July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Google may be selling over a googol devices nowadays, but that doesn’t mean it needs a store to show them off.

So says Android chief Andy Rubin, who argues that consumers just don’t need physical stores nowadays. “They don’t have to go in the store and feel [devices] anymore,” Rubin said during a roundtable on Tuesday, as reported by AllThingsD.

In Rubin’s eyes, consumers are already pretty well served by the power of the Internet, which they use to make smart buying decisions without physically seeing what they’re considering buying.

In many ways, Rubin’s attitude toward physical stores is a reflection of Google’s identity as an information company: Google is all about the data and the cloud, not brick-and-mortar. What good is holding a device in your hands when the collective hivemind of the Internet can tell you what you’ll like before you even touch it?

That may sound naive, and I don’t completely buy it myself, but it makes its own kind of sense, at least when you consider how Google thinks.

But something tells me that reality will eventually force Google’s hand. As we’ve seen with Apple’s stores, storefronts are more than just places to sell gadgets — they’re the primary physical faces for their companies. This is especially important now that hardware devices have become windows into their respective companies’ entire ecosystems.

Just consider Tim Cook’s recent comments on the Apple Store’s transition to something greater than just a store:

There’s no better place to discover, explore, and learn about our products than in retail. It’s the retail experience where you walk in and you instantly realize this store is not here for the purpose of selling. It’s here for the purpose of serving. I’m not even sure “store” is the right word anymore. They’ve taken on a role much broader than that. They are the face of Apple for almost all of our customers

For information-based companies like Google (and hell, even Amazon) stores are what bring their products into the physical world, where people need to touch devices before they buy them, and where buying is a part of the larger, more experiential process of shopping.

This is the reality of selling hardware. Rubin may deny the utility of storefronts, but there’s a reason why you can walk into a Best Buy right now and play around with a Chromebook. Hardware is physical, and we must touch it before we really understand it.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Last night, amid New Year’s Eve revelry, armed and masked robbers looted Apple’s Paris store, taking more than one million euros’ worth of merchandise.

According to French daily Le Monde, the burglary involved four men, who overpowered and injured an Apple store janitor during the break-in.

The robbers entered the store at 9 p.m., forcing their way into a back entrance as the janitor was leaving. The store was closed but remained lit.

Store staff and the prefect of police are still taking inventory and assessing the total damages, including how much was stolen. So far, we know that display units were left untouched; the robbers spent around a half hour loading up boxes of inventory from the stockroom into a nearby truck.

Unfortunately, New Year’s Eve turned out to be the perfect time for such a crime. As Christophe Crépin, a representative of the French police, told press, “Since the essential bulk of police forces were mobilized to patrol the Champs-Elysées, the thieves clearly profited from the opportunity to make their move.”

Another high-profile Apple heist occurred just before the holidays. On November 12, a few pallets of iPad minis were stolen from a cargo building at JFK Airport in New York. The haul was worth around $1.5 million; police suspected it was an inside job and arrested a JFK worker a few days later.

Image credit: pcruciatti/Shutterstock

What were you doing at 7 a.m. this beautiful Saturday morning?

If you were one of the 12 construction workers building Apple’s new “prototype” store in Palo Alto, Calif., you were working hard as the sun came up. Seven workers were pouring concrete, and another five were working on the roof.

Since hiring construction workers to be on the job early Saturday usually means paying them double time (or at least time and a half), that suggests that the contractor is in a big hurry to get the job done before a hard deadline. That could be October, when Apple is rumored to be planning another major announcement — perhaps for the iPad mini, but also possible for a new TV product from Apple.

Apple hasn’t officially acknowledged that this store belongs to it. But many details, including the store’s design, strongly suggest that it is a new Silicon Valley flagship location for the consumer electronics giant. In addition, the store’s location puts it directly adjacent to two of the highest-bandwidth Internet connection points in the Valley: the Palo Alto Internet Exchange (PAIX) and a big AT&T switching facility. The store includes direct connections to both of these facilities, which suggests that it has an unusually high need for fast, low-latency Internet connectivity.

In short, it’s a fantastic location for a showcase of streaming video and Internet TV products.

It’s circumstantial evidence. But it’s another strong suggestion that Apple is planning to unveil a new TV product in October.

The photo above show the storefront as it appears today. Below, planning documents show what the storefront will soon look like.

Top photo: VentureBeat. Bottom image: Via Palo Alto Online.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Instead of spending my time interviewing the extremely long line of people waiting to purchase an iPhone 5 today, I decided to check out what was going on over at the Microsoft Store, which is conveniently located on the same block as the Apple Store in Austin, Texas.

Since everyone else seems to be shamelessly promoting their own stuff today, I figured Microsoft would probably end up doing the same.

I expected to find the store mostly empty, but with few promotional signs or displays making light of the rival company’s product launch. Something to the effect of “don’t wait in line, check out a Windows Phone instead!” Well, I was wrong on both counts.

