Apple Retail

After many years of speculation, the NY Post reports that Brooklyn is finally getting its first Apple Store, expected to open in April of next year. The above render shows what the building is expected to look like once renovations are complete.

The tech-products powerhouse has signed a long-term lease for a 20,000-square-foot store at 247 Bedford Ave. at the corner of North 3rd Street, brokerage community sources definitively revealed.

This will make the opening around five years since then Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz made a video plea direct to Steve Jobs … 
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Apple Watch at Colette

We’ve already seen how Apple is presenting the upcoming Apple Watch, which it calls its most personal device yet, as not just another technology device but also a piece of jewelry that the fashion world will be proud to embrace.

9to5Mac has now learned from internal hiring documents that Apple is recruiting retail candidates this month with “a fashion or luxury background” suggesting Apple is preparing to deliver some changes to its retail stores in time for the Apple Watch’s early 2015 debut. With former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts leading Apple’s retail efforts and the Apple Watch set to transform the Apple Store into a jewelry store, what could a potential Apple Store makeover include?
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Shopping this year through iPhone and iPad apps is significantly more convenient thanks to Apple Pay and Touch ID. The latest iPhones and iPads allow you to avoid the arduous process of re-entering your credit card information each time at checkout and instead pay for your purchase with the touch of your finger.

Hopefully our holiday gift guides are steering you in the right direction for what to buy this year, especially with guides focused on using your iPhone and iPad in the car, making music with Apple devices, outfitting your home with connected smart devices, and more, and these shopping apps should continue to help you along the way.
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(RED) Apple Store logo

As it continues to expand its global reach through its retail stores, Apple has begun recruiting for Apple Store-specific positions in Brussels through job listings posted online. As MacGeneration points out, the upcoming Apple Store opening in the capital city will mark Apple’s first retail location in Belgium.
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Apple is once again using its retail stores to promote Computer Science Education Week and Code.org by hosting Hour of Code computer programming workshops for kids on Thursday, December 11th. Apple describes the workshops as fun, hour-long introductions to coding:

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Covent Garden, London – one of the largest Apple Stores in the world

New corporate tax measures aimed at preventing multinational companies making profits in the UK and then shifting them overseas where they incur lower taxes could potentially impact a number of tech companies, including Apple, Google and Amazon.

The British government announced a new 25% tax on profits generated in the UK and then “artificially shifted” overseas, reports the BBC … 
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Apple has confirmed that its new retail store in Franklin Park Mall, Toledo, is opening at 9am on Saturday. The Starwood-owned mall is located at 5001 Monroe Street, and the store occupies the former Charlotte Russe space, next to Williams Sonoma.

As usual with new Apple Store openings, the first 1000 people to enter the store will receive a free commemorative t-shirt … 
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Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted a couple of photos of a visit yesterday to the Apple Store in Georgetown, Washington DC, to help promote World AIDS Day. He was accompanied by (RED) CEO Deborah Dugan, who tweeted a couple of additional photos from the visit (show below) … 
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While Apple Store customers in the U.S. can look forward to gift cards on selected purchases on Black Friday, it seems European customers may be missing out. Apple last year offered its European customers discounted pricing rather than gift cards, but rumors – including from the usually reliable MacG – say that there will be neither cards nor discounts this year … 
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Apple announced last night its campaign to support World AIDS Day 2014 with a series of App Store promotions and plans to donate a portion of Apple Store sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to the Global Fund to support the fight against AIDS. Specifically for November 28th, or Black Friday, Apple shared that select Apple products will include a special edition (RED) iTunes gift care with a percentage going toward the Global Fund, and now we know exactly which products will qualify for Apple’s (RED) promotion on Black Friday.

Supported products include the iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, and iPhone 5c as well as each iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Air 2 which will include a $50 iTunes gift card (as well as the donation). Customers picking up an iMac, Retina iMac, MacBook Pro, Retina MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air will receive a $100 iTunes gift card. Finally, Apple will include a $25 iTunes gift card with the purchase of an iPod nano, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Beats headphones or speakers.

While it’s nice to see Apple use the Black Friday shopping event to promote (RED), its deals are admittedly less charitable than some other retailers if you’re trying to save some actual cash on your Apple or Beats purchases rather than picking up credit for iTunes or the App Store.

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A 99 cent app finally allows owners of Fitbit activity trackers to view their data in Apple’s Health app. Sync Solver for Fitbit provides a daily sync of ten different pieces of data to the Health app built into iOS 8 – a feature the company itself said it had no plans to introduce.

The first sync needs to be performed manually, by tapping a button in the app, after which it will sync data automatically every 24 hours … 
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For Black Friday, Apple has refreshed the frontpage of its online store with a rather-drastic redesign. Each product category now dominates the webpage, with full-bleed images of their main product lines. The new iPad updates get the top spot, but interestingly Apple TV and Beats headphones also get prime placement. In fact, the product images for Beats accessories are so large, it only takes four images to dominate the screen.

The strap-line ‘From one gift come many’ headlines the page, which also links up with Apple’s upcoming retail store holiday changes. The same tagline will soon be featured in Apple Store windows around the world, highlighting the wide scope of the iPhone and iPad, as shown below.

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Apple is making a big push with gift cards for the holidays with the most notable change being gift cards for its retail stores arriving through third-party retailers, according to sources. The company already sold iTunes/App Store gift certificates through a number of retail parters, but it has just recently started selling its Apple Store gift cards outside its own channels as well. Apple Retail will also make changes to repair procedures tomorrow including the introduction of in-store repairs for Beats products. 
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Apple may be preparing to move into the historic Broadway Trade Center in downtown Los Angeles according to the latest rumor from ifo Apple Store. The company has reportedly leased the building for use as office space as well as a retail outlet.

Additionally, the report claims that some of that office space will be dedicated to the recently acquired Beats by Dre, which took up residence in a brand new Culver City facility earlier this summer.

The five-story structure was built in 1908 and boasts 1.1 million square feet of floor space. Apple would be a prime candidate for the space as the city continues a ten-year initiative to “Bring Back Broadway” by reviving the dormant theaters and other businesses in the area, including “more than a million square feet of vacant commercial space,” according to the commission’s website.

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Following the launch of Apple Pay in the US last month, Apple and Barclaycard have introduced a new co-branded credit card with EMV chip-and-pin support and revised rewards and financing options.
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Apple Watch will include fitness and health tracking features

Update: Fitbit statement below the fold…

If you’re in the market for a Fitbit device and you’re shopping at the Apple Store, you’ll probably have to shop elsewhere to purchase the fitness tracker. Following report from Re/Code last month that Apple planned to drop the Fitbit line of wearable devices from its Apple Store lineup, Apple has today removed the Fitbit Flex and other Fitbit products from its online store following low inventory over the past week. While its unclear why Apple is no longer selling Fitbit products through its retail channels, on the surface the move is similar to Apple’s decision to discontinue selling Bose headphones and speakers at its retail and online stores.

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