The New York Post reports that Apple is in advanced talks to secure a 60,000 square foot office space in the ultra-premium Hudson Yards area of Manhattan. The rumored office space is set to be housed at a building which is still under construction, and Apple would join other luxury business tenants such as Point72 Asset Management, private equity firm Silver Lake, and various law firms.
While Apple has not yet officially announced that it will open up a store in the World Trade Center’s new transportation hub in New York City, there have been reports that such a store has been in the plans for the past two years. Today, a source who has been inside of the yet-to-be-opened Oculus shopping section of the hub has sent us photo evidence that Apple is preparing to open up a store in the shopping area. Above is a photo from this week showing the space for the store, but formal construction has not yet begun, according to the source.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere has tweeted that iPhone 6s preorders are more than 30% higher than those of the iPhone 6 last year. While there have been a number of clues that the iPhone 6s launch was going to be big, this is the first sign of any hard data.
Apple said a week ago that it was ‘on pace’ to beat last year’s opening weekend record of 10M sales, Phil Schiller later adding that customer response had been “incredibly positive.” We’ve also seen that the first batch of both 6s and 6s Plus are sold out worldwide for delivery by Friday …
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Apple plans to relocate its main Chicago, Illinois retail store from its current location at 679 North Michigan Avenue to a newer flagship space at the edge of the Chicago River, reports Crain’s Chicago Business. According to the report, Apple will likely build “a new glass structure” in front of a 35-story office building as an entry to the Apple Store, with most of the store “below ground” in a design resembling the iconic Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City.
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Apple has already taken over its homepage, produced video advertisements, and injected promotions into iOS to digitally promote its new Apple Music service. Now, the company is expanding its billboard promotion strategy, which has been mostly reserved in recent years for new iPhones and iPads, to include Apple Music. Several 9to5Mac readers and social media users have spotted posters and billboards for Apple Music across San Francisco, subway stations in Japan, London, Canada, and Los Angeles…
Apple has announced on its website that its first retail store in Queens will open on Saturday 11th July at 1oam. We exclusively revealed that the store was on the way back in February, with the first construction shots seen later the same month and signage appearing in May.
The new store is located on the second floor of the Queens Center mall in Elmhurst and will be one of the largest of the eight Apple Stores in New York …
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Apple-designed packaging for the Mophie Juice Pack and Logitech iPad Keyboard
Apple is looking to own yet another aspect of its product experience. The company is gearing up to revamp its third-party accessory selection across all of its retail stores by next week by reducing the amount of accessories available in stores to ones sold in packaging co-designed by Apple. Apple has been working with select third-party accessory makers over the past six months to redesign boxes so that the experience more closely matches the boxes of Apple’s own products…
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As previously reported, the Upper East Side New York Apple Store opened today and Apple’s head of retail was on hand for the occasion. Angela Ahrendts tweeted from the event (above) and took photos with visitors (below). The store is at 940 Madison Avenue on the corner of 74th St, a block from Central Park.
We noted previously that the almost 100-year old building that Apple restored used to be a bank which included a vault that Apple turned into a VIP room for Apple Watch Edition try ons. The VIP space includes a large TV/Display, couches and other niceties (more images below).
https://instagram.com/p/33w5KuApm2/
In addition, the decor and showcasing is unique to this location with a new kind of recessed showcase, large chandeliers and black and white artwork.
The new store will help alleviate some of the traffic that the Fifth Avenue Store loses while it relocates to the smaller FAO Schwarz location for upgrades. Not everyone is happy with the store opening. Local residents have complained that it will bring throngs of shoppers to this somewhat quiet (by Manhattan standards) upscale neighborhood. Apple has promised to open later and close earlier than other nearby stores in order to appease the neighbors.
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Many more images below:
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When Apple opens its new Upper East Side Apple Store on Saturday, visitors will have the opportunity to view historical architecture in addition to shopping for iPhones and Apple Watches. That’s because the new retail store located on 940 Madison Avenue was once the home of the U.S. Mortgage & Trust bank — there’s even a bank vault below the store — and Apple has restored much of the original design for its new showroom…
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The Big Apple is considering letting drivers pay for their parking tickets using their big Apple phones, MarketWatch reports. New York City is said to be looking to update its old system with something a little more user-friendly, and is currently considering several options, including Apple Pay.