The front of the Microsoft Store had a table of Windows Phone 7 handsets and zero people crowding around. Towards the back of the store, two mothers were letting their children play with a Xbox Kinect demo game, and a store employee was giving some kind of demonstration in the Xbox section. There were plenty of employees on hand, probably as many as Apple had today, not counting those watching the long line of iPhone customers. (This is strange because I have no idea why you’d need that many employees, but that’s neither here nor there).

I identified myself to the first Microsoft Store employee I saw in the store, letting him know what my intentions were –  I just wanted to know what, if anything, Microsoft was doing to capitalize on Apple’s big day. He led me to the counter, where another employee then told me to wait while she made a phone call.

Let me backtrack for a moment and reflect on the same situation I had when walking up to the Apple Store. The first Genius Bar employee greeted me warmly and tilted back the umbrella he was holding to keep customers shaded during their wait. He immediately understood what my intentions were and was extremely helpful with all my very basic questions. (I asked him things about the morning rush, how people were feeling waiting in line for so long, if he thought everyone would get an iPhone, etc.). I also asked him if the guys over at the Microsoft store were doing anything to steal some attention away from the iPhone 5 launch. To his knowledge, they weren’t.

OK, so back to Microsoft, where I’m waiting for employee number two to come back from the back room of the store. About three minutes later, another man wearing clothes that didn’t immediately alert me to the fact that he worked for Microsoft approached me and asked me what I needed. (Note: unlike Apple, everyone in the Microsoft Store doesn’t have to wear the same color shirt, which is just confusing.)

When I said I was already being helped, he looked a bit annoyed and informed me that he was the manager.

“OK, great! A manager,” I thought. But that feeling was quickly dismissed.

The manager still had a laptop in one hand, and something else cuffed into his other. When I went to shake his hand and explain what I was doing, I only got two fingers and a thumb. I’m not really concerned with pleasantries that much, but it was quite obvious that he wanted this conversation to end as quickly as possible.

He told me that “Apple has their thing, we’re business as usual.” That much was pretty clear to me. I asked if they had thought to do any kind of promotion to raise awareness about their own products.

“Nope,” he said. The rest of my questions evoked similarly short responses, and I was quickly out the door.

This absolutely isn’t the same Microsoft that released those zany “Bing It On!” commercials that challenged random people to test their results against Google Search. This isn’t the same Microsoft that’s showing no fear over its Internet Explore Do Not Track features, despite continued protest from advertisers. No, not the same Microsoft at all.

This Microsoft is one that teaches its retail employees to be overly cautious of reporters or people asking questions — and one that completely misses an opportunity to steal some of Apple’s thunder. (Who knows if it would have worked, but something is better than nothing.)

Don’t get me wrong. I think the Microsoft Store itself is a wonderful idea. It has all the latest Windows-based hardware showcased, pretty LCD screens wrapped around the middle of each wall of the entire store, and generally looks inviting. But, it’s not even close to as effective to what Apple has built.

Of course, I could be eating my own words in October when the company releases its Windows Surface tablets. But somehow, I don’t expect to see a line of people snaking all the way into the parking lot.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

NEW YORK CITY — At today’s big iPhone 5 launch at the flagship 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York, the number of marketers and hired hands rivaled the scores of people actually waiting in line for the hyped smartphone.

Every major iPhone or iPad launch attracts large crowds at the Apple Store. It’s a fabricated spectacle that the press, fanboys, and opportunists all participate in, working off excitement for popular products. Apple has its employees stand outside and cheer for those who waited in lines, even as those who wait for days are often sponsored by companies and not dedicated fans who wanted to be first.

At today’s launch, the spectacle was about far more than people in line. Employees of electronics re-sellers and mobile startups were out in large numbers, showing off their wares, and competing for the attention of people in line and the astounding number of journalists from major networks and tech-focused outlets.

“This is my fourth year being out here,” CNBC’s Natali Morris told me. “It’s the same dog and pony show each time. But this is supply and demand … and a lot of people are still excited about the iPhone.”

Morris is exactly right. But the question for marketers who show up is — can you channel the excitement people have for the iPhone 5 to get them interested in your product as well?

I spoke to several promoters today to get an idea of how big of a marketing opportunity this is for various companies. Here are some of the folks I spoke with:

BuyBackWorld — This electronics re-seller always seems to have a presence at Apple launches, with Greg Packer (the man in green in the top photo) representing the company in line. I interviewed Packer back in March for the launch of the third-generation iPad, and he loves the attention.

CoPilot Live — This GPS app was especially relevant at today’s launch because of all the complaints people have with Apple Maps. I’m not convinced that CoPilot is any better than Apple Maps, but some frustrated users may be willing to give it a shot after Apple Maps guides them the wrong way.

Escargot — This startup recently launched its Spixi project on Kickstarter. It offers a “jam-free retractable cable for smartphones.” Escargot employees handed out free iPhone screen protectors at all five Apple Store locations in Manhattan.

Gazelle — The popular electronics re-seller had a large presence today with “pop-up stores” in New York’s Grand Central Terminal and Boston’s Faneuil Hall. These stores will trade-in people’s iPhone 4S 16GB units in good condition for $250 cash.

