free wrapping.

The way Apple is handling wrapping is smart. Instead of buying your iPod or MacBook Pro and then thrusting it at some beleaguered wrapper temp, already light-headed from papercut induced blood loss, Apple has set up an express line which sells exclusively pre-wrapped gifts.