Apple Retail

Via the Associated Press, Apple will begin using iBeacon technology across its 254 US retail stores starting today. The integration, first reported by 9to5Mac last month, will offer notifications about products, event and other information tailored to your current store. For example, walking to a display table about iPhones may automatically notify you about your upgrade availability and trade in options.

Apple demoed the technology to the Associated Press earlier in the week in New York City. Apple has setup over 20 iBeacon transmitters in its flagship 5th Avenue store. However, starting today, everyone can benefit from the update, as the Apple Store app has been updated silently from the server side. Customers in the US can sign up inside the app today …

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As we’ve previously reported, Apple began giving away select paid apps in its Apple Store app recently as an added incentive to download and check out the app.

This week in particular Apple has replaced the free app with free music from iTunes instead. The playlist is appropriately holiday themed and features songs such as Silent Night by Kelly Clarkson and The First Noel by Mary J Blige.
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Today, Apple has launched a promotion for online purchases, offering 0% financing on any purchase above £449 (or €400). The deal is on offer across most of Apple’s European websites, including the UK, France, Italy and Spain.

In the UK, for instance, a customer can buy any product above that value and spread repayments across ten monthly instalments with 0% interest. In other countries, such as France or Spain, the repayment is window is slightly longer at twelve months.

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While Apple’s Black Friday deals started going live in Australia and elsewhere today with Apple Store Gift Cards in place of traditional discounts, it appears Apple will be offering discounts and not gift cards in at least some countries. The UK, France, Germany and other European Apple Online Stores have now started posting Black Friday promotions with discounts on iPads, MacBooks, iPods, Apple TV, and many accessories.
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As we predicted, Apple’s Black Friday deals take the form of gift cards rather than discounts. The Australian store is first to come online with the promotion.

Buy a Mac, and you get a gift card for AUS$150 ($137), an iPad gets you AUS$75 ($68) and an iPod AUS$50 ($45) – with a range of gift card values on selected accessories. It’s likely these amounts will be rounded in the USA.

There appears to be no gift card with the Retina iPad Mini (only with the non-Retina model), likely a reflection of the limited supplies available and that Apple knows it will sell well into the holiday season without incentives.

While the gift card amounts are slightly more generous than past discounts (last year Apple offered $100 discount on a Mac), the fact that you have to lay out the full amount for a credit that has to be spent later may limit appeal …

We’ve posted some answers to common questions about the deal. 

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Update: Live in Australia.

As part of the American Black Friday sales tradition, Apple typically offers minimal discounts on its own products and third-party accessories via its online and physical retail stores. However, this year will be significantly different. According to multiple sources, Apple’s sales event this Friday will be based around gift cards, not discounts on products. If a customer buys a product from Apple on Black Friday, instead of receiving a discount, they will be given an Apple Store gift card. This gift card will likely not be able to be used at the time of purchase, solely at a later date. The setup is similar to that of Apple’s recent Back to School campaigns, but it is Apple Store cards, not iTunes cards…

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Apple today posted a job listing on its website looking for a Payments Software Engineer that will “help build a next generation payment platform.” Apple says the payment system will consist of integration of payment devices, middleware and acquirers that will “push the boundaries in new markets for Apple Retail.”
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Apple has confirmed that it will be offering Black Friday deals in the online store as well as in retail stores. For the online store, the special pricing will be available from midnight to midnight.

Apple hasn’t revealed what the savings will be, but last year offered $100 off MacBooks as well as smaller discounts on iPads, iPods and a range of other products. The promo also says that shipping is free without the usual minimum spend caveat (usually $50 in the US).

As ever, we expect bigger discounts from third-party retailers, and we’ll keep you updated on the best deals over on 9to5toys … 
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Fortune is out today with its annual Businessperson of the Year list and this time around a couple notable Apple connections have made the list. Coming in at #4 behind #1Elon Musk, activist investors, and Tencent CEO ‘Pony’ Ma Huateng, is Apple’s recently hired Head of Retail, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts. 
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Most of the attention on Apple’s retail overnight from this week was focused on the new window display, but there was another slight change that is also worth taking a look at. Apple has changed the design of its iTunes cards to closely resemble the spray pant styling from past iPad event invitations.

These updated iTunes gift cards are available in your local Apple store as of yesterday, just in time for the holidays. The changes have also been reflected on the iTunes gift page.

Speaking of iTunes, Apple’s present for retail employees this year was the opportunity to purchase a $50 card for $40. You can score this same deal right now over at 9to5Toys and can expect even more discounts as we progress towards Black Friday.

