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Apple working towards new store at One World Trade Center in NYC
ifoAppleStore reports that Apple is negotiating with mall developer Westfield Group on a new New York City store that will be part of a luxury retail mall being built at One World Trade Center. The center is on the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks and is part of the overall redevelopment going on at that location. As noted by ifoAppleStore, "A one-square-block memorial park has already opened at the site, and work is well underway on one of four high-rise office towers that will surround the park. The shopping mall will occupy space under three of the towers, and on the lower floors of two towers." Those three towers were designed by the architectural firm of Foster + Partners, the same company that is working on the new Apple Cupertino "spaceship" headquarters building and the San Francisco 2 retail store. The mall and new One WTC Apple Store should open in 2015.
Westfield app updated, now with Concierge Voice Control
The official Westfield mall app (if you're in America, there's probably a Westfield mall near you -- near me in LA, there's like eight of them) has been updated, and for a mall app, it's pretty powerful. In addition to maps and directories of all of the Westfield Malls around, there's now features included like turn-by-turn directions in the mall, search not only of stores but also of products, dining, and events, and even OpenTable and MovieTickets.com integration, so you can make reservations or buy movie tickets from right inside the app. There's also a new feature called Concierge Voice Control, which is essentially a Siri for the mall, and can give you stores, directions, hours, or anything else just through voice control. That's impressive -- it's a little more than you'd expect from just a shopping application, but it's pretty nice. The app is of course free. Version 2.0 is the one with all the shiny updates, so if you're planning to head to a Westfield mall soon, might be worth grabbing on your way out.
Galaxy S III will launch a day early -- for some UK pre-orders
Be still your beating heart, Samsung has announced that several customers who have already fallen for its incoming flagship's charms will get their pre-orders honored a day early. Unfortunately, it will be limited to those that ordered through its own brand store in Westfield Stratford City in London, but those lucky few will get their very own Galaxy S III at 6pm on May 29th -- half a day before the rest of the UK. We're planning to get our hands on a review model before then, so expect to see our fully-fleshed musings before the end of May.
