We have some really good news for our Filipino readers today. Bringing the total number to 33, Apple has now launched an Online Store in Philippines. Given how desperately I'm hoping and praying for an Indian branch of the Apple Online Store, I'm guessing that Apple customers in Philippines must be pretty psyched by this development.
Of course, as with all Apple Online Stores, this one features Apple's entire lineup of Macs and iPods, the iPhone, and the Apple TV, along with a wide range of accessories for said products, both from Apple as well as third parties. If you have any sales specific questions, you can reach the Apple Sales department at the toll-free number 1800-1651-0525.
In celebration for the launch, Apple is offering an exclusive free X-border T-shirt to all customers who buy either a Mac or an iPod from the store by November 24, 2008. Grab 'em while they last.
[Via MacDailyNews]
On the eve of what's sure to soon be a retail coup de grâce, Apple has been given the Excellence in Retailing award by Twice magazine, a trade pub for consumer electronics. Unsurprisingly, the magazine praises Apple Stores for their layout and for the unparalleled knowledge of Mac Geniuses.
As the magazine points out, in the seven and a half years since the first store opened, over 200 more stores have opened, including most recently in Switzerland and China.
The magazine also adds that the company grew its annual sales by 40.5 percent between 2006 and 2007 and closed with $4.1 billion in sales. That's a lot of iPhones and MacBooks, folks.
Personally, I've had generally good experiences in Apple Stores--my largest complaint is usually the long wait, but even that was largely resolved when they added the online reservation system a couple years ago.
Anyone been to a better organized retail outlet, and disagree with Twice's assessment?
[via Mac Observer]
Man, I used to love field trips when I was in school. Getting out of class for a day? Yes, please. Of course, when I was a kid, they didn’t have Apple Stores, so we weren’t able to take advantage of Apple’s Field Trip program, which lets K-12 educators sign up to take their classes to local Apple Stores.
Classes can either sign up to use the one-hour program to create new projects or to showcase existing projects. Apple Specialists and trainers will be on hand to help out with software and hardware, working with kids to create projects in Garage Band, iMovie, iWeb, Keynote, and more.
Field Trips are available for K-12 classes in the U.S. and Canada, and can be scheduled between September 22nd and November 21. The Apple Store can even supply personalized invitations for parents and others. Plus, all students get a free t-shirt, and we know there’s no greater reward in life than free t-shirts.
[via ifoAppleStore]
Despite Apple Stores spreading around the world like an an infestation, not every country has access to their own aluminumed and glassed cubes, and so many people must rely on third-party stores to get their Apple fix.
For the residents of the Emerald Isle, that just got a little bit harder. Mobile operator O2 was also running a set of retail stores, dubbed the O2 Experience, which in addition to handling iPhone sales also sold other Apple gear, like Macs and iPods. Unfortunately, according to a report in The Sunday Business Post, O2 is dropping non-phone-related Apple merchandise from its stores.
“O2 has decided just to go after customers that it can retain relationships with,” said a source close to the company.
“The problem with iPods and computers is that there isn’t an ongoing revenue stream in the same way as there is with a mobile phone customer.”
That’s rough. As of the moment, the only Apple Store on the island is in Belfast, Northern Ireland (though there is, of course, an online store for Ireland). According to the Post, that leaves only one chain—3G Mobile—selling Apple hardware. Best of luck to you, our Irish friends—not that you need it, I’m sure, what with that whole “luck of the Irish” thing going on.
Earlier this month, we told you that the first of the upcoming Swiss Apple stores were about to open their doors. The Geneva store was the first, opening up on Rue de Rive, the iconic strip that's often compared to Rodeo Drive.
World Radio Switzerland interviewed Alexandre Robert-Tissot, the owner of ART Computers, a nearby private Apple shop. He says that he's not too worried about the competition from the mothership.
ROBERT-TISSOT: Apple started to open their online store six or seven years ago and we were absolutely unhappy about that. We thought that it was going to take part of our business and in fact, in the first two years it took, but after that we had very big growth again.Robert-Tissot says he expects the same this time... profits dipping a little... maybe for 6-12 months. But then expects it will up tick again as the Apple store gets PC users over to Mac.
