One number holds the key to Apple Retail in 2009

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by silverpraxis View Post


    Online is the way to go in these countries, because I'm sure this problem occurs even in my home area of Southern California



    Online is *very* frustrating. I have ordred my new MacBook Wenesday 15th on the Online store, I have to wait till the 31th for delivery. That's two weeks of frustration . If there were an Apple store in Paris, I'd bought it the very same day.
  • Reply 22 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EauVive View Post


    Online is *very* frustrating. I have ordred my new MacBook Wenesday 15th on the Online store, I have to wait till the 31th for delivery. That's two weeks of frustration . If there were an Apple store in Paris, I'd bought it the very same day.



    I agree, online purchases are frustrating. They should have at least one Apple Store in every country in Europe, if not just for branding purposes, on top of major 3rd party retail agreements.
  • Reply 23 of 41
    noirdesirnoirdesir Posts: 1,027member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    That is a pain! maybe by the next revision the keyboard buttons will be OLED so they can adapt to any language in any culture.



    Honestly, I can recommend everybody to take the time to follow through with a touch-typing excercise course (available in every bookstore or for sure also online). Once you can touch-type you won't care anymore what is printed on the keys.
  • Reply 24 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Seriously though, I'm surprised that Paris doesn't have a half dozen Apple stores. France seems like an ideal place to start getting Macs into the bulk of Europe. Are there legal/copyright/openness issues that would keep Apple's Mac out of France?



    They apparently wanted a place on Champs Elysées, which is the High Street in Paris. Real Estate there is absolutly thru the roof for the kind of space they wanted.



    Caroussel du Louvre is also a great place, so maybe we will have finally one.



    To be fair, they also have a store in store agreement with FNAC, which one of the biggest music/book/electronic retailer here. Those are quite nice and insure a good presence. Though they dont give the extended service a true apple store would.



    A flagship store in Paris make sense, but I fear other towns will never see one.
  • Reply 25 of 41
    Check your leads, we have 3 Stores in Australia 1 in Sydney, 1 in Melbourne and 1 in Chatswood
  • Reply 26 of 41
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by silverpraxis View Post


    After reading the comments, I'm glad others thought of keyboard localization as a problem with international brick and mortar establishments. Maybe this will be less of a hassle as Apple reduces packaging sizes for their products to allow more physical stock in retail locations, however display models will always be a problem in this area. Can you set up a French, Swiss, and German MacBook Pro side-by-side on the table without alienating someone?



    Are there a lot of people that would be turned off by Apple trying to be that accommodating? To prevent confusion, I imagine posting a "language card" above the computer would make it easy to spot which ones are set up in your preferred language.



    Quote:

    Online is the way to go in these countries, because I'm sure this problem occurs even in my home area of Southern California. Many people speak Spanish in my area, with uncomfortably little or no English skills, and there are no Apple Stores catering to that language. I'm sure Apple loses at least a few retail sales to that dilemma in it's home state. Internationally, with languages mixed so densely, it could present a large problem.



    You do have a point. Also, Apple doesn't seem to offer a Spanish language web store for the US, if there is one, it's hidden pretty well. You can order a Mac with a Spanish keyboard, though I don't see a way to do it without having to use English to order it. Interestingly enough, there is a French and English store for Canadians, I wonder if that's only there because of Canadian language laws.
  • Reply 27 of 41
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by themoonisdown09 View Post


    I would love it if they built an Apple store near me. The closest stores I have are Atlanta, Georgia (about 1.5 hours away) and Nashville, Tennessee (about 2 hours away).



    At least there's 155 in your country, mine has zero.
  • Reply 28 of 41
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fraklinc View Post


    I have 6 stores all within a 10 mile range in northern NJ and sometimes you can even see people waiting in lines for some stores to open in the morning, like if they where having a sale or something. don't know what Apple is doing but it looks like is working, specially with the economy standing where it is



    Hum..
  • Reply 29 of 41
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rayz View Post


    Opening retail stores when the world was moving to online sales? How they laughed .... \



    I live in a world where it nice to see what the heck you're buying in person, especially when you're paying thousands. Not to mention that there's nowhere to go when you want the item fixed without an Apple store.
  • Reply 30 of 41
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Security Man View Post


    Check your leads, we have 3 Stores in Australia 1 in Sydney, 1 in Melbourne and 1 in Chatswood



    I think you've lost it. You do know who wrote this article right? He's the unofficial Apple store expert in the world. I think he'd know if there was three in OZ. Heck, I don't even pay attention and I know there's only one. Apple resellers and not Apple stores. We're talking the real stores actually owned by Apple, run by Apple employees, with the genius bar and the full 9. And yes, there's a difference.
  • Reply 31 of 41
    eauviveeauvive Posts: 237member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by noirdesir View Post


    Honestly, I can recommend everybody to take the time to follow through with a touch-typing excercise course (available in every bookstore or for sure also online). Once you can touch-type you won't care anymore what is printed on the keys.



