Briefly: Apple lobbies government, Fifth Ave. store sales booming

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple spent $390,000 lobbying the U.S. government on stimulus and education funding in this year's second quarter; while a new report says the company's Fifth Avenue store rakes in $350 million annually.



Apple lobbies on education funding, broadband



New lobbying disclosures from the U.S. House of Representatives show that Apple spent $390,000 in Q2 2009 on attempts to influence leaders. Issues included tax codes, education funding, stimulus grants and broadband penetration.



That Apple is pushing for more education funding is no surprise. The company's COO, Tim Cook, revealed in a company earnings report in July that education sales have lagged as the recession has impacted school funding.



"The U.S. K-12 institutional business is weak," Cook said. "As you might expect, and it’s getting hit by budget shortfalls, and last quarter we saw very negligible amount, if any, of the stimulus funds flow all the way to the state and district levels to get spent. So that may or may not occur this quarter."



The new lobbying reports show that Apple weighed in with officials on stimulus grants and education funding, as well as broadband availability in the U.S., health care reform, consumer safety, retail crime, foreign and domestic trade, green technology and more.



In the first quarter of 2009, Apple spent $340,000 total on lobbying.



Fifth Avenue Apple store is highest grossing



A new report from Bloomberg states that Apple's store at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in Manhattan is the most profitable store in the district. Calling it "a mercedes per square foot," the report estimates that the Apple Store has annual sales of more than $350 million.



The success of the store is pinned on the popularity of the iPhone, noting that lines often run out of the store's front door of shoppers looking to buy the device. This as retail sales in New York City have reportedly fallen 8 to 10 percent from a year prior.



Located at 767 Fifth Ave., the 20,000 square foot store first opened in 2006. It features a distinctive 32-foot glass cube and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 54
    sipadansipadan Posts: 107member
    $1 million a day for one store.... drools



    How much do you think the MS stores will make?
  • Reply 2 of 54
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Microsoft, take notes.



    THIS is how you make money in this industry. Never mind going after he bottom end with lousy products . . . thta you can't even sell enough of in a recession!
  • Reply 3 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sipadan View Post


    $1 million a day for one store.... drools



    How much do you think the MS stores will make?



    i'm sure just the very idiotic idea of the store has cost microsoft -350 millions



    keep up the good work, ballmer
  • Reply 4 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The company's COO, Tim Cook, revealed in a company earnings report in July that education sales have lagged as the recession has impacted school funding.



    "The U.S. K-12 institutional business is weak," Cook said. "As you might expect, and it?s getting hit by budget shortfalls, ......



    Yeah, Tim, instead of asking for government handouts (which is, after all, our $$!), how about giving the schools and back-to-school parents a REALLY major one-time price break (instead of just an iPod Touch)?
  • Reply 5 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Yeah, Tim, instead of asking for government handouts (which is, after all, our $$!), how about giving the schools and back-to-school parents a REALLY major one-time price break (instead of just an iPod Touch)?



    Well I'd certainly rather have them use my tax money for Macs than use it for old vehicles that run fine but get a few MPG less than current ones and then run salt water through the engine to kill it and then put it in a landfill.
  • Reply 6 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bigmc6000 View Post


    Well I'd certainly rather have them use my tax money for Macs than use it for old vehicles that run fine but get a few MPG less than current ones and then run salt water through the engine to kill it and then put it in a landfill.



    I'd rather have neither!
  • Reply 7 of 54
    Every time I've been to the 5th Ave Apple Store I can't even get in the door. There is usually a line unless it's the middle of the night! My Apple Store in the Garden State Plaza is usually packed all day.
  • Reply 8 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    I'd rather have neither!



    Well yeah, I'll go w/ ya on that one.



    I wonder what we could do w/ all that money spent on lobbying - in 2008 over 3.3 BILLION was spent to lobbying - I'd imagine the states could find good things to do w/ $66 million a piece...
  • Reply 9 of 54
    I'd just love to see one of Microsoft's stores right next to THIS Apple location. If they want to compete head to head, let's see them play in THIS league.
  • Reply 10 of 54
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Yeah, Tim, instead of asking for government handouts (which is, after all, our $$!), how about giving the schools and back-to-school parents a REALLY major one-time price break (instead of just an iPod Touch)?



    Ah... time for the "I did it all myself" Randians to raise their heads again.

    How you doing on that public education YOU got (or is this another 'I got mine' event?)

    Or the roads, police, courts (that protect your intellectual property), inspected water/food/drugs, basic research (that the entire tech industry is built on), etc etc etc.



    Reaganism was a failure... get over it.
  • Reply 11 of 54
    Where is all this anti public education sentiment coming from these days? Public schools are as American as apple pie. Our forbearers were wise enough to realize that a well-educated citizenry is what makes a true democracy work. In the old country only the privileged could afford to send their children to schools. We were going to "think different." Our public education system was once the envy of the world. But we have allowed the "starve the beast" mindset of those who mistrust government on principle to bleed over into this precious national resource. Trim down government if you must, but please carve out a place for public schools to be generously provided for.
  • Reply 12 of 54
    I think you guys are taking anan's comment out of context. He was just saying that Tim Cook is pulling an Al Gore (remember, he went/goes around the world talking about Global Warming but uses 10x the amount of energy the average household does). I don't think he'd suggest we not give money to the schools - I think he's just calling out Tim Cook and also saying he'd rather they spend our money on something other than Macs (possibly but I'm not sure on that one - personally I'd agree, I think great teachers trump any piece of technology available when it comes to teaching).
  • Reply 13 of 54
    jb510jb510 Posts: 129member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Yeah, Tim, instead of asking for government handouts (which is, after all, our $$!), how about giving the schools and back-to-school parents a REALLY major one-time price break (instead of just an iPod Touch)?