Gazelle also sponsored five people to stand in line for eight days at the 5th Avenue Store. Those people wore Gazelle shirts and received a free iPhone 5 for waiting in line.

Jessica Mellow, a New York-based freelance artist, was one of the five. She said she was happy to get a free iPhone 5. The two biggest drawbacks from the experience? Sleep deprivation and one day when there was a “torrential downpour.”

NYPD — New York’s finest were out in full force today, not only to make sure things stayed under control but also to hand out informational sheets. Since smartphones are often stolen in NYC, the cops want people to have info to keep their phones safe. The fliers explain how to turn on “Find My iPhone” and include a removable piece of paper that can be given to the police department to register your phone’s serial number.

OtterBox — Several employees from iPhone case-maker OtterBox stayed out all night and gave “survival kits” to the first 100 people in line. The company also ordered 40 pizzas and handed out slices to many of those in line. “We wanted to celebrate with our fans,” Jay Fenik, OtterBox marketing manager from Fort Collins, Colo., told me.

TwistPics — This startup offers a free photo-editing app that “makes texting more fun by mixing words and pictures.” Two members from the startup were handing out fliers to anyone in line that would take one.

Check out the gallery below for a full look at the insanity this morning.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Apple sure seems like it is in a hurry to finish its new prototype store. A passerby noticed the construction tonight, just as cranes were lowering a big sheet of window glass into place.

Evening construction isn’t surprising in a busy place like University Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif. But it makes you wonder if Apple is serious about finishing the store in time for an expected product announcement on Sept. 12 and product launch on Sept. 21. Analysts bet that Apple is introducing its iPhone 5 and possibly the iPad Mini. The way in which the crane is carrying the glass, it almost looks like it is a glass ceiling or floor, not a window.

As our executive editor Dylan Tweney reported, Apple is turning the Palo Alto, Calif., store into a “new prototype” for selling the company’s goods. The 16,600-square-feet store will have two stories as well as a huge amount of Internet bandwidth. The Seele architectural firm appeared to be supervising the construction, based on a van parked in front.

[Image credit: provided to VentureBeat by someone who wants to remain anonymous.]

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Apple is building a new store in the heart of Silicon Valley with an extremely high-bandwidth connection to one of the Internet’s major hubs.

With the 16,600-square-foot, two-story store, Apple will be trying out a “new prototype” of its retail environment, according to documents filed with the architectural review board in Palo Alto, Calif., where the store is located. Along with the familiar all-glass storefront and the prominent use of stone, the new store will include interior trees and a skylight.

It will also be linked to one of the busiest and highest-capacity access points on the Internet, the Palo Alto Internet Exchange (PAIX), which will give Apple the ability to demonstrate bandwidth-hungry services — such as live, streaming video — to hundreds of individual customers at a time.

Photographs of the building site at 340 University Ave. in Palo Alto, as well as construction documents filed with the city of Palo Alto, strongly suggest the company’s plans. None of the public documents name Apple, and the storefront does not yet carry the company’s name, but multiple strands of evidence point towards the site’s ultimate tenant being Apple.

• The architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, which submitted the architectural review for the site in 2010, has designed many Apple stores around the world.
• At the time of the architectural review, Palo Alto city officials were convinced Apple would be the store’s ultimate tenant, based on the details of the application. “It was clear, when they said where the sign was going to go and when they talked about the project details, who the tenant would be,” an architectural review board member said, according to Palo Alto Online in 2010. “It was just really obvious.”
• The construction firm overseeing the remodel of the site is DPR Construction, which also built Apple’s flagship store in downtown San Francisco.

As for the location, it’s just one block from the current Palo Alto Apple store. But the new location is just around the corner from PAIX, on Bryant Street. Located in the old “Telephone Co. Building,” PAIX is an interconnection point for Internet service providers including Equinix, Bell Telephone Canada, and others. Although crowded, this site still offers massive pipes for anyone who needs to send and receive a lot of data and wants to get its equipment close to the Internet’s major backbones. For instance, Facebook is a PAIX tenant.

PAIX is a high-security facility, whose windows have been replaced with opaque barriers. Guards and surveillance cameras guard the site. Behind PAIX and adjacent to the new retail storefront is a large private switching facility for AT&T.

Notably, the current construction connects the Apple store (or whatever it is) with both PAIX and the AT&T building. Plans filed with the city of Palo Alto call for a pedestrian tunnel, presumably leading between the Apple store and the telco facilities next to it.

Why would Apple need such high-bandwidth neighbors for its “prototype” store? Well, one explanation is that it wants to give the best possible showing to new video services, such as a revamped Apple TV. The company was recently reported to be negotiating with cable companies to offer them an Apple-made set-top box that would work with cable services, and it’s reportedly building a Apple TV that will blur the distinction between live and on-demand video.

But what if Apple decided to offer an Apple TV that worked with its own internet service, bypassing the cable providers that have so far rebuffed it? It certainly has the data centers and high-bandwidth server centers capable of delivering live video; it’s long been a leader in streaming video over the internet.

