Apple continues investing during bad economy
The recession has been difficult for every segment of the economy, from tech companies to the retailers, but Apple plans to spend its way through the downturn, according to USA Today.
Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of retail, was brought into Apple by Steve Jobs to start and build the company's retail store strategy. And he has done just that, very successfully.
While many companies have been forced to cutback on their investment or close their doors completely, Apple is expanding its retail presence. Not only is the company building new retail stores, it is also renovating existing stores to better fit the messaging of the company.
Johnson told USA Today that Apple plans to remodel 100 locations this year. The changes will give the company more room to display products and offer bigger spaces for customer training.
One of the highlights of the stores that have them are training theaters. Apple Store employees, third-party companies, and other professionals often put on seminars showing users how to get the most out of software and hardware products.
Apple even participates in events like the trendy Tribeca Film Festival, inviting entertainers like Spike Lee and Natalie Portman to give sessions.
In reporting its second quarter financial earnings in April, Apple said it had 252 stores worldwide. Its retail stores sold 438,000 Macs and accounted for $1.47 billion in revenue for the quarter. Visitors to its retail locations topped 39 million in the second quarter.
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple. 






For those of you who think I'm being sarcastic, I'm not. The companies that are doing well need to spend money. This will create jobs for people who will spend money. That's how you stop a downward spiral and make it an upward one.
Has it ever occurred to you that the reason why Apple is spending is because in recessionary times, things are lot cheaper?
FYI, it's all over the internet amount of people Apple has laid off.
With a recovery expected within the next year based on past history of these downturns, coming out of it with new stores and an improved condition just as the economy rebounds is ideal. That's why many companies including Apple, Dell, HP, Microsoft, and others are all working hard to time it just right.
- by baconstang May 28, 2009 3:50 PM PDT
- I was in Bethesda, MD lately. When I passed the spot where the Apple store had been I asked my local friend 'Wha' happened?'. He said they had to close it because of 'that'.... pointing to the new store that was twice the size, a half block away.
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- by sythara May 29, 2009 9:57 AM PDT
- Really, apple store in SF is busy?
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(14 Comments)I understand that they mostly cut hours, not not layoffs. The SF store looks as busy as usual.