Retail Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

iPhone comes to two more small US carriers

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 8th, 2012)

After landing at several smaller US carriers in April, Apple's iPhone is poised to make another round of expansion into regional markets later this month, according to MacRumors. As of the writing of this post, three wireless carriers, including Bluegrass Cellular of Kentucky, Golden State ...

Apple and IKEA, two similar retail stories

by Mike Schramm (May 8th, 2012)

There's a fascinating writeup over at Asymco about Apple's retail strategy as compared with another very popular retail chain: IKEA. On the surface, the two brands seem dissimilar. One is a popular computer maker turned mobile device innovator, while the other is a simple and low-cost furniture ...

China Telecom launches iPhone promo to boost corporate sales

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 8th, 2012)

China Telecom posted disappointing quarterly earnings for Q1 2012 and is turning to the iPhone to help it turn things around. According to Hong Kong's The Standard, the wireless carrier is launching an iPhone promotion to encourage businesses to sign up with China Telecom. Any business that ...

Walmart cuts price of iPhone 4S (Update: Pricing error)

by Steven Sande (May 4th, 2012)

Update: 9to5Mac got confirmation from Walmart that this was a pricing error, not a sale. Walmart is not only the third-largest reseller of iPads, but the discount retailer also sells a lot of iPhones for Apple at its approximately 9,000 locations. Now it appears that Walmart is selling the ...

Apple and Samsung earn 99 percent of mobile phone vendor profits

by Steven Sande (May 3rd, 2012)

While the two big smartphone vendors, Apple and Samsung, are battling it out in the courtrooms, they're still in total control of operating profits. Horace Dediu of Asymco has just published his analysis of operating profits for the top eight mobile phone vendors and found that Apple and ...

John Browett added to Apple's executive profiles web page

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 2nd, 2012)

John Browett took over for Ron Johnson as Apple's chief of retail sales last year and, now, after 13 months on the job, the former Dixon's CEO has a profile on Apple's executive webpage. According to his bio, Browett "oversees Apple's retail strategy and the continued expansion of Apple retail ...

Research: Walmart sold 1.3 million iPads in March quarter

by Steven Sande (May 1st, 2012)

While in many minds the term Walmart has the connotation of low prices on "stuff" ranging from tires to baby clothing, some new research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) shows that the discount retailer is an increasingly important part of Apple's overall distribution ...

Korea loosens regulations on mobile phone sales

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 1st, 2012)

Korea is establishing a new policy that'll let customers buy phones and service separately, according to a report in MK Business news. Wireless customers will be able to shop for phones from a variety of retailers including supermarkets, malls and manufacturers like Apple. Even phones bought ...

T.G.I. Friday's to let diners pay with their iPhones

by Steven Sande (Apr 27th, 2012)

In here, it's always Friday®, and you can always pay for your food and booze with your iPhone. Casual dining chain T.G.I. Friday's has announced that iPhone owners can now use a mobile payment option called Tabbedout to pay their bills. The option is part of a free mobile app called ...

New iPad arrives in India, eight other countries today

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 27th, 2012)

Apple began selling the new iPad today in an additional nine countries, including India. The other countries include Colombia, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand. With today's rollout the new iPad is now available in 56 countries around the world -- the ...

Apple lets kids play with iPads rather than iMacs

by Dave Caolo (Apr 27th, 2012)

Apple's retail stores have featured a "kids table" since the first one opened in 2001. It's low to the ground with soft seats and Apple hardware running kid-friendly software. Up until now, the hardware for the kids tables has been the iMac -- but it seems Apple is switching to iPads. Rene ...

Another Apple executive heads to J.C. Penney

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Apr 26th, 2012)

Another Apple employee has left for J.C. Penney. Benjamin Fay, who was Apple's senior director of retail real estate, design and development, will head up that department with J.C. Penney. Fay had led the design team responsible for upholding Apple's brand image at its retail stores. Fay's ...

Sprint sold 1.5 million iPhones to new customers in Q1

by Kelly Hodgkins (Apr 25th, 2012)

Sprint announced its quarterly earnings on Wednesday and the results were disappointing as expected. The carrier posted a net loss of US$863M and cash reserves are now at a razor thin $7.6 billion. In the midst of this doom and gloom, one bright spot for Sprint was the iPhone. The carrier ...

Madrid Spain Apple Store set to open this weekend

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 24th, 2012)

Apple's sixth store in Spain and the third in Madrid will open this weekend at 10AM on Friday, April 27th. The store will be located in the suburbs of Madrid at the Centro Comercial Gran Plaza 2 shopping mall located northwest of Madrid's city center. As noted by ifoAppleStore, the Centro ...

AT&T iPhone activations still going strong, up YOY

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 24th, 2012)

AT&T has just announced its 1Q12 earnings. The company reported a net income of US$3.58 billion, or 60 cents per share. That's up from $3.4 billion, or 57 cents per share in 1Q11. AT&T's gains come primarily from lower iPhone subsidies, as the iPhone 4S was no longer new and thus the ...