If you were showing off video services to an eager public, you’d want to make extra sure that your storefront had the best, most reliable, highest-bandwidth connections to the Internet. In other words, you’d want to make those connections as close to major interconnection points as possible.

340 University Ave. would be a very good location indeed.

Image credits: VentureBeat, Google Maps, Palo Alto Online

A new audit claims Apple received an unfair advantage when it placed a bid to install an Apple Store in Grand Central Terminal in New York City, the New York Post reports.

Apple opened the doors on its Grand Central location to much fanfare back in December. The 23,000 square-foot location is one of the world’s largest Apple Stores, and it’s right there at one of New York’s most visited landmarks. The store is expected to earn hundreds of millions of dollars annually because of the crazy amount of foot traffic Grand Central attracts from tourists and commuters.

However, a new audit by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli claims that NYC’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority allowed Apple to put up a more than $5 million cash bid on the open space. With that, any rival bidder would have needed to put up more than $5 million in cash within 30 days to challenge Apple’s bid.

DiNapoli’s report says Apple had been talking privately with the MTA for more than two years before bidding started. And, get this, Apple attempted to get New York taxpayers to reimburse the company for paying the restaurant Metrazur to leave its space so that it could install the Apple Store.

The MTA says the DiNapoli’s audit is off-base. “This audit is not fact-based, and, accordingly, their opinion is worthless,” MTA CEO Joseph Lhota said in a statement. “The MTA’s lease process with Apple was open, transparent, and followed both the spirit and letter of the law.”

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

How important is Best Buy to Apple’s iPhone sales strategy? Possibly more than Apple’s own retail shops, according to a new study from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

The research firm surveyed shoppers for a three-month period from December 2011 to February 2012 about where they purchased their iPhones. The study found that Best Buy accounts for 13 percent of all iPhone sales — a mere two percent lower than Apple’s share.

Surprisingly, 76 percent of all respondents said they purchased their iPhones from a brick-and-mortar retail store. And as the largest national electronics retail store chain, it’s no wonder Best Buy is selling nearly as many iPhones as Apple.

Of the five outlets that accounted for at least one percent of iPhone sales, three are U.S. wireless carriers. Considering that every phone needs a wireless service subscription, it’s understandable that AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint accounted for 32 percent, 30 percent, and 7 percent of the iPhone sales respectively. The same is true for Apple’s 15 percent of total iPhone sales since it manufactures and markets the device. Best Buy, however, is the only outlet without a direct tie to either the hardware or the wireless service it requires.

With Apple rumored to start setting up “mini Apple Stores” inside of retail chains like Sam’s Club and Target, it’ll be interesting to see if Best Buy can hold its ground.

Via AllThingsD; Photo via PB Central

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Apple’s third-generation iPad drew the expected crowds for its big public debut on Friday. The hubbub started a minute after midnight, when select Best Buy and Walmart locations opened their doors to customers. There were lines at some third-party resellers, but the bigger throngs of diehards went straight to the mother ship, the Apple Store, which started selling iPads at 8am local time.

Protesters from Change.org also made their presence known at the launch lines, after reaching over 250,000 signatures in their online petition demanding ethical treatment for Apple workers. VentureBeat’s Sean Ludwig caught sight of some protesters holding a large sign (see gallery) at the flagship 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York City. Protestor Charlene Carruthers told VentureBeat she wanted Apple to ‘think different’ about worker treatment. At the downtown San Francisco store, a dozen protesters handed out fliers. Protester William Winters said they wanted “an iPad or iPhone that doesn’t have blood in it.”

Some customers camped out the night before, and, as always, a few cheaters paid stand-ins to handle the tedious waiting part. At the front of the 5th Avenue store line was Greg Packer, a retired New Yorker who was in line since noon on Monday. Packer told us he was sponsored by the company Buy Back World to stand in line, and he wore a T-shirt for that company.

“I’ve been sleeping here in a chair since Monday,” Packer said. “I’m most excited about the new iPad’s MiFi abilities and better pictures.”

In San Francisco, rain dampened a bit of the excitement. Outside the Market Street Apple store, the line went half-way down the block to an empty parking lot where customers were served free coffee and water. Most of the people in line showed up that morning and only had to wait an hour to get an iPad. A block away at the Verizon store, there were iPads in stock but no customers. In order to buy an iPad from Verizon, you have to sign up for a Verizon iPad data plan. A few doors down, the Radio Shack had pre-sold all its stock the week before. The AT&T store had three people waiting outside, but didn’t open its doors until 9am.

The new iPad isn’t a radical departure from its predecessor, the iPad 2, but it is a solid upgrade that’s getting great reviews. The form factor is almost the same, but the new iPad is slightly thicker and heavier. The device’s big selling point is a stunning new Retina display, which packs in four-times as many pixels as the iPad 2 (for 3.1 million pixels total). The device has a dual-core A5X processor to keep up with the heavier graphics processing and an improved 5-megapixel back-facing camera. Customers who opt for the Wi-Fi + 4G version will enjoy zippier 4G LTE speeds on Verizon or AT&T.