    Huh? That's a peculiar way to interpret that. Apple lobbies on behalf of the Mostly public education system recieving funding which in turn may benifit them, but it's not like Apple directly being granted funds by the federal government.



    I wonder what the rent is on that 5th ave location? $4000/sf?
  • Reply 14 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GQB View Post


    Ah... time for the "I did it all myself" Randians to raise their heads again.

    How you doing on that public education YOU got (or is this another 'I got mine' event?)

    Or the roads, police, courts (that protect your intellectual property), inspected water/food/drugs, basic research (that the entire tech industry is built on), etc etc etc.



    Reaganism was a failure... get over it.



    Excuse me?!



    1) Please learn about what a 'public good' is. You'll see that your examples above are (mostly) referring to public goods. A Mac is not. (And if you really cared about public education budgets vis-a-vis Mac purchases, why would you not ask for Apple to lower prices!?).



    2) What does this have to do with Reaganism?* And, how the heck do you know what my politics are? You have absolutely no clue, so please spare me the political swipes.....





    *I see someone's been reading Krugman today.

  • Reply 15 of 54
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Small stock manip. coming.
  • Reply 16 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jb510 View Post


    Huh? That's a peculiar way to interpret that. Apple lobbies on behalf of the Mostly public education system recieving funding which in turn may benifit them, but it's not like Apple directly being granted funds by the federal government.



    Ah, you think that Apple is lobbying the government for more funding for public education so they can hire more teachers or buy PCs or provide better gym facilities?



    I made a very simple point: If Apple truly: (i) cares about public education budgets; (ii) cares about kids who attend public schools (and their parents); and (iii) wants to sell more computers, it knows what to do.
  • Reply 17 of 54
    boogabooga Posts: 1,082member
    $390K in lobbying? That's peanuts! That's 1/3 of one day of revenue at the Manhattan Apple Store also mentioned in the article. That's a few full-time folks. I don't even know why that's news.
  • Reply 18 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GQB View Post


    basic research (that the entire tech industry is built on), etc etc etc.



    Reaganism was a failure... get over it.



    Ummm, no. As someone who is very much aware of what is really going in in "basic research", I can say with no hesitation whatsoever that you are very, very misled on this topic.



    Basic research in the US is healthier than it has ever been. The same is true for the world as a whole. And "ever been" as in "the recorded history of mankind, and almost certainly prior to that as well". There is more money, more projects, more people, more industry help, more tools, faster turnaround, faster distribution, faster to-the-market than ever before. Anyone can see this.



    And that's because of changes that were made in terms of government funding. In the past, companies were in the uncomfortable position of having to compete with the US government for funding on many basic research priorities. The government had effectively unlimited funds, but spread thinly. That meant there was little chance that they would pick your area of interest to fund, but if they did, you were wiped out. So the risk was too high to develop many products, and the companies instead waited for government projects that would guarantee them the income before starting any work. Worse, you had groups like RAND and SRI who were favored vendors for just about everything - the devil you know.



    But worse than that, the government also claimed ownership on anything that came out of a project that they funded. So when the project to build early IC's for the Nike X project ended because they didn't want the missile, they owned some of the IP and IC's didn't come to market for the better part of a decade. Private capital was essentially locked out, they could invest if they wanted to, but there was no way to recoup that if the government came in at any point.



    The change that, well, changed everything, was the turnover of IP to the research body, in spite of the government funding. This had two effects. For one, it gave universities and other research labs a clear profit motive for their work. The second, a side-effect, was that the same groups were also in a position to gather funding from non-government sources. This freed up trillions of dollars for research that was otherwise locked away because of the ownership issues.



    An excellent example of the rapid changes this brought about can be seen here in Toronto. In the early 1990s the Canadian government instituted a number of changes that matched the US's. This was during a period of decreasing investment in Canada, a topic of hot debate that can still be widely found on the Internet. Then the money started flowing, but it was difficult to match funding with partners. So they created the Discovery District, for about $500 million in taxpayer funding. The result? Toronto is now the #1 area in several different health management areas, and by 2002 it was estimated the District was generating $2 billion a year in direct economic benefit. Since then the MaRS incubator and university labs across the road have tripled in size.



    If there is an example where the private world is clearly better than the government, I can't think of it.



    Maury
  • Reply 19 of 54
    davegeedavegee Posts: 2,765member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    $390K in lobbying? That's peanuts! That's 1/3 of one day of revenue at the Manhattan Apple Store also mentioned in the article. That's a few full-time folks. I don't even know why that's news.



    You beat me to it... $390k what does that get you in a government dripping with corrupiont? A cup of coffee with a Congressman's low level stooge?



    Dave
  • Reply 20 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Yeah, Tim, instead of asking for government handouts (which is, after all, our $$!), how about giving the schools and back-to-school parents a REALLY major one-time price break (instead of just an iPod Touch)?



    Lobbying is a legal activity. Companies and special interest groups all do it. How else do you think their interests could be represented in Washington?
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