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Posts tagged with "apple store"

Second Apple Store in Rome To Open On April 21

(The location of the Apple Store at Porta di Roma. Image via Macity)

According to iSpazio [Google Translation], Apple will open its second retail store in Rome, Italy, on Saturday, April 21. Currently, Apple only has one retail store in Rome. The new one, located at the Porta di Roma shopping mall, should open on the same day Rome celebrates its birthday, commemorating the city’s founding in 753 BC. iSpazio managed to take some exclusive shots of the progress being made with the store’s construction, supposedly showing the usual layout of retail stores located inside Italian malls. iSpazio says the opening date has been confirmed by an “inside source”.

Italian website Macity reported back in January that Apple had started working on the new store, sharing photos of the old Co.Import location under construction. Opening in between Benetton and Bershka retail stores (Benetton is an Italian fashion firm, Bershka is a retailer part of the Spanish Inditex group), the Apple Store will be located on the same floor of heavily trafficked H&M and Media World. The Porta di Roma shopping mall, easily reachable by bus or by car from the GRA, has long been rumored to be a favorite location for Apple to open a retail store, albeit speculation has also suggested the company would like to have a third retail store in downtown Rome.

Recently, Apple has also been rumored to be considering making its new retail store in Turin its “most important” Italian one. Apple was also on the verge of launching a new flagship store in Milan, but the company didn’t manage to get permissions from the city. Currently, Apple has 9 retail stores in Italy.

iPad Lines Around the World

As the new iPad begins its international rollout at 8 A.M. (local time) on Friday, March 16th, it’s no surprise Apple fans have started waiting in line at retail stores to get their hands on the device, which, this year, was also made available through online pre-orders.

On March 16th, the new iPad (our overview) goes on sale in 10 countries.

  • US
  • Canada
  • UK
  • France
  • Germany
  • Switzerland
  • Japan
  • Hong Kong
  • Singapore
  • Australia

In this post, we’ll collect photos and videos about the experience of our readers and other folks around the web while waiting in line for the new iPad. Come back later for updates and new images. Read more

New iPad Shipping Times Slip To 2-3 Weeks In Many Apple Online Stores [Update]

Update 3/10: Apple has confirmed in a statement to CNET that initial iPad units available for pre-order are sold out.

Customer response to the new iPad has been off the charts and the quantity available for pre-order has been purchased,” an Apple representative told CNET. “Customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date. Beginning Friday, March 16, the new iPad will be available for purchase at Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers on a first come, first-served basis.

As noted by Matthew Panzarino at The Next Web, shipping times for the recently announced new iPad have slipped to 2-3 weeks in several online stores worldwide. The new device, announced at a media event on Wednesday, was made available through online pre-orders immediately after the event; in the hours following the refresh of the Apple online store with new products, the company had to face technical problems with the site not loading correctly due to heavy traffic. That hasn’t stopped customers, however, from sending their orders for the new iPad, whose initial shipments are now sold out in many international versions of the store – shipping times of 2-3 weeks are now reported in the UK, Germany, Japan, France, and Australia. Curiously enough, at the moment of writing this US shipping times had slipped to 2-3 weeks as well, only to go back to March 19 right before publishing.

Other stores of the initial launch countries are now reporting delays as well: in Canada, new iPad orders will be shipped on March 19, in Singapore and Australia on March 22.

On March 16th, the new iPad will go on sale in:

  • US
  • Canada
  • UK
  • France
  • Germany
  • Switzerland
  • Japan
  • Hong Kong
  • Singapore
  • Australia

25 more countries will follow one week later on March 23rd:

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Italy
  • Liechtenstein
  • Luxembourg
  • Macau
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Puerto Rico
  • Romania
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden

You can read more about the new iPad, which carries a Retina display, LTE, Bluetooth 4.0 and quad-core GPU, in our overview.

Gallery: Amsterdam Apple Store Grand Opening

On Saturday, Apple officially opened its first retail store in Amsterdam. Located at Hirschgebouw, Leidseplein 25, the first store in the city blends historical architectural elements with Apple’s unique style and approach to retail presentation. Gary Allen of ifoAppleStore has a great recount of the opening day:

In typical Apple fashion, construction of the interior was a labor of love, taken from history. Everything is a recreation, although it is impossible to tell even from a close examination. The employees are still in awe of the store, since they had their first view of the interior just nine days ago. Steve Jobs signed off on the project before the project before he died last year, and Apple has taken great care within the company to credit the artisans, craftsman and construction team who created the store.

The superlatives are many: most number of Apple products on display of any store in the chain, second-largest store in square-footage, and largest volume of any store in the chain. But those are just numbers, when a store should really be judged by its appearance.