Here are some photos of iPad lines from VentureBeat’s outposts in New York City and Nashville, Tennessee:

Photos and additional reporting by Sean Ludwig, Tom Cheredar

VentureBeat is holding its second annual Mobile Summit this April 2-3 in Sausalito, Calif. The invitation-only event will debate the five key business and technology challenges facing the mobile industry today, and participants — 180 mobile executives, investors, and policymakers — will develop concrete, actionable solutions that will shape the future of the mobile industry. You can find out more at our Mobile Summit site.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

On Friday, stores around the world will be opening their doors to crowds of Apple fans, eager to be the first to swipe their frozen, grimy fingers across the glorious new iPad Retina display. The lines aren’t necessary, you can buy the devices online, but they’re an admirable feat of branding and marketing, and a display of just how hungry Apple fans are to have the latest gadget before anyone else.

If you’re planning on getting a new iPad tomorrow, here’s a guide to help you navigate the madness. The Apple Store isn’t the only game in town. Certified Apple Resellers will also have some units in stock, but the selection and inventory aren’t as dependable. I’d suggest calling ahead to find out how many units your reseller has before getting in line, but all stores (Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Verizon, AT&T, and Radio Shack) say they’re not allowed to share that information. Some won’t even receive shipments until tomorrow, including many smaller outlets such as college campus stores.

Pick your model (and your second choice, maybe third)

Before lining up, decide which iPad you plan on buying. Then, consider what features you’re flexible on since there’s a high chance that your dream configuration will be sold-out.

Color: It’s available in black or white — like anyone is admiring the back of your Retina-display iPad.

Size: New iPads are available in three memory sizes, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.

Price tag: Prices start at $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model and go all the way up to $829 for the 64GB with 4G model (data plan not included).

Connectivity: The new iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G LTE will be available on Verizon or AT&T. You don’t have to sign up for a data plan when you buy, but you do need to pick what company you’ll be using since each iPad is pre-configured to work with just one of them. If you know which carrier you want, you can go directly to one of its stores and avoid the longer Apple lines.

Trade-in: If you already have an old iPad, you can trade it in when you buy your new model at some sellers. Exact trade-in offers can vary a bit, but for the most part they seem to be competitive. Verizon, Target, and (as of Wednesday) Apple each have trade-in programs for iPads. eBay’s Instant Sale option is another way to sell your old iPad, and the site tells you how much the device is going for at auction. There are other reselling sites like Gazelle, or you can donate it to worthy organizations like Teach for America.

Location, location, location

Even though Apple Stores get all the attention, iPads are actually available at a variety of certified Apple Resellers in the U.S. Sure, the line outside of the Norman, Okla. Target won’t have the same exciting rock-concert feel, but it might be much shorter. On the other hand, small stores get shafted in the selection department — many don’t know what they’re getting or how many until the iPads arrive. Here are your options:

The Apple Store

Apple stores open at 8:00am local time, but people are already lined up. You can order online anytime, but there’s already a 2-3 week wait. Apple recently added iPads to its buy-back program, which pays with an Apple gift card. The estimated price for a 64GB iPad 2 with 3G is $320. You can calculate the price for your model on Apple’s site.

If you’re considering camping out overnight for an iPad instead of just buying it online, chances are you’re in it for the experience or are really hard-up for something to brag about. Apple Retail stores are the place to spend a few chilly hours stretching in place, drinking free coffee, being marketed to by clever companies who couldn’t pass up a captive crowd, and having sleepy conversations with interesting characters (pictured) and like-minded Apple fans.

If you want to be in line when the doors open but don’t want to do all that boring waiting, you can pay someone to wait in line for you. There are offers on eBay and Craigslist, like this person charging $100 for his spot in line at the Los Gatos Apple store (Steve Wozniak’s favorite location).

There are benefits to buying your new iPad in an Apple store. The lines are longest, but the stock is going to be much larger there than at other stores. The staff is also better trained on the product and will be extra knowledgeable and helpful. Apple says each in-store customer will receive a “personal setup” service — a nice addition for those who need extra assistance migrating from an old iPad or setting up their email and apps on an iPad for the first time.

The new iPad will be available at all Apple retail stores in 10 countries. From left to right: Canada, U.S., UK, France, Switzerland, Germany, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan.

Find your nearest Apple store.

Verizon

Stores open at 8:00am local time, but online sales begin at 3:01am Eastern Time. Verizon only sells 4G LTE iPad models that work on the Verizon network, and you have to sign up for a Verizon plan on the spot to buy your iPad. Verizon accepts trade-ins, and offers $325 for a working iPad 2, 64GB with 3G.

Locate a local Verizon store.

AT&T

Stores open at 8am local time. AT&T is only selling 4G LTE iPad models that work on the AT&T network. The wireless carrier is requiring customers to purchase the minimum data plan, which is $25, along with the iPad. AT&T is not accepting trade-ins.