Apple executives have reached out to employees today in a company wide email urging them to review Apple’s Business Conduct Policy, a document describing how employees should conduct themselves in and outside the company while representing Apple. An email from Apple’s SVP and General Counsel Bruce Sewell (below) was accompanied by a new version of the policy available to employees in iBooks format and a video from CEO Tim Cook discussing the policy.

It’s unclear if there was a situation at Apple that could have prompted the email and video from Apple executives to employees. Apple notes that the policy “explains in very clear terms how you are expected to conduct yourself with our customers, business partners, government agencies, and fellow employees.” The document also covers legal principles  “like antitrust and anti-corruption laws” that all employees are expected to follow.

In the video, Tim Cook quotes Martin Luther King Jr saying “The time is always right to do what is right” and urges employees to speak up about other employees not following the code of conduct. Cook’s full quote from the video below:

As Dr. Martin Luther King once said, the time is always right to do what’s right. At Apple, we do the right thing. Even when it’s not easy. If you see something that doesn’t meet our standards, speak up. Whether it’s a quality issue or a business practice, if it affects Apple’s integrity, we need to know about it.
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For the first time, Apple has released an Apple Store app optimised for the iPad, via TechCrunch.  The app uses the now-standard iOS 7 colour scheme and design elements, focusing on white space and text. The app is a separate download to the iPhone app, but offers all the same functionality you would expect, although some of the location-based features for retail are absent due to the different use cases of the devices.

Imagery is the focus — Apple is trading heavily on its beautiful Retina-display equipped iPads to show of its store products.

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Customers entering an Apple Store (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/klingon65/3840822757/in/photolist-6RpdN2-6RtfAW-6RJAHC-6TMNPK-6YaK9g-72ym3y-72ym69-76vgUH-76zcSC-7a46eP-7a46j2-7a46rZ-7a46vV-7a7VFJ-7bk1Cx-7dWBrd-7ebgkw-7fwqc8-7hjdSo-7pJoH8-7pJryH-7pNgDU-7pNhNW-7pNkxW-7rwhLM-7sVwEs-7tYcdD-bqqpoE-bqqqXs-bqqq3L-bDkiMB-bqqqwu-8gRXYQ-dDbgNk-crXJFW-dLxppW-co1G8N-dFMpEd-9SH1T9-bQrD92-aVVDhv-8gRXQC-8gRXR7-8gRXU7-8gNFZz-8gNFZV-8gRXSb-8gNG26-8gNG2H-8gRXTw-8gRXSw/">Photo by Gary Burke</a>)

iOS 7’s flashy launch earlier this year overshadowed a breakthrough new feature: iBeacons, a location-based technology with profound implications for industries such as retail. An iBeacon system could allow a store to install transmitters that would wirelessly connect to an iPhone and tell the phone its location with respect to items on shelves. This iPhone could then perform additional functionality if it is equipped with a specialized application. According to multiple sources, Apple is planning to soon enable just that in its retail stores…
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Update: IFOAppleStore claims that Tim Cook has cancelled the plans to keep additional stores open on Thanksgiving after objections from Market Directors:

 On Wednesday morning over the objections of the Market Directors, Apple CEO Tim Cook learned of the plans to keep several stores open on Thanksgiving, and cancelled the plan. Cook’s objection was specifically that it’s important that Apple retail employees be with their families on the holiday. 

Apple Stores typically close for the major holidays like Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving, but two or three of their flagship stores remain open for the holidays. The Apple Store at Fifth Avenue is open every day of the year, 24/7 and will be open on Thanksgiving as it was last year.

Other Apple Stores usually open on Thanksgiving are the Apple Store at The Forum Shops in Las Vegas, located in Caesars Palace, and the Royal Hawaiian – both located in very popular, tourist-heavy shopping areas.

This year, however, we’ve learned from changes to employee schedules that an additional nine stores will be open … 
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Due to “limited supply” and “high demand,” the new iPad mini with Retina display will be available at Apple Stores exclusively through the Personal Pickup service for the time-being. Personal Pickup allows a customer to purchase a Retina iPad mini via the Apple Online Store, then pick it up at an Apple Retail location of their choosing. This also means that a customer who wants a Retina iPad mini cannot simply walk-in to an Apple Store and buy one (yet). It’s likely that Apple will allow walk-in purchases when demand meets supply. Apple notified its retail employees of the current sales exclusivity to Personal Pickup customers, and Apple’s own retail website seems to imply similar…

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