Whilst you’ll be able to find more information about the store on Apple’s dedicated retail webpage, we wanted to share a series of photos our friend Jack Amick took last Saturday and sent us. You can find them after the break. Also make sure to check out Jack’s Flickr photostream for some full-size shots, and a video.

Update: We’ve posted a full-size version of the photo showing Senior Director of International Retail Steve Cano at the Amsterdam Apple Store.

Read more

New Turin Apple Store To Become Italy’s “Most Important” One

According to a report by Italian website Macity [Google Translation], Apple’s upcoming retail store in Via Roma, Turin, will become Italy’s “most important” one as it debuts later this year, with an opening date apparently set for September 2012. Citing “sources with access to information about the new store”, Macity claims the store in Via Roma will cover an approximate area of 1000 square meters (10763 square feet, possibly including warehouse and back of the store) on two floors. Previously owned by Mondadori, the empty store is now being completely emptied so to let Apple rebuild it to fit the store’s style, which will be “different” from the current retail stores in Italy (9 out of 10 are located in shopping malls, with the exception of Via Rizzoli). Last, according to Macity, once open, the new store will be as “prestigious” as other Apple retail stores in Europe, specifically in France and the United Kingdom.

Apple was long rumored to be on the verge of launching a new flagship store in Milan, although the company didn’t manage to get permissions from the city, losing an auction for the Galleria space to fashion firm Prada. The new store in Via Roma will join Apple’s other store in Turin, at Le Gru. [via GGD Milano]

Apple’s Grand Central Store: A Collection of Photos from Around the Web

After months of speculation, more rumors, a confirmation and then sneak peaks, the Grand Central Apple Store opened today at 10am to large crowds eager to see the latest flagship Apple retail store in this very unique setting. As is typical for any new Apple Store, staff were handing out 4,000 launch t-shirts with the text “Apple Store, Grand Central” (photo below the break).

The actual store will be open 7am to 9am from Monday to Friday, 10am to 7pm Saturday and 11am to 6pm on Sundays. With over 300 employees and two genius bars, the store is well-suited for the large flow of people that is expected to come through its doors - and popular services such as Express Workshops and Personal Pickup will all operate in the store.

We’ve sourced some photos of the new store which you can see past the break and we will continue to update this post over the next few hours as we find more nice shots of the store.

[Images via Engadget, BGR]

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So How Does Apple Know You’re in the Store?

Long story short: An Apple employee at the Apple Store in Palo Alto, California, spills the beans on how they track customers in their stores. Employees armed with iPod touches get notified when customers enter the stores with their location-aware iPhones (for services like in-store pickup or an appointment), or when customers request help using in-store iPads. All the employee has to do is select a customer in a queue, get their position on an in-store map, and voilà! An an employee walks up to the customer and assists them.

While new Apple Store customers may be dazed by the busy store’s atmosphere and integration with technology, experienced shoppers can take advantage of a unique shopping experience tailored for the customer.

We’re basically seeing the map-side of Apple’s in-store toys like Concierge, Scout, iQueue, etc. This isn’t new technology, but as geeks it’s nice to get behind the scenes sometimes.

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Apple Storefronts Photos→

Apple Storefronts Photos

Thomas Park (via MacRumors) has created an impressive gallery of storefronts photos from every Apple Store around the globe as of September 2011. The 357 stores, organized by opening date thanks to ifoAppleStore’s database and presented through Apple’s original photos from its website, include the most recent additions such as IFC Mall in Hong Kong and Centro Sicilia in Italy. The full gallery, available here, allows you to filter stores by country with a navigation menu at the top.

Way back in August of 2001, some good friends and I took a road trip down to Virginia to attend a Radiohead concert. Unfortunately the rains came, the venue got flooded, and the concert was cancelled. Disappointing, but as something of a concession prize, I got to check out the very first brick & mortar Apple Store, which had opened in Tysons Corner just a few weeks earlier. At the time, most analysts considered Apple’s fledgling retail initiative to be doomed. But though Tysons Corner seemed like a modest start, it was a blueprint for big things to come.

Park notes that in taking a look at the gallery, it’s clear Apple follows some design conventions but they’re not afraid of breaking them and trying something new according to a retail location’s unique properties and features. So whilst most stores in the United States and Europe follow a consistent design trend, others have seen a kind of experimentation that has lead to beautiful and original designs like Regent Street, Fifth Avenue, or State Street in Santa Barbara.

Apple’s next flagship store in Grand Central Terminal is currently undergoing construction and is set to open soon. At the Q4 2011 earnings call, Apple announced that they opened 30 new retail stores in the September quarter, 21 of which were international (non-US) stores. Average revenue per-store was $10.7 million with overall revenue from retail up 1% at $3.6 billion.

Check out Thomas Park’s gallery here.

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