Bristol-based startup Reach Robotics has caught Apple's eye with its iPhone-connected mechanical spider that is capable of carrying out augmented reality warfare.
AR-powered MekaMon gaming robot now available at Apple Stores
Retail
Apple announces grand reopening of its UTC store in San Diego
Apple will be holding grand reopening of its retail store at the Westfield UTC mall in San Diego, California this coming Thursday, November 16, at 10am local time. The store has twice been subject to a smash-and-grab burglary, in August 2010 and December 2010.
Revamped Apple Century City store to open in time for iPhone X launch
Apple on Thursday announced via its Retail mini-site the grand opening of its revamped and expanded Century City store on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Apple will have iPhone X available for walk-in customers at launch, if they arrive early
Apple today announced that its stores will have iPhone X available for walk-in customers when the handset arrives November 3, encouraging would-be buyers to “arrive early.”
Angela Ahrendts: We will not upsell customers to the most expensive iPhone X
Angela Ahrendts, the head of Apple's retail business, said Friday in an interview with CNBC that they won't attempt to upsell customers to the pricier iPhone X model, arriving in two weeks.
Feast your eyes on breathtaking images of Apple’s new Chicago riverfront store
Ahead of today's grand opening of its new Michigan Avenue outlet on Chicago’s riverfront, Apple published a batch of photographs of the store's interior and exterior, showing off its gorgeous storefront that perfectly blends into the surroundings.
Grand opening of Apple’s new Tianyi Square store is happening this Saturday
Apple through a Tuesday morning refresh of its Retail website in China announced that the newest brick-and-mortar retail store, located within the Tianyi Square shopping district, will be opening doors for business this Saturday, September 16, at 10am local time.
JCPenney now accepts Apple Pay
The United States department store chain JCPenney announced on Monday that it is now accepting Apple Pay at its retail locations nationwide.
Interactive HomeKit demos hit Apple Stores
If you don't own HomeKit accessories or haven't had a chance to try them in someone’s home or apartment, Apple has you covered. As TechCrunch reported Wednesday, Apple has unveiled cool HomeKit experiences in 46 of its retail stores worldwide.
For customers in the United States, these demos are currently available at Apple's Union Square store in San Francisco, the World Trade Center and Williamsburg outlets in New York and 28 other stores throughout the country.
Globally, as many as fifteen stores are currently hosting the new experience, including select outlets in the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Mexico, Singapore and Taiwan.
The interactive demos feature the Home app which can be used from either an Apple Watch, iPhone or iPad to control devices like the Phillips Hue light bulb and the Hunter ceiling fan.
This isn't a full show room. For instance, if you tell the Home app to lower the shades in the living room, you'll see simulated results of your action in the house shown on the huge screen.
The demos include HomeKit scenes which the user can set up to their liking in order to activate and control multiple devices with a single tap or Siri command. Apple last November invited select members of the press to a house in Alameda that it decked out with HomeKit gear.
Apple's renewed push for the living room and these interactive demos will play a bigger role later this year, when the company hopefully takes the wraps off a next-generation Apple TV with 4K resolution and releases the Siri-enabled HomePod smart speaker.
“Apple doesn’t have a clear timeline for how long this will be available inside retail stores, but it seems that it will be relatively constant, at least through December when the HomePod comes out,” according to writer Megan Rose Dickey.
Apple planning to build its largest store ever for India
After kicking off local iPhone SE production in Wistron's manufacturing facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Apple is now planning to build its largest global retail store ever for India.
When finished, the outlet will be massive: 7-10 times larger than that of rival Samsung, covering between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet of retail space, or roughly double the size of its other global stores, The Economic Times of India reported yesterday.
In terms of raw footage, it's going to be Apple's largest global store to date. By comparison, the average global Apple Store size is about 8,500 square feet.
While the store may not open before 2020 because Apple is yet to receive approval from the government for its retail foreign direct investment plans, two industry executives said the firm would open other stores at prime locations either in a mall or high street, some of which could resemble the flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City.
An excerpt from the article:
Apple Stores in India will be limited in number, the executives said. The company is looking at 4-5 flagship outlets limited to metros over 5-10 years. This is due to the fact that each store requires huge space to suit its architectural design, which makes them a retail destination in itself attracting even tourists.
Discussing the upcoming flagship store, one of the sources said:
Apple wants to initially set up two stores, one in New Delhi and second one in Mumbai, said one of the executives. They want the stores to be truly iconic right from the design to the location. However, getting desired space will take time since 10,000-15,000 square feet of prime location is not readily available.
At this size, It will be the biggest single-brand electronic stores in India.
The article states that Apple's retail team visited India last month to meet realtors and mall managers, understand the retail market, see potential sites and lay down specifications to the India team and real estate consultants. They reportedly signed non-disclosure agreement with various stakeholders regarding the store plans for 2020-2021.
The development marks a major change for the Cupertino tech giant given it currently sells iPhones through franchisee-run exclusive brand stores, multi-branded and neighbourhood stores and ecommerce marketplaces.
The same publication had earlier reported that the iPhone maker may initially start an online-only store in India by this year, which won't require an approval since the government allows companies to directly sell online locally manufactured goods.
Recently, Apple committed to running its Indian operations 100 percent from renewable energy by the end of this year.
First “Assembled in India” iPhone SE units go in sale, but don’t carry lower price tag
First iPhone SE units assembled in India have gone on sale in many cities in the country, including the city of Bangalore near which the handset is being assembled in a facility operated by Apple's contract manufacturer Wistron.
The Indian Express reported today that the iPhone SE units manufactured in India don't carry a lower price tag because they are made locally due to Apple's policy of keeping the pricing more or less the same across the globe. In fact, these phones are “priced the same as other models manufactured in China,” according to The Indian Express.
Currently, a small trial run of limited iPhone SE units has been produced. Although the handset is now selling in many Indian cities, customers interested in the handset may not be able to get their hands on one until Wistron ramps up production.
These phones have “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in India” printed on their back.
Roof of Apple’s new flagship store in Chicago looks like MacBook Air lid
Apple is putting finishing touches on a new store on Chicago's North Michigan Avenue and one particular design detail immediately jumped out at us: an Apple logo on the top center of the building, making the flagship store look as if a massive MacBook Air just landed.
“Our store on North Michigan Avenue has welcomed more than 23 million customers since it opened in 2003,” said Apple spokesman Nick Leahy in 2015. “We're now creating something even more remarkable for Chicago.”
As reported by Chicago publication DNAinfo, less than an hour later crews rolled up the logo and took it away. The logo did not appear on store renderings dated 2015.
It's unclear whether it will be reinstalled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmzPr106E7U
The upcoming 20,000-square-foot flagship outlet was designed by London-based Foster+Partners. As evidenced by the video, it consists of a huge glass box stretching from Pioneer Court to the riverfront.
Located on Pioneer Court, 401 North Michigan Avenue, the new store will, when complete, replace Apple's existing outlet on 679 North Michigan Avenue.
The Chicago store's attractive roof design reminds me of Apple's awesome-looking 20,000 square-foot retail outlet in Istanbul, Turkey, which too features a striking all-glass exterior with an Apple logo on its rooftop, as seen above.