Find an AT&T location near you.

Best Buy

Making the most of the excitement, some 24-hour Best Buy locations will start selling the iPad at midnight. The New York City, Union Square location will begin handing out tickets to people in line at 10pm.

Like the other stores, Best Buy would not divulge how many units it had in stock. However, at least one Florida location has 2,000 iPads, which an armed store employee and accomplice attempted to steal Thursday, along with other Apple products totaling $1.3 million. The pair’s plan was thwarted when they were caught in the parking lot by an off-duty deputy.

Locate the Best Buy nearest you.

Walmart

Also beating Apple Retail to the punch, Walmart is opening its doors at 12:01am local time at its 24-hour locations. Walmart does offer a trade-in program online through Gazelle, but you’d have to wait for the gift card in the mail. You might as well just buy your iPad online.

Find the closest Walmart for some midnight madness.

Target

Stores open at 8am local time. Target may not be opening at midnight, but the company is rolling out the red carpet for iPad buyers. They’re offering a 5 percent discount to shoppers who use the Target credit card, and are accepting trade-ins on the spot. They’ve said a top-of-the-line iPad 2 can get as much as $350 towards a new iPad, which is about $20 more than most other locations. Exact inventory is, of course, unknown.

Use the Target store locator to find one in your area.

Radio Shack

Stores open at 8:00am, but pre-sales have already been available for weeks at some locations (they weren’t advertised). The most overlooked of the iPad retailers, Radio Shacks are supposed to have iPads in stock, but some have already pre-sold all of their units. The lines will be shortest here, but keep in mind that most Radio Shacks typically have a very limited numbers of iPads to begin with. For example, all locations in San Francisco had one shipment of just 50 to share, according to one Radio Shack employee.

Find a Radio Shack and hope nobody else thought of the same thing.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Attention Apple fans: Better wake up early on Friday if you want a chance at grabbing a new iPad. Apple retail stores will open at 8 a.m. to accommodate the rush of people looking to get their hands on Apple’s newest device, the company announced today.

As of last Friday, Apple sold through its entire online stock of new iPads. So, the only way to get one soon is to line up. And if you don’t feel like getting one on launch day, you will have to wait at least two to three weeks for an online-placed delivery. Consumers and businesses alike are interested in picking up the new device, thanks to improvements like high-resolution Retina Display, 4G networking, a better graphics chip and voice dictation.

In addition to the Apple Store, various models of the new iPad will also be available at Best Buy, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, Target and Walmart. Verizon and AT&T stores will also be selling the new iPad, but only 4G LTE models. Verizon and AT&T will let you buy a device in their stores without buying a data plan, but those models are more expensive than their Wi-Fi only counterparts.

The cheapest model, like previous iPads, will run $499 for the 16GB edition with Wi-Fi only. On the other end of the spectrum, the most expensive iPad will run $829 for 64GB of storage, Wi-Fi, and 4G LTE connectivity.

Man using iPad screenshot: Apple video

Apple’s brand-new Grand Central Terminal location opened its doors today to swarms of Apple fans, journalists and tourists.

The new store is a pretty big deal for a few reasons. First, Grand Central is an iconic structure and one of the most photographed landmarks in New York City. Second, at 23,000 square feet, this location is one of the world’s largest Apple Stores. Third, the store merges the past and present. Unlike Apple’s other, more modernist stores, in this one Apple’s futuristic iPads and iPhones are coupled with a backdrop of early 1900s architecture.

As I walked around during the opening and was handed a free T-shirt (see below), I couldn’t help but feel that I was inside something special. Perhaps it’s just Grand Central Terminal’s chandeliers and marble and brass facade, but it felt more regal and first-class than any Apple Store I’ve ever been in. The Apple Store’s normal design instincts usually leave me feeling cold, but this location left me feeling warm — and not just because I was surround by hordes of people (and dogs!). It’s the sort of place I expect to find busy every time I walk by.

At least it’s accommodating to its crowds. The massive location has two Genius Bars with 12 seats each, 45 display tables for products, three walls of accessories and 315 full- and part-time employees. Because of the way Grand Central is set up, the Store is sectioned off into different areas that feel disconnected from the others. The store has a room devoted to third-party accessories, a room focused on the Genius Bars and an area called Startup, where the Apple team can help you get a newly purchased iPad, iPhone or other product up and running.

Take a look at the full gallery below:

Apple will open its latest Apple Store location in New York City at the famous Grand Central Terminal on Friday, the company announced today.

This isn’t just another Apple Store opening; it’s a big deal for a few reasons. First, Grand Central is iconic and featured frequently in New-York-based movies and television. Second, at 23,000 square feet, this location will be one of the world’s largest Apple Stores. Third, the location will have a different look than most other Apple Stores because of its surroundings.

The store takes over the spot the Metrazur Restaurant held in Grand Central, and Apple reportedly paid $5 million to get the spot. The massive store will offer two Genius Bars with 12 seats each, 45 display tables for Apple products, three walls of accessories and 315 full- and part-time employees. Unfortunately, there will be no public restrooms like most other Apple Stores have.

