Retail Stores

Rumor has it that Apple might be looking for some help on the iOS 6 Maps app from its retail store employees.

According to MacRumors, several unnamed sources have said that participating Apple stores are now allowing their staff to devote up to 40 hours per week collectively to reporting app errors and giving suggestions on how to improve Maps.

ifoAppleStore also posted the same news with a tweet that said, "So far it's voluntary: Apple retail store managers are asking store employees to report iOS 6 Maps app errors to help improve the database."

When Apple … Read more

Apple's retail stores are expanding their footprint globally. But now, their move into India could be held back.

Earlier today, the Economic Times reported that Apple is currently considering opening stores in India. However, The Wall Street Journal reported today, citing sources, that the company is subject to a law that requires all foreign retailers to source 30 percent of their product sales from local companies. In other words, 30 percent of the products sold in the stores must have come from an Indian partner.

For Apple, that's a problem. The company currently relies on companies like Foxconn … Read more

Apple will open a second Hong Kong store later this week, the company has confirmed.

Apple's new retail store will be in Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong. The store will hold its grand opening on Saturday at 10 a.m. local time. According to Apple's Hong Kong Web site, the store will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time every day.

Reuters was first to report on the news.

The second help of Apple Store for Hong Kong comes as Apple is increasing its presence in and around China. CEO Tim Cook said … Read more

Apple may have reserved the lion's share of iPhone 5 handsets for its own stores, leaving other retailers in short supply.

Citing "store sales staff and other people familiar with the situation," The Wall Street Journal reported today that Apple's own stores seemed to have a healthy stock of iPhone 5 units to sell this past weekend. But other retail outlets had to grapple with a much more limited supply right from the get-go.

People at Best Buy, RadioShack, and Target told the Journal that they didn't even receive enough units to satisify pre-sales orders. … Read more

Sony has been on a roll with its camera image sensors, and a close look by ChipWorks shows that the iPhone 5 uses one of its products for the main camera.

A close-up photo shows the Sony brand name on the 8-megapixel sensor at the heart of the camera.

It's not a big surprise: Sony is very competitive with image sensors these days, and former Sony CEO Howard Stringer let slip earlier this year that Sony was supplying camera technology to Apple.

But the iPhone 5 has two cameras, of course. The lesser one, a front-facing camera for videoconferencing … Read more

Apple stores selling the iPhone 5 today may see more than just customers outside their doors.

The Apple Workers Union wants store staffers to protest in front of Apple stores today to show solidarity for employees in France and at China's Foxconn plant. The union's "Day of Solidarity" is aimed at stores in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, China, and Japan -- the same countries offering the iPhone 5 starting today.

Calling on workers to "demand a better Apple," the union is backing Apple Store employees in France who … Read more

PARIS -- For Sophie Malibucks, the low point of waiting in line for an iPhone 5 came when the Paris weather turned cold in the earliest hours the day before the autumnal equinox.

"At one in the morning, I started freezing and shaking," she said as she emerged from Apple's Opera store with a brand-new black 64GB iPhone 5. The Parisian had waited in line since yesterday afternoon and didn't get a wink of sleep. "We helped each other. We said, 'In 16 hours, we will forget it,'" she said.

Why upgrade from an … Read more

NEW YORK -- A group of about 12 people who say they're part of the Occupy Wall Street movement joined the iPhone 5 line in front of Apple's flagship Manhattan store on 5th Avenue, members of the group told CNET.

Shiloh Coral, 22, and Thomas Volanos, 21, said they joined the ranks of Apple fans this evening to protest the company's labor practices in China, as well as what they see as the commercialization and waste that the company and its gadgets represent.

An Apple spokesman was not immediately available for comment. We will update as soon … Read more

Apple isn't the only one cashing in on the iPhone 5.

Not only are marketers trying to piggyback on the media interest that the iPhone 5 is generating but some people are advertising their services as surrogate line sitters as well.

They offer to pinch-hit for people who really want the phone but who really don't want to wait in line.

The iPhone appears to be once again the hot item to own. On Friday at 8 a.m., Apple Stores are scheduled to begin offering the iPhone 5 to the public all across the country. Some are … Read more