I wonder if this spillover effect with Apple stores is similar to Taylor Clark's theory about how Starbucks actually helps indie coffee houses. Chew on this, he says: [W]hen Starbucks blitzed Omaha with six new stores in 2002, for instance, business at all coffeehouses in town immediately went up as much as 25 percent.
Maybe as MacUser's new Europe correspondent I'll have to go to this store in a few months to check back.
There's something almost magical about the opening of a new Apple Store--the lines of eager Mac users, the cheery...cheeriness of the employees clapping and waving people inside, etc. In my quest to avoid visiting the King of Prussia Apple store again, here's another location that I could (theoretically) use as backup: the new Apple Store in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
One of several new Apple stores to open over the weekend, the Belfast store in Victoria Square opened to the usual fanfare we've come to expect from Apple customers who just really like being able to look at something in person before buying it (oh, stop giving me that look).
Like other Apple stores, the Belfast location features a Genius Bar, concierge personnel, lack of cash registers, and a glass staircase.
Just because Apple’s released shiny new iPods doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with the old ones. So if you’re not quite in the market for a brand new model, there’s always the joy of discount refurbished models from the Apple Store.
Right now, if you pop over to the Apple Store’s refurbished deals page, you’ll find first-generation iPod touches going for $179, $239, and $319 for 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB respectively—a nice break if you don’t mind the older models. Likewise, 4GB third-generation nanos are going for $99 and 8GB models for $129, if you prefer that form factor.
And hey, did we mention they’re cheap?
A year ago, I was on vacation in the beautiful state of Maine, enjoying the warm August sun and the not-so-warm northern Atlantic waters, and... I went to an AT&T store. I know, right? That's like giving a cup of fire to people in heaven!
I did this because, as a deprived Canadian, I hadn't seen or touched or caressed the hot new iPhone that had came out two months before and there was no Apple store in Maine.
Well no one will ever have to forfeit precious vacation time at the expense of AT&T again, because Apple is opening a store in Maine Mall, South Portland, this Saturday. It's the largest mall in Maine and close to Portland, Maine's most populous city, as well as major coastal destinations like Old Orchard Beach.
I'd be discriminating if I didn't mention the two other fine states also getting new stores this weekend. Ohio will see the opening of the Crocker Park (Westlake) store, while New Jersey will be blessed with an outlet in the Willowbrook Mall, Wayne. Attending any of these openings? All stores open at 10 AM. We'd love reports, photos, free ponies, etc.
[Source photo from jimmywayne22 on Flickr]
Aussies rejoice, for you are about to experience a three-peat of your previous two victorious Apple Store openings.
According to ifoAppleStore, the third Australian Apple store, coming no more than three months after the continent's first Apple store debut, will open in Chadstone on September 13th at 10 a.m.
Australia seems to be on a roll, opening Apple Stores in rapid fire succession. ifoAppleStore notes that there is still plenty of room for future expansion in the northern parts of Australia in cities like Perth, Brisbane, Darwin and Adelaide, so be on the look-out for future Apple additions.
Apple’s slowly been expanding its brick-and-mortar presence in Europe with stores in the UK and Italy, now its first stores in Switzerland—home to the Alps, cheese, chocolate and neutrality—are on the way.
The stores were first hinted at by job postings on Apple’s site in February, then later reinforced by the inimitable duo of Oppenheimer and Cook, but now they’re ready to be for reals. The first location, in Geneva’ Rue de Rive, is set to open soon—so soon, in fact, that the usual Apple-logoed facade outside the store read “Bientôt Ouvert”—which, if you don’t speak French, translates to “On our way, suckers.”
According to the unparalleled folks at ifoAppleStore, two more stores are on their way in the Confoederatio Helvetica, one in Zurich’s Glattzentrum shopping mall and a third in the same city’s Bahnhofstrasse.
What, no love for Lausanne? Mon cœur, il saigne.