Business Insider has posted a few photos outside and one shot inside of the store (including the one above). It looks like a place tourists will go when checking out Grand Central.

The Grand Central location’s hours will pair nicely with that of commuters using Grand Central to travel all over New York and surrounding states. It will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Watch out later this week for a full gallery of shots from inside the store.

The technology tour will be rolling out in selected cities across the country, showing off the vehicle’s drive train and electric motor, as well as the battery pack, front suspension and rear drive unit.

The idea is to let people get up close and personal with the new car, and experience an electric car not as some luxury toy, but as something they might one day own.

“Tesla stores are designed to let people explore and learn about Tesla’s technology for themselves,” said vice president George Blankenship, in a statement. “You’ll never see a ‘Don’t Touch’ sign in a Tesla store. We want everyone — from kindergartners to grandparents — to come in and see for themselves why driving electric is the future.”

Blankenship was hired by Tesla to design its retail facilities after successfully contributing to the signature look of Apple’s retail stores. He was Apple’s vice president for real estate from 2000 to 2006.

The Tesla Model S Beta is the first mass-market electric car produced  by the company, whose headquarters are in Palo Alto, CA. The first Model S Beta units will be on the streets in 2012, and the company has taken orders for more than 6,500 pre-orders, selling out completely. VentureBeat recently visited the Palo Alto facility, and we got to test ride the new Model S.

What makes the Model S different from the company’s earlier vehicle, the Tesla Roadster, is that it looks like a regular sedan, and is built to seat seven people, five adults and two kids. It’s also priced like a normal car, starting at about $49,000. By contrast, the Tesla Roadster was a two-seater sports car and had a sticker price of $112,000 and up.

Even with a price tag that makes owning Tesla Model S more affordable, don’t expect any Black Friday madness at the Tesla store.

According to 9to5mac, which has been chronicling the construction of the venue, workers will arrive Tuesday and remove black boards that currently obfuscate the store’s facade. At that point, the location will be officially announced as a new Apple store.

When it opens, this new location will be the largest Apple Store in the world.

The store will be the workplace of an estimated 300+ employees, who have been meeting and training to prepare for the store’s Black Friday opening date.

Here’s a walkthrough of the space the store will occupy, shot before construction began:

Currently, Grand Central Station is home to around 79 restaurants, banks and consumer-focused retailers, from Banana Republic to Eata Pita. During the year-end holidays, the area also holds the Holiday Fair, where 72 craftspeople, artisans and importers to peddle their wares in the 12,000-foot Vanderbilt Hall.

Around 750,000 people go through Grand Central Station each day. Demographics skew male, slightly older (the median age is 41) and overwhelmingly college-educated (93 percent of commuters through this station have at least obtained bachelor’s degrees). Grand Central Station passengers are also relatively well off, with the majority of them having a household income exceeding $100,000.

In addition to regular commuters, the location also sees an influx of tourists, especially around the holidays, when the station’s number of daily visitors swells to one million people.

Apple unveiled its long-under-construction New York flagship Store on 5th Avenue on Friday, and like a redesigned iPhone, it looks similar to the previous model but has its own charms.

Back in June, Apple began renovating the well-known location at an estimated cost of $6.6 million. The normally 24/7 location was closed yesterday evening at 10 p.m. and reopened this morning at 10 a.m. with a long line waiting outside.

The 5th Avenue location is a uniquely designed building with a giant glass cube on the ground level. Customers take a stylish staircase down into a massive floor featuring every Apple product, including rows of iPhones, iPads, MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros, iPod touches and iMacs.

The glass cube on top is the only notable renovation. The cube used to feature 90 pieces of glass but now it has just 15 panels. Apple said in early August that it was “simplifying” the design by using “larger, seamless pieces of glass.”

I stood back and watched the crowds almost run inside to get inside the store at 10 a.m. Apple Store employees in blue shirts cheered on customers as they went in. After watching them for a few moments, I hopped in line myself and decided to take a look inside the store to see if anything had changed. Not surprisingly, the inside of the store is exactly the same, but it’s still fun to see so many people excited to test drive the latest powerful tech products.

Take a look at the gallery below for a better look at the 5th Ave Apple Store on the outside and inside:

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Apple is aiming to make its retail store experience even more convenient with the launch of a new Apple Store iOS app.

The new app, due Thursday, will let you purchase items for in-store pickup and self-checkout at Apple Stores, reports Boy Genius Report.

The addition of in-store pickup isn’t exactly revolutionary — other retailers like Best Buy already offer it — but according to BGR, Apple’s approach will be far more streamlined than its competitors. Apple is aiming to have orders ready 12 minutes after you make a purchase in the app, after which you’ll be able to stroll in, skip registers, sign for your order, and leave.

If you order an item that isn’t in stock, the app will tell you when it’ll be available and will also send you a push notification once it’s ready for pickup.

