Apple Retail

One of the best parts about Apple Stores is the ability to try out Apple products out of the box in an environment superior to big box retail stores. While that’s mostly true of almost all Apple products including Apple Watches, there’s one really compelling Apple product that I haven’t seen on demo at any Apple Stores: CarPlay.

If you want to try out CarPlay for yourself right now before spending some serious money, the easiest way is to find a car dealer with a CarPlay model available and go for a test drive. But there are a few ways Apple could bring most of the experience to customers in its retail stores …

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Apple is set to open its largest Florida-based Apple Store yet in Greater Downtown Miami, according to a new report. Sources close to The Real Deal and South Florida Business Journal have confirmed that Apple has signed a lease with Miami’s new Brickell City Centre to open the new retail location.

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Earlier today we reported that Apple was partnering with one screen protector company, likely Belkin, to offer professional installations of screen protectors done by machines. Now, a report from MacOtakara says that Apple has started rolling out its screen protector installation service in Japan and that it has in fact partnered with Belkin to do so, just as we reported this morning.

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Apple is gearing up to launch a pair of new retail initiatives centered around the iPhone: an upgraded iPhone trade-in program for iPhones with damaged screens, cameras, or buttons, and a new program that allows Apple Retail Stores to install screen protectors on iPhones.

The Apple Store Reuse and Recycle iPhone trade-in program currently allows a customer to bring in an older iPhone model and trade it in for credit toward the purchase of a new iPhone model. The main exception since the launch of the program is that this does not apply toward older iPhones with cracked displays, or broken cameras and buttons. That’s about to change …

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In the days following Apple’s record Q1 earnings announcements, Apple CEO Tim Cook and other top Apple executives held a Town Hall meeting at the Infinite Loop headquarters in Cupertino to reveal new announcements and take attendee questions.

Multiple sources in attendance at the event said that Cook as well as newly appointed Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams each spoke and made announcements and teases related to new employee benefits, future iPad growth, Apple Watch sales, future retail stores in China, Apple Campus 2, and the future product pipeline.

Cook also fielded questions from the audience, attempting to reduce concerns related to the company’s iPhone dependence, discussing porting more Apple services to Android, growth in India, and releasing cheaper iPhones to appease growing markets.

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At its current rate of expansion, Apple could conceivably hit its October goal of 40 retail stores in China within a couple of months. The company has just announced that its 33rd Apple Store in China will open on 31st January, making it the fifth new store in the country in one month … 
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According to data from Counterpoint Research, iPhone sales in India are booming. Apple reportedly shipped 800,000 units in the December quarter to the country, up from 500,000 a year ago. Apple has been aggressively promoting their phones with substantial discounts to sustain sales, given high prices for iPhone 6s in India (via Economic Times).

Even with price cuts, that 800,000 number is composed of older iPhone models too. The report indicates that iPhone 5s was responsible for 30% of the sales numbers. About half of the 800k number are made up of iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

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French Apple news site MacGeneration today reports that Apple is soon planning to open a new flagship retail store in Paris, France, citing French newspaper Le Figaro. The report claims that Apple has secured a lease for a 20,341-square-feet seven story building at 114 Avenue des Champs-Élysées. The company plans to operate a retail store on the lower levels of the building, while the upper levels will be reserved for office space.

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Apple is looking very comfortably on-track for its goal of 40 retail stores in China by October as it has announced that two more stores will open this month. That will bring the total in China to 32, four of them opening this month alone …

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[Update: All links and images of this Space Black Milanese Loop band have now been pulled from the web … We have asked Apple PR for clarification on the situation …]

Apple is readying the launch of a brand new Apple Watch band, a 42 mm Space Black Milanese Loop, suitable for Space Black steel watches. Third-party aftermarket black Milanese loops have been on sale for a while, but this is Apple official — assumedly matching their Space Black Link Bracelet in color and quality.

Despite no official announcement, this new Apple Watch band appeared on Czech Republic Apple Store website earlier today (following the announcement that the Watch would launch in the region later in month). As of now, it does not appear to be listed in any other Apple Store region. More pictures after the break …

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In an interview to promote Apple’s Hour of Code workshops for kids aged 6 and up, SVP of software engineering Craig Federighi has told the BBC that introducing young children to programming is so important because programming is “the next level of literacy.”

“These devices are so much a part of our lives, we have a computer in some form wherever we go, that the ability to create in that medium is as fundamental as the ability to write,” he said […]

He says programming should be seen as a “language and a way of thinking”. And while many young people have a great facility in using devices, he says being able to programme them is the “next level of literacy”.

Federighi, who first began to experiment with code when he was ten years old, said that Apple also wanted to dispel one of the myths of life as a software engineer … 
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Apple’s new <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016QXV2QK?qid=1449202644&ref_=sr_1_1&keywords=beats%252520pill%25252B&tag=n003f1-20&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Beats Pill+</a> Bluetooth speaker

Apple may have outsourced Black Friday discounts on its products to other retailers this year, but it’s not staying completely out of the promotion game during the Christmas shopping season. Starting today Apple is bundling $60 gift cards that can be used toward Apple Music memberships with almost all Beats headphones and speakers purchased from Apple for a limited time. The promotion specifically pushes Apple Music memberships as it can pay for almost 6 months of access, but the $60 credit can be used toward iTunes, iBooks, and App Store, and Mac App Store purchases and subscriptions as well.
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While Apple’s Christmas ad brought Stevie Wonder and Andra Day together this year for a warm performance of ‘Someday at Christmas’, Microsoft decided to take to the cold streets of New York City this year for their holiday commercial … right in front of the iconic 5th Avenue Apple Store. Taking a rather cheeky approach to celebrating the season while naming the competition, Microsoft Store employees from a nearby location traveled down the block to sing ‘Peace on Earth’ to “some old friends” decked in red shirts … Apple Store employees.
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