store
Latest
Motorola christens flagship Shanghai outlet
In what might be called a Destination Q with less Q and more David Beckham, Motorola has cut the ribbon on its first "Global Flagship Store" in downtown Shanghai this week. On second thought, it appears any comparison to Destination Q would be doing the new joint a disservice -- the first of four planned for mainland China, Moto's Shanghai outpost offers laser etching, custom phone tattoos, and onsite factory techs for when your MING starts misbehavin'. The store's design is being called "modular," offering the opportunity for smaller stores and kiosks worldwide based on the same concept. Hey guys, we'd be happy to offer you a mulligan on Destination Q if you want to take that flagship of yours and bring the battle with Nokia (fo' reals this time) to your hometown.[Via Mobiledia]
The Nike + iPod Sport Kit is now available
Lace up those running shoes kids, cuz Apple just released the Nike + iPod Sport Kit. You've been able to pre-order it almost since the original announcement, but I just received an announcement email from Apple and sure 'nuff: the store lists them as 'now shipping'.Unfortunately, I can't track down anything about the rumored kit that works with any shoes, not just the $85-100 shoes Nike is pimping as compatible with this kit. Most likely, if this kit exists, I would imagine it'll be some time before it's released so Nike can sell some of these fancy new shoes.
Architects asleep at the wheel at Miami Beach store
Granted, I've never really been a fan of the architecture in Miami, but this has gone too far. Instead of the sleek minimalist aluminum monolith we have all come to know and love from our Apple Stores, the Lincoln Road store breaks the mold with its bold facade featuring a metal Apple centered in a square of corrugated metal. Yes, corrugated metal, such as one would find in a shanty town. Now, I understand if the community wanted a more low key design, but why didn't Apple go with something tasteful like its SoHo store? Maybe it's just me. Maybe I have some high-and-mighty castle-on-a-hill vision of how all Apple Stores should be. But even so, the design doesn't reflect any of the design sense we have come to expect from Apple, and that is certainly a disappointment. Photo and story via ifoAppleStore
Apple throws out plans for Portland store
Just as the battle for Apple Store Boston continues, ifoAppleStore is reporting that Apple has decided not to further pursue plans to construct one of its retail stores in Portland, Oregon. Apple initially showed interest in building a store in the city in November 2005, when it presented the city's Historic Landmarks Commission with a proposed design. The Commission felt that Apple's trademark metal paneled exterior didn't mesh well with the "historical image" of the Northwest District which it is charged with administering. A second proposed design was rejected by the Commission late last month.Apple previously canceled plans for a store in New York City's Flatiron district due to similar problems involving design approvals.Via MacNN
Ungenius - the other side of the Genius Bar
Beyond a doubt, Apple's retail stores have been and still are making headlines of all kinds - from business magazines hailing the stores' sleek design, to consumer reviews giving the stores high marks for their unique and (ideally) helpful Genius Bar feature. However, as some of you may know - not everyone's trip to the genius bar wraps up with a happy ending, and I'm not just talking about the customers; the Geniuses don't always have it so peachy-keen either.Hence, Ungenius - a blog by "JC" who apparently has some stories to tell of his adventures "aton[ing] for the sins of a multinational corporation during nearly four years as a Mac Genius". JC delves into all sorts of topics surrounding the world of the Genius including QA, the obvious defects that have made headlines as of late, and even some thoughts as to why Class Actions might be bad for consumers.Whether you've made a shrine for the last Genius who helped you out of a pickle or you're putting the finishing touches on a Genius Voodoo doll as you read this, Ungenius might be an interesting read from the other side of the cheery Apple retail store fence.
Apple Store UK lowering prices?
We're receiving tips that the Apple Store UK has begun quietly dropping prices on a few of Apple's products. Specifically, both versions of the iPod nano are reportedly down £10 each, while the 1.66 Ghz Mac mini has been lowered £70. The iMac is also alleged to have received a price drop, though reports don't have prices for comparison. Again, I personally can't confirm these reports, as I live in the US and typically shop in that store, so take this with a grain of salt and try to keep speculation within bounds. [thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Memorial City Store Grand Opening Announced
Mac geeks in and around the Houston, TX area have begun receiving the "Come meet your new neighbor" emails which Apple sends out in preparation for a new Apple Store opening. The store located in the Memorial City Mall will hold its grand opening on June 17th at 10AM. As is standard practice with store openings, the first 1000 people through the doors will get a special edition t-shirt emblazoned with the name of the store. Customers will also be registered for a prize package which includes a 17" iMac, iPod nano, Canon PowerShot digital camera, and HP Deskjet printer. The new location will feature "The Studio" to provide support for creative amateurs and professionals alike.As always, please send us your pictures and reports from the opening. Have fun!(Thanks to everyone who sent this in.)
