The Apple Store is down, our liveblog is up, and the Apple event that’ll almost certainly be bringing on the iPhone 5 is less than an hour away! We’ve got several portals for you to jump in on the big Apple action for everything from software to various bits of hardware, starting with our liveblog portal at http://live.slashgear.com/. Next you’ll want to jump straight into our Apple portal for big news stories right as they’re announced straight from Apple!
This week there's been some reports from Apple staff members - all anonymous, of course - noting that they're staffing up for the morning of September 14th, likely for iPhone 5 pre-orders. This information comes from MacRumors where they've heard from trusted sources that pre-orders may not be starting on the same day as the Apple iPhone 5 event, that being the 12th - tomorrow. Apple sales support is being ramped up, according to sources, beginning at 6AM Eastern on Friday, with sustained large numbers of staff being ready for action throughout the day.
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Analyzing the way Apple customers work with their products and their store or choice this week was the NDP Group, this study revealing that 60 percent of Apple customers surveyed were more likely to come again after positive tech service. This study comes right alongside (incidentally) a supposedly "leaked" document for Apple Genius training earlier this morning that make it clear that Apple's Genius Bar is trained to make the customer happy - and of course to fix their devices, too. The NPD Group's "Tech Service Study" took on a collection of Apple product owners and found that the tech service piece of the Apple puzzle had a massive effect on their overall perception of the company.
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This week someone at Gizmodo has gotten their hands on a workbook of training documents used by Apple to make sure their Genius Bar works for the customers that need it. While it might seem that any Apple document not meant to be seen by the public would be full of undeniably valuable or otherwise magical information, here the content is essentially bland. The majority of the manual, it would seem, is dedicated to making sure that each Genius makes the customers they work with happy - and satisfied enough to buy products in the future.
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Apple has announced that it will be reversing some staffing cutbacks the company recently made at some of its stores, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. We first caught wind of these cutbacks a couple of days ago, as it was reported that Apple had laid off a number of workers at some of its retail stores in the UK. Apparently, the decision to let some workers go and cut the hours of others was "a mistake" and Apple will now work to remedy the situation.
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Today brings news that Apple is matching its competitors' prices on iPhones at its own retail stores, but the company doesn't want to make a big deal about it. MacRumors reports that Apple has implemented a new quiet policy that allows employees to price match on all iPhone 4S models and the iPhone 4, so if you want to buy directly from Apple but still want to get the best price possible, now is your chance. It should be noted, however, that Apple will only be price matching on sales made in-store, meaning online orders aren't eligible for the promotion.
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Apple's New York Grand Central store is at the heart of a debate over preferential treatment, with claims that the company and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) acted uncompetitively in planning the new location. The Apple Store, which takes pride of place in the cavernous station, opened to huge response in December 2011, but according to an investigation by the New York State Comptroller was the culmination of more than a year of exclusive negotiations that contravene fair practice recommendations.
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Apple is planning to roll out high resolution graphics on its online store to welcome those who have the new iPad and new MacBook Pro with Retina display. Apple started upgrading graphics on the website back in March before the third-generation iPad with Retina display was released, but parts of the online store still have older graphics that don’t look so great on the latest devices.
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By the end of its fiscal 2013, which is next June, Microsoft is planning to have 44 retail stores in place. It was about a year ago that Microsoft said 75 retail stores should open within the next two to three years. Although the computer giant still has quite a bit of catching up to do with Apple’s established 300 retail locations worldwide, Microsoft seems to be relatively on track with its plans.
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Stepping into one of Apple’s retail locations is barely comparable to stepping into any other store, and the Genius Bar is just one of those things that is truly unique to the whole experience. Be prepared now to potentially see a few changes in stores soon, because Apple has been testing a new layout that adds more stools and accommodates more customers with the hopes of increasing overall efficiency.
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Today is the day Apple Stores across the USA, UK, Australia and a half dozen other countries open their doors to crowds of ravenous new iPad customers, the Mall of America’s hero store no exception to the rule. Here Apple has prepared plenty well for the line of 50 intrepid Apple fans in line with the first several gentlemen and ladies having entered the mall as early as 1AM this morning. The general consensus here appears to be that, like the iPhone 4S launch and the iPad 2 launch before that, customers have been sticking to online sales rather than braving the line for first-day adoption – this of course is great news for those lovers of the line, as no user will be turned away today here in Minnesota.
Walmart has announced that it will start selling the new iPad earlier than even Apple's own retail stores. The big-box retailer says that its 24-hour locations will begin selling the new iPad at 12:01am midnight tonight or technically tomorrow morning, eight hours ahead of Apple Stores, which are scheduled to open at 8am on March 16.
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