In addition to using the app, you’ll be able to ship items to Apple Stores when you purchase them online. BGR’s sources say that Apple Stores will prioritize customers who’ve ordered from the app or its web store, which could help to reduce the amount of foot traffic at its retail locations. Apple will also let you return items purchased online at any of its stores.

Apple also seems to be entering some bold new retail territory with its self-checkout option. You’ll be able to walk into an Apple Store, pick an accessory (more expensive items won’t be available for self-checkout), scan the product with your phone (I’m assuming you’re scanning the bar code), and walk out the door. BGR says Apple won’t be checking purchases when you leave, but I have a feeling that won’t last for too long.

Among the improvements, a source tells the site that Apple will offer personal setup for new computers and devices in “Startup Sessions” areas in stores, and iPads will be everywhere serving as interactive signage. The improvements have been dubbed “Apple Store 2.0″ internally, the source says.

While the news is still unconfirmed, it fits in with rumors from earlier this week that Apple was planning something big at its stores. It sounds like Apple is once again aiming to reshape what consumers expect from a retail store.

Apple has been praised for its chic retail experience, which unlike typical electronics stores, allows customers to try out products before they buy them. The stores also serve to distribute knowledgeable Apple tech support across the world — good luck getting the same sort of support by bringing your HP laptop to the Geek Squad. Not surprisingly, Microsoft has pretty much copied Apple’s retail setup in its own retail stores.

Meanwhile, AppleInsider is reporting that Apple Store employees will also be toting iPads instead of just the iPod Touch units they’re currently relying on. Employees likely won’t use iPads for all scenarios, but will have them on hand for certain situations, such as to demonstrate a product, or make it easier for a customer to pen their signature. A source tells the site that Apple may also release an iPad version of its RetailMe internal training app.

The Apple Stores will also be beefed up in other ways. 9to5 Mac says some locations will receive larger displays and better sound systems. Additionally, a new version of the Apple Store iOS app could be released this weekend, which is said to offer more features than the current app. “For example, a user with the app can walk into the store and the app will know which location the user is at. The app can even ask the user if they’d like to speak to a specialist,” 9to5 Mac’s Mark Gurman writes.

According to sources close to Microsoft, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner are interested in matching or exceeding the number of Apple retail stores, which currently number over 300. Many attribute Apple’s success in recent years to the growth of its stores, which allow customers to interact with the company’s newest products.

Despite the push to follow Apple, Microsoft has only opened 8 stores since launching its retail initiative in late 2009, and has only announced two future stores.

Considering how expensive the stores are to build, and the fact that most of the existing ones are not profitable, it doesn’t appear to be the right decision to expand the number of retail stores. If Microsoft went ahead with CEO Balmer’s plan to match the number of Apple stores, it would certainly raise the eyebrows of investors.

This is particular true given the needed changes that could be made now at the existing stores, which currently only serve to remind consumers of how unhip Microsoft is.For example, Apple calls its technical gurus “Geniuses,” while Microsoft calls its equivalent employees “Retail Technical Advisors.” Microsoft has not paid attention to the uniformed brand image and attention to detail that have made Apple so popular.

Additionally, in contrast to Apple’s products, the products on sale at Microsoft stores are also available from hundreds of other outlets. Although customers may stop by the stores, there isn’t a large incentive to purchase products at one of the Microsoft stores when there are so many other options.

At this point, at least until the retail stores become profitable (unlikely for some time) or Windows Phone 7 devices begin selling well, it may be best if Microsoft holds back on Balmer’s retail ambitions.

Apple is set to make New York City’s Grand Central Terminal even more of a chore to walk through. The company will build its next major Apple Store at the station, and the new store will have the honor of being Apple’s largest retail space in the world, several sites are reporting.

Last week, the New York Observer and IFOAppleStore both reported that Apple was eying the space, and today Cult of Mac says it has confirmed the news via its own sources.

The new store will be only a mile away from the company’s iconic cube-shaped Fifth Avenue store and will apparently serve to offload some foot traffic from there.

It’s yet another sign of Apple’s retail dominance. Microsoft started opening its own stores a few years ago, which are definitely heavily inspired by Apple’s. But thus far, Microsoft has managed to open only eight stores across the country. There’s still no Microsoft store in New York City (although New York may get one of six new stores the company is opening this year).

This year is the tenth anniversary of Apple’s first store, and it looks like the Grand Central location will be the new shining jewel on Apple’s retail crown. It will be bigger than Apple’s current largest store, located in Covent Garden, London, which according to IFOAppleStore features around 16,300 square feet of space available to the public (the store itself is around 40,000 square feet over four floors). When it comes to measuring the size of a store, public space is what matters.

The real question is where Apple will find more than 16,300 square feet of retail space in the crowded Grand Central Terminal. According to the Observer, Apple isn’t expected to take any space away from existing retailers, which include Kenneth Cole and Rite Aid. Grand Central’s leasing plan (PDF link) doesn’t offer up many other available locations. Instead, Apple may place the store right in the terminal, which seems like an even more impossible task. A source tells Cult of Mac that walls may have to be taken down to make that happen.

Photo via Randy Lemoine