Moto preps "Destination Q" in hometown
We've known for a while now that Motorola's been throwing together the plans for Operation: Don't Get Embarrassed By Nokia In Our Hometown, but they're just now starting to make some deets official for their Chicago boutique -- now known as "Destination Q" -- one week before the scheduled grand opening of June 8. From the press release, it sounds like the storefront is going to be something of a shrine to Moto's love affair with Verizon, putting their Q, V3c, and V325 front and center. Heck, they're even importing a handful of Verizon reps to hassle you while you sample the goods. We also know that Destination Q is being labeled as a glorified kiosk popup store. In fact, the boutique's home, the former location of the Terra Museum of American Art, is scheduled to be replaced by a residential building next year, leaving Moto precious little time to do battle with the more-permanent Nokia facility across the street. So, where can you find Destination Q, you ask? 666 N. Michigan Avenue on Chicago's Magnificent Mile -- the perfect location for Verizon to test-market its "$199 with a 2-year contract or your soul" promotion on the Q.
Apple's 5th avenue store elevator gets stuck
Not all visitors of the NYC 5th Avenue Apple Store are having the retail experience of their lives, as one group of customers were trapped in the glass elevator for 45 minutes. Ultimately, the hydraulic lines had to be leaked in order to lower the elevator down to the store where the NYPD had to pry the doors open. Store employees who were looking for a fix before the boys in blue arrived were able to lower water bottles down into the elevator.I wonder if this is what happens when you leave the Apple Store without purchasing anything?[via UNEASYsilence. Thanks also to everyone who sent this in!]
iTMS does storefront customization for radio websites
Two hip-hop radio stations, Power 106 in LA and HOT 97 in NYC, have signed on the dotted line with the iTMS to offer an integrated, customized version of the store right in their own websites. The radio stations can design the store any way they see fit, and feature any artists, recent releases and playlists they want. From some quick browsing, I was able to find the iTMS integration at HOT 97's site, but not at Power 106's.hypebot, the blog where we found this, was quick to point out the vast potential this kind of partnership with the iTMS has for any kind of niche markets, businesses and organizations you can think of: "From skateboard sites selling radical tunes to a museum's site selling period music that matches their exhibitions, this could be a very exciting development for niche and indie music marketers". Indeed, this is a great example of that iPod expansion post Scott had yesterday; it sounds like Apple has plenty of tricks up their sleeve for the iPod and iTMS.
Motorola and Nokia retail stores set to face off in Chicago
Nothing like a bit of handset maker rivalry, and who better to epitomize that war than #1 Nokia and #2 Motorola? With Nokia slowly rolling out their retail plan, which started with a store in Moscow last December, Motorola is jumping into the fray and hopes to open their first store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The strip currently houses an Apple Store, but more relevantly is the future site of Nokia's store, which should open a block away from the proposed Motorola site. Moto is hoping to open their space by June 5, which seems a bit rushed seeing how they haven't even closed on their prospective space yet, but since they're getting the former Terra Museum of American Art, perhaps they think there won't be much construction needed. If Motorola can stay on target, their store will open before Nokia's, which apparently means a lot to Ed Zander and co. -- and who are we to stand in their way?[Thanks, Joe D.]
Dell gives retail another shot
With all the hubbub around Apple's new Fifth Avenue store, Dell has decided to jump into those dangerous waters once again. Their brief foray into Sears stores in 2003 didn't last long, and they currently have 161 mall kiosks across the country, but this time Dell is doing it Apple style and opening two 3000 square foot stores. The stores are showing up in the NorthPark Center in Dallas and the Palisades Center in West Nyack, NY -- both Apple locations -- but they won't have inventory. Dell is going to stick with their direct model by offering online orders from their store, and will just use the retail store to showcase their products in action. They're still working out the details such as a Genius Bar equivalent, but we're standing by to see a few thousand Dell fanboys line up for free t-shirts and rabid fandom.[Via AppleInsider]
iSale 3.1 adds eBay interactivity, prepares for upcoming site changes
iSale, the application our own Scott McNulty dubbed 'the Delicious Library for eBay auctions', has been bumped to version 3.1 with some very useful site interactivity and significant changes under the hood. iSale 3.1 can now relist unsold auctions and allow you to watch how many people have looked at and are watching your auction - right from within iSale. An improved widget can also display the watch count, hit count, highest bid and feedback from the highest bidder. Last in this new version is a localized and active links preview for English, German and French languages. Under the hood, iSale has been tuned for an upcoming change to eBay's communication standards which goes live on July 1st.For a refresher, here's a list of the other features iSale already offers: beautiful auction templates, a 'funky pinboard' with photos of auction items, one-click locating of buyers with Google Maps, 'Smart Date' simplified auction scheduling, description importing from Amazon and eBay, Address Book/Mail integration, .Mac syncing, iCal scheduling and much more.iSale 3.1 is a Universal Binary, offers a three-auction demo and sells for $39.95 USD. Upgrades from iSale 2.x are $14.90 USD.