    I can touch-type, I can pretty much type a whole text without looking at any single key. Yet, there are special symbols like @^ or \\ that I don't use so often. These one I have to locate visually on the keyboard (accessed through a special key combination). It is very confusing to press a key and see something else on screen.



    Then, I can touch-type. But that rendereth the computer pretty useless for any person that does not, meaning nobody but me is going to be able to use it.
  • Reply 32 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    At least there's 155 in your country, mine has zero.



    Liar



    http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/victoriasquare/



    last i heard Belfast was in Ireland



    an hour or so from Dublin via train.
  • Reply 33 of 41
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Walter Slocombe View Post


    Liar



    http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/victoriasquare/



    last i heard Belfast was in Ireland



    an hour or so from Dublin via train.



    Let's pull back on the hostility here.



    Even with that store, he's still right. Belfast is in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, a different country. Even the link you provided has "UK" in it.
  • Reply 34 of 41
    eauviveeauvive Posts: 237member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Walter Slocombe View Post


    Liar



    http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/victoriasquare/

    last i heard Belfast was in Ireland

    an hour or so from Dublin via train.



    Belfast is in Ireland, but not in Eire. That means going twice through the border and customs, and paying in a foreign currency since the Brits still stick to their pounds. As for the warranty, who knows?
  • Reply 35 of 41
    eauviveeauvive Posts: 237member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    Interestingly enough, there is a French and English store for Canadians, I wonder if that's only there because of Canadian language laws.



    Most probably. Then remember French is spoken by 95 % of the Quebec inhabitants, almost 40 % in New-Brunswick and minorities here and there throughout Canada.



    If Apple want to sell at least one MacBook in Montréal, it ought to be a "French"-localized model, and the online store has better be in French. Which is, anyway, no special effort, since they have to translate the English pages for all the French-speaking countries.
  • Reply 36 of 41
    We need an Apple Store in Asheville, NC! Our closest store is over 2 hours away. This is a relatively large and growing city with a mid-major university, several other small colleges, and TONS of Apple users. I want to see a computer in person before I buy it, and the Genius Bar and classes offered in the stores are great! I have thought about driving to Charlotte to get my MB when I get the money together and figure out which one I'm buying. Asheville would be the PERFECT location for an Apple Store! Come on, Steve, give us one!
  • Reply 37 of 41
    I feel bad for all of you....there's an Apple store in our outdoor mall, and I live in a suburb of 25,000 in Oregon :P



    I say, with the way the market is, expand you're reselling and online operations. But opening up stores won't cause financial troubles like some people are saying.
  • Reply 38 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    Let's pull back on the hostility here.



    Even with that store, he's still right. Belfast is in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, a different country. Even the link you provided has "UK" in it.



    no hostility intended, it is simply an untruth to say that there are no Apple store shops on the island of Ireland.



    All he claims he wants to do is to have a hands on, well one hour on a train would let him do that, WITHIN his own country (please lets not get into the politics of North/South) if he is unwilling to do that, then, well good luck to him, but please don't bitch and whine "thats not fair" I bet if he live(s/d) in Dublin and they opened a shop in Cork he'd be moaning as well.



    SOMETIMES you really do gotta go to the mountain, other wise no meet up.



    with Apples limited retail presence thats even more so.



    been to the shop in Belfast myself, pretty nice, not a patch on the Regent street shop in London, but its a start. I really hope they plant a store in Dublin SOON, although I partly agree with why they havent up till now, COST, the prices in Dublin are crazy high, but with the economic bubble bursting, hopefully that might all change.



    in the mean time, there IS a shop in Belfast, amazingly we even speak the same language, use the same electricity etc. and with the euro being a lot stronger than current years, it might be a good time to buy. but then, he just wants to look.
  • Reply 39 of 41
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EauVive View Post


    Belfast is in Ireland, but not in Eire. That means going twice through the border and customs, and paying in a foreign currency since the Brits still stick to their pounds. As for the warranty, who knows?



    errr...



    I've been over the border more times than i could care to count, don't think I've ever met a "border patrol" or a "customs man" EVER.



    the cross border trade is part of the culture either side of the border, northerners travel over for cheaper fuel, southerners travel over for food/clothes and its been that way for decades. no-one stops to ask questions because everyone does it.



    Warranty is another matter, but then he DID say he only wanted to look.



    oh yeah, and as above, the Euro is strong at the moment, so the brits having pounds "could" work to your advantage.
  • Reply 40 of 41
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Walter Slocombe View Post


    no hostility intended, it is simply an untruth to say that there are no Apple store shops on the island of Ireland.



    But it's not exactly civil to go calling people liars, especially when you're the one that's twisting things. He said "his country", not "his island".
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