The main idea for the new system is a mobile app that would allow users to scan in a parking ticket, either by barcode or some other means, then pay the fine instantly using Apple Pay or another payment system, such as PayPal, or possibly even Bitcoin.
Apple has for a long time hired engineers around the globe to contribute to making its Maps experience better. While positions for its team outside Cupertino usually consist of Maps Quality Analysts and Ground Truth managers that submit region specific corrections for Maps, a new job listing on Apple’s website hints at a “data-collection project” planned for New York.
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New Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores Angela Ahrendts is continuing her Apple debut tour this week. The former Burberry Chief Executive Officer today toured through Apple’s many stores in the New York City area and she also held a question-and-answer session with select Apple Retail Store managers earlier this week week. Ahrendts today sent a memo with a transcript of some of the Q&A points to all retail employees, and a full copy of that transcript, sent in by a source, is below:
Musician Jason Mraz, who is mostly known for his single “I’m Yours,” will be performing at Apple’s new store in Omotesando, Tokyo, according to a note posted on the store’s webpage. Mraz will be performing from 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM local time on July 1st in order to promote his upcoming album called “YES!” The album is available for pre-order on the iTunes Store for $10.99 and various singles from the album are already available for immediate download. Apple frequently has musical guests at its stores and events, but Mraz’s appearance will be one of the more notable performances at an Apple Store in recent years.
This week the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City recognized its completion ahead of its public opening on May 21st, and today an official 9/11 Memorial Museum app for iPhone and iPod touch has been made available.
The app’s purpose is to aid museum attendees and enhance the tour experience by turning your smartphone into a personal tour guide. The primary tour, Witnessing History, is narrated by actor Robert De Niro, who has supported the Museum’s effort alongside former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The tour consists of thirteen sections total, each accompanied with a 1-3 minute narration and transcript.
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New Yorkers (and the tourists who come to the city) love their Apple gear, it seems, and five stores in Manhattan just isn’t enough. Just last night we reported that Apple was planning to open a new Store in the New World Trade Center complex. The race to #6 after Soho, Meat Packing District, 5th Avenue, Lincoln Center, and Grand Central is on as ifo Apple Store reports that Apple is planning to open a sixth store on the island in a former bank building on Madison Avenue next year.
Continuing its tradition of creating magnificent stores from historic buildings, Apple has begun work to transform a former bank building on New York City’s Upper East Side into a retail store. Various sources confirm that construction planning is underway for 940 Madison Avenue, a limestone and marble building now occupied by luxury retailer VBH …
Thefts of Apple products made up 18 percent of all grand larcenies in New York City last year, reports the WSJ, citing NYPD figures. Of the 47,000 grand larcenies occuring in the city last year, 8,465 involved Apple products.
Many of the thefts happen on public transportation, where most people are buried in their devices and aren’t paying attention to their surroundings, said Joseph Giacalone, a retired New York Police Department detective. “It’s easy pickings,” he said …
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http://vimeo.com/81527238
During its press event held in New York City today, Instagram announced a new sharing feature called Instagram Direct that will allow users to share images and videos to other users privately.
The new sharing model will require users to follow each other to send photos and messages privately to individuals or groups of up to 15 people. A pending requests inbox will catch photos and messages from users who are not mutually connected.
Instagram also noted its growth from 80 million users to 150 million users worldwide from the start of 2013 to today. Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, boasted that over half of Instagram’s users use the service daily…
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 …
Photo: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
Verizon Wireless, once the gold standard for LTE, has admitted that it is struggling to keep up with demand in the big cities – with some users being dropped down to slower 3G speeds. The carrier’s Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said yesterday:
There are certain pockets where we’re absolutely going to experience that down tick from the LTE network down to 3G because of capacity constraints …
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Nike has scheduled a Tuesday, October 15th media event in New York City to discuss “the future of the digital world and physical activity.” Besides that, the company has been light on official details about what will be announced. However, we’ve been hearing about an upcoming Nike fitness/digital-related event for the past few weeks, and we are expecting a successor the popular Nike FuelBand fitness device to be announced. The event was originally planned for November, but perhaps the upcoming announcements from competitor Fitbit put pressure on Nike to move up its timeline…
Big news from the New York Times this evening. ABC, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, will begin streaming live content to iOS devices later this week in Philadelphia and New York City using a new button on their app called ‘live’. Users will be able to live stream all the programming from ABC’s local stations there, ‘the first time that any major broadcaster has turned on such a technology.’
