Who needs a staffer when you can scan, pay and walk out of the store unattended?
A typical afternoon crowd at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store. Photo: PED
[UPDATE: The new version of the Apple Store app finally arrived Tuesday, Nov. 8, a few days later than expected. You can get it here.]
Apple (AAPL) has two problems its competitors would kill for: 1) It can't build new product fast enough to meet demand and 2) its stores are over-crowded with customers clamoring for attention.
On Thursday, according to several reports, it aims to address the second problem with a new version of its Apple Store app.
This free app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch has been around for some time but in its current incarnation it doesn't bring much to the party. You can search for products, read reviews and order an item for shipment or pick-up at an Apple Store. But when you get to the store you're thrown into the maelstrom with everybody else.
The new version, according to the Boy Genius Report, does a whole lot more:
Why is Apple doing any of this? Because building new stores is expensive. In the 10-K form it filed last week, the company has set aside $900 million for new retail outlets in fiscal 2012, nearly 9% of its $8 billion budget for capital expenditures.
Between them, the "Big Three" sites responsible for most rumors got only 7 right
Source: Stupid Apple Rumors
If you've ever wondered how much of what you read in the tech blogs is true, Shawn King's Stupid Apple Rumors site has done you -- and the entire profession -- a favor.
Starting on July 24 and for the next two and a half months, the site kept track of every story about MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Oct 11, 2011 4:11 PM ET
With only hours to go before the truth is known, Apple watchers are placing their bets
Source: Technologizer
I can't recall an Apple (AAPL) event surrounded by as many unanswered questions as the "Let's talk iPhone" press conference scheduled to begin today at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern).
Will there be one new iPhone or two? An iPhone 5 or 4S? Square edged or teardrop? Exclusive to Sprint (S) or available MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Oct 4, 2011 8:17 AM ET
Shots were fired in both directions as partisans previewed Microsoft's next tablet OS
Source: Twitter
A war of words -- blogged, tweeted and syndicated -- broke out at Microsoft's (MSFT) annual developers conference Tuesday when the company distributed Samsung tablets loaded with beta copies of Windows 8, its answer to Apple's (AAPL) OS X and iOS, rolled into one.
Paul Thurrott, the news editor of Windows IT Pro and host of the Windows MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 14, 2011 8:27 AM ET
iPhone 4S or 5? September or October? Everybody's guessing. Nobody really knows.
The next iPhone? Source: 9to5Mac
Has Apple (AAPL) scheduled an August event to launch the next iPhone in September, as the Boy Genius reports? Or has the launch been pushed back to October in the U.S, as All Things D, Apple's current favorite outlet, insists?
Is it to be called the iPhone 5, the name most analysts prefer, or the iPhone MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 2, 2011 12:25 PM ET
The new device is said to have a more powerful processor and a higher-resolution camera
AAPL shot up $9.98 (3.17%) on Tuesday
In what may be the most authoritative confirmation yet of rumors that have been floating around for months, a Bloomberg report late Tuesday cited two unnamed people familiar with Apple's (AAPL) product release plans to say:
Apple plans to release the successor to the iPhone 4 in September
It will run MORE
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Jonathan Geller of Boy Genius Report documents his tortured experience switching from AT&T's iPhone to Verizon's. Now before readers accuse Geller of being anti-Big Red, bear in mind he's been dreaming about the Verizon iPhone for the last three years. But the reality of his situation kicked MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Mar 18, 2011 5:00 AM ET
The Boy Genius had it coming Tuesday; MacRumors says Wednesday
Senior vice president Scott Forestall demoing the software update at Wednesday's iPad 2 event. Photo: Apple Inc.
According to Apple's (AAPL) press release, iOS 4.3 was scheduled to be available Friday as a free update. This morning, the Boy Genius Report -- a tech blog with a better-than-average track record on such matters -- spread the rumor that it was coming MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 8, 2011 1:15 PM ET
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Sources tell The Wall Street Journal that AOL is considering layoffs as part of its new management structure integrating the Huffington Post, though no details yet on timing or just how many employees would be affected. While Arianna Huffington will serve as the newly-christened Huffington Post MORE JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Feb 25, 2011 7:28 AM ET
On the anniversary of the iconic tablet's unveiling, the ranks of its imitators is swelling
Photo courtesy of pocket-lint.com
It's been one year to the day since Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad, and to mark the occasion we're reposting, below the fold, the most compete list we've seen of the tablet computers unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas three weeks ago.
It comes courtesy of CES director of research MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jan 27, 2011 11:03 AM ETEvery morning, discover the companies, deals and trends in tech that are moving markets and making headlines. SUBSCRIBE
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| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.95 | -0.16 | -1.97% |
| Microsoft Corp | 31.27 | -0.17 | -0.54% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.28 | -0.25 | -2.00% |
| General Electric Co | 19.39 | 0.17 | 0.88% |
| Citigroup Inc | 32.36 | -1.00 | -3.00% |
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,938.67 | -27.02 | -0.21% |
| Nasdaq | 2,933.17 | -15.40 | -0.52% |
| S&P 500 | 1,357.66 | -4.55 | -0.33% |
| Treasuries | 2.00 | -0.04 | -1.96% |
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