When Apple fires an executive, the company is rarely straightforward about the situation. Apple never puts out a press release stating plainly that the executive was canned. So Tuesday’s unexpected announcement that Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s head of retail, is leaving in April led many to suspect she was fired.

That’s because the announcement came as a surprise and seems rushed. She’s certainly not retiring or quitting to join another company. The press release phrase “new personal and professional pursuits” sounds like code for “canned.”

November 30, 2003: Apple expands its retail chain outside the United States, opening its 73rd Apple Store in Tokyo’s trendy Ginza shopping district.

On opening day, thousands of Apple fans — possibly the biggest queue in Apple history — line up around the block in the rain to gain early access to the store, which offers five full floors of Apple product goodness.

Steve Jobs does not show up for the opening. However, shoppers hear a welcoming speech from Eiko Harada, president of Apple Japan.

November 4, 1997: Apple unveils its plan to open small “store within a store” sections inside CompUSA outlets around the United States.

In a step toward the flagship Apple stores that would launch four years later, Cupertino-trained employees staff these mini-stores. The move gives Apple a bit more control over the way its products get displayed and demoed to consumers.

More than 60 new sessions to teach Apple users how to get the most creatively from their apps and devices will be added to the “Today at Apple” program, the company announced in New York today.

Held at Apple Stores around the world, the sessions offer primers on essential hardware and software in the Apple ecosystem. Each workshop is headed by local creative professionals teaching coding, digital drawing, photography, video and making music.

Apple’s ambitions to open a new “global flagship” Apple Store in Melbourne, Australia, are at risk — thanks to the granting of a new heritage protection order that will let the government deliberate on whether to permanently protect the site.

The store, supposed to be located on Melbourne’s Federation Square, has been the subject of controversy since day one. The new heritage protection status, which runs to late 2018, could prevent Apple from opening its planned retail outlet.

Apple and photographer Chase Jarvis, who built CreativeLive into one of the world’s top online education platforms, have teamed up to teach pro tips to iPhone photographers who visit their local Apple Store.

Apple Photo Lab, announced by Jarvis in San Francisco Thursday, will roll out in more than 500 Apple Stores across the world.

Apple just gave us a sneak preview of its first store in Austria, and it’s pretty stunning! Apple Kärntner Straße, which will open this Saturday in Vienna, is designed with “the original heritage building in mind,” Apple says.

The totally Apple-y redesign of the building, which sits on a famous shopping street between St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Vienna State Opera, combines exposed columns outside with large window openings.

A Sacramento man has plead guilty to scamming Apple Stores across the United States out of hundreds of thousands of dollars over a period of several months.

33-year-old Marcus Israel Butler carried out his scam, involving debit card fraud, in Apple Stores in Sacramento, Modesto, New York, Baltimore, Chicago, North Carolina and Alaska.

Apple is adding a spectacular new retail store to its collection — but you’ll have to visit Milan to see it.

Located in the city’s Piazza Liberty, the store will take a note out of Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York by being located underground, with access via a special elevator. Or, in this case, a spectacular staircase entrance located between two waterfalls.

Check out a couple more pictures below.

Apple is bringing new “hands on” sessions to its stores, enlisting artists, Mac experts and celebrities in a bid to make its retail outlets more engaging.

Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of retail, introduced the scheme on CBS This Morning. She also laid out plans for getting Gen Z interested in Apple, discussed women’s role at the company, and stressed the importance of forging human connections in the digital age.