For the first six weeks the service will be free to anyone with an iOS device according to GigaOM. Before you go grabbing the scissors to cut that cable cord, be warned that the live stream will eventually be available only to paying subscribers of cable and satellite providers, even though the stations’ signals are available free over the public airwaves.
ABC, a unit of the Walt Disney Company, said the live stream would be available in the other six cities where it owns stations sometime this summer. It is also in talks with the companies that own ABC’s more than 200 affiliates to make the “live” button work in their markets.
Also, not all shows have beencleared for streaming so there might be some discrepancies between the live feeds and the stream. The news comes as a service called Aereo (which we’ve reviewed) is place shifting broadcast signals to the internet, making live channels available to portable device owners.
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We have seen Apple’s Find My iPhone app come in handy in more than a few situations. It allows police to locate and retrieve stolen iOS devices, and so the app has proven to be an invaluable tool for combating iPhone thefts. However, over the weekend, a New York City man named Nadav Nirenberg took a bit more of a creative approach.
As reported by New York Post, after leaving his iPhone in a cab on New Year’s Eve, Nirenberg discovered the following morning via email alerts that someone was using his iPhone to message women with the dating app OkCupid. Rather than using one of the methods we’ve heard of in the past (Nirenberg likely didn’t have Find My iPhone set up), he decided to pose as a woman and offer the iPhone thief a date.
While not recommended, the idea was apparently effective with the thief arriving at Nirenberg’s apartment only to be greeted with a $20 bill and a hammer:
Little did he know that on his way up the stairs I would pop out behind him, calmly give him $20 for my phone (it was in his hand) and tell him the cops were on the way (with a hammer in my hand). RETRIBUTION! The look of immediate shame on his face was priceless, homie was shook and must feel like an idiot. Dude was all dressed up, had a bottle of wine and stank of cologne. As he was walking away I was surprised I said “You smell great tho”.
As noted by several New Yorkers on Twitter, a fire in a building next to the Upper West Side NY Apple Store has caused the retail store to close temporarily. There was some confusion on Twitter from people who first reported that the fire was actually at the Apple retail location, but several have since reported the smoke is coming from an adjacent building. An Apple employee at the location confirmed to us that the fire is in a neighboring building, but he also said the Apple Store has been evacuated with all appointments cancelled for the time being.
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So this is happening right now…the store itself isn't on fire but an adjacent building is @ Apple Store http://t.co/tYWQkk6Y
— Dirty Steeeve (@DirtySteeeve) January 3, 2013
https://twitter.com/gregcmartin/status/286847786144653312
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As noted by AllThingsD, New Yorkers will now have access to accurate arrival times for seven of the city’s subway lines as the Metropolitan Transit Agency today released a new app that provides access to the real-time train location data. Available on the App Store, the MTA Subway Time iPhone app is a test app released by the MTA for the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and S 42 Street Shuttle lines. It displays the same data as the countdown clocks inside stations, and the MTA will make the data available on its website for developers to use in third-party apps.
The app covers the 156 stations where the MTA has installed countdown clocks that provide arrival estimates in minutes for upcoming trains. This app joins MTA Bus Time™, Metro-North Train Time™, LIRR Train Time™, and MTA Bridges and Tunnels’ Travel Time in the MTA’s expanding list of real-time data tools for customers.
As for the remainder of the subway lines, The Wall Street Journal explained it could take until 2016:
The new signals were installed at a cost of more than $228 million over 11 years, the MTA said. Two other lines are already being overhauled in a way that will eventually allow real-time updates: the L line running between northern Brooklyn and Manhattan’s 14th Street, which already uses an advanced signal system; and the No. 7 line between Queens and Midtown Manhattan, which is receiving the same upgrade.
The L line should be added to the data stream that feeds Subway Time within six to 12 months, the agency said. The improvements that would add the No. 7 to smartphone apps won’t be completed until 2016.
Today, New York City Mayor Bloomberg attributed an increase in the city’s annual crime index to a rise in iPhone and iPad thefts.