Apple shows 24x7x365 NYC flagship store
New York City nightlife used to mean hanging out in smoke-filled nightclubs at the edge of town and stumbling home as the sun came up. But, from what we hear, you can't smoke in the clubs anymore (not that we're really too upset about that), the real estate boom has squeezed a lot of them out of town, and there's even been talk of more aggressively enforcing the city's decades-old anti-nightclub statute. So, what's a denizen of the night to do? Well, it looks like Apple's come up with the answer. As previously rumored, the company's new midtown store, which opens tomorrow, will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The store, which has gotten a lot of buzz for its five-story, glass encased, Jobs-designed, cube-shaped entryway, will feature 4,000 square feet of retail space, most of it underground, and will be able to satisfy those musical and computing urges, day or night. Word is that the store will also be giving away one MacBook an hour to lucky visitors over the next couple of days (starting with tomorrow's 6pm opening), so we expect some pretty sizable crowds to show up. Yo, Steve: Add a dance floor and teach your Geniuses to really tend bar, and we may just drop by one night and pick up one of those pods of yours. [Thanks, Jake]Photo courtesy Dave Thorup.
Has the 12" PowerBook simply disappeared?
It appears as though Apple has completed their portable lineup's transition to Intel chips - and the 12" PowerBook was the clear odd-man-out (sure, the 14" iBook disappeared too, but everyone knew it had to). I noticed last night that apple.com/powerbook simply redirects to apple.com/macbook, with a page title of "Meet the family. Now complete."If this is true, and Apple (for now) doesn't have any other tricks up their sleeve in the portable department (the much-rumored tablet, perhaps?), I think we should all observe a moment of silence for our fallen comrade - the 12" PowerBook (my first.Mac.evar).
Apple to host press at NYC store next Thursday
Apple is set to take the wraps off of its New York flagship store next Friday, and is hosting an invitation-only event on Thursday to show off the shop to journos and analysts. Of course, we don't normally care a whole lot about new Apple stores, even ones with five-story, $9 million glass cubes as a centerpiece. Still, we're at least a little intrigued by this one, given that the rumors continue to fly that Apple will introduce the Core Duo-powered MacBook next week, and may even refresh some iPod models. And it certainly wouldn't be unprecedented for Steve Jobs to use the store opening to show off some of that new gear. We can be sure of one thing, though: despite the new store's shape (just what is it with Jobs and cubes, anyhow?), we're unlikely to see any new Macs that mirror its design any time soon.
Virtua Fighter 5 only for PS3 next spring
There was a time when Virtua Fighter 5 was considered a strong candidate for an arcade port to the Xbox 360, but that multiplatform hope's been dashed with the official announcement that VF5 will appear only on PS3 in the spring of 2007. Sega's technical fighter is a Sony exclusive once more.While home-console online play remains doubtful at this point, next-gen PlayStation owners can now securely look forward to facing off as El Blaze and Eileen (the new luchador and monkey kung-fu artist, respectively) along with the other 15 fighters, decked out in all sorts of items purchased in the in-game store with prize money earned through in-game matches.VF5 will support up to 720p HD resolution and will be featured in game footage in the SEGA booth at E3 (South Hall, Booth #946) later this week.[Thanks, Matt; also via Joystiq]
Apple Store FlatIron Crossing Grand Opening report
I have emerged victorious from my first ever Apple Store grand opening, and I have to say: it was pretty cool. There was one heck of a line that ran far outside the closest mall entrance, and it was really cool to see people from all walks of life, including Dan Lurie from The Apple Blog and Jeff Gamet from The Mac Observer. My friend and I arrived around 8:15 am, and we were about 20th in line, though it picked up momentum shortly thereafter.I've posted a photo set from the event to our TUAW Flickr account, so check those out if you want more proof of how crazy Apple fans can get for a Saturday morning grand opening. One minor complaint: I wish Apple would stop using "geek black" on their event shirts like the ones they handed out today. Aside from that, it was fun to get my Mac-geek on for the day, even if I couldn't afford to actually buy anything.
Nokia to open US retail stores, offer high-end phones
Taking a cue from other design-obsessed companies such as Apple and Sony, Nokia has announced plans to open a line of retail locations in the U.S. -- the first ones outside Russia and perhaps Finland that we're aware of -- and even better, will be offering models not available from carriers or traditional channels. The flagship store is set to open in Chicago on June 21, and will sell "virtually anything that could possibly be available in this market," according to a Nokia spokesperson, including such high-end handsets as the recently-launched N93 and N73 3.2 megapixel cameraphones, N91 4GB musicphone, and UMTS-enabled N80 smartphone (which happens to sport a three megapixel CCD as well). PC Mag's article on the upcoming stores, the second of which is scheduled to hit New York before the end of the year, also includes an update on the N91, which will apparently receive a key software upgrade sometime after launch that enables playback of DRM-protected content.Update: Several readers have very kindly pointed out that Nokia has stores in much of Europe and Asia.
Apple's special deals section filled to brim, hemmoraging iPods
While I was pondering whether the introduction of Remote Desktop 3 was worthy of shutting down the Apple Store this morning, C.K. pointed out that Apple also updated their Special Deals section. A lot. I can't remember the last time I've had to scroll this much on a page in the Apple Store. It looks like they have refurbished items from almost every one of their products except the MacBook Pro, but they're highlighting the iPod mini with their Special Deals graphic (pictured) almost as if to say "go on iPod mini. 'Git!"I'd try linking Apple's Special Deals section, but I know that always gets wonky. Plus, the tips I've found like Ars Technica's don't cover linking a section, so all you get is a link to the Apple Store. You're on your own for the rest of the way.
