Earlier this week Apple COO Tim Cook who led the company during Steve Jobs’ time off in early 2009 spoke candidly about Apple. During the Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference Cook gave a talk about Apple including some interesting details about the company’s products.

During the 40 minute talk—which can be listened to on Apple’s website and read in full below—Cook discussed how Apple TV remains a hobby to Apple and the company will use custom silicone in future products.

Cook also discussed Apple retail stores saying that new stores opening this year in London and Shanghai will “make your jaw drop.”

Paraphrased transcript courtesy of Silicon Alley Insider

4:08 Clapton’s “Change the World” is playing leading up the presentation. Now “Sunny Came Home.”

4:09 Getting underway. Tim Cook reads disclosure.

4:10 Q&A begins. Steve Jobs was very clear about leadership in mobile devices. Is that how we should think about Apple at this point? Tim Cook: Yes. Let me elaborate. If you look at Dec. quarter results, which included revenues of almost $15.7 billion, as we compared ourselves to every other company in the world, including Sony and Nokia and Samsung, which now have huge mobile device businesses, we found out we were the largest in the world, measured by revenues.

4:11 How are you channeling resources differently? Transition to mobile devices began in 1991 with first introduction of portable product for Apple with introduction of the TFT screen. During that time, the Mac business has become a predominantly mobile device business. Huge difference between us and the balance of the industry in portable share.

4:12 Ah, a history lesson. Going through all the mobile devices Apple has ever launched. Vast majority of Apple’s revenue now comes from mobile devices and content purchased for those devices. Believe we’re well positioned to do extremely well because we can seamlessly offer software and hardware.

4:13 Who are biggest competitors and who are biggest partners? Tim Cook: I wish the world were that simple. Many people you can’t cleanly put in one or another. Take Microsoft. In Microsoft, we love the Mac Office division. They do a great product and we partner with them and work with them very tightly. Most of the balance of Microsoft we compete vigorously against, in OS, in mobile OS, etc. If you look at Google, I would say Google is similar in that respect. We partner with them in maps, in search for most of our products, but we also compete with them in the mobile OS space and now in the hardware phone space. So, it’s difficult to put people in one camp or the other always. There are some companies like the media companies where we partnered with so well that Apple is now selling billions of dollars of digital content.

4:15 Also companies like carriers where we partnered with to bring iPhone to in 86 countries. Ones that draw the most attention are the ones that are more complex, where we’re both competitors and partners.

4:16 Apple TV is still a hobby. We’ve been very clear about that. The reason that we call it a hobby… if you look at the other businesses we’re in, these businesses are all in huge markets. The unit volumes in these things is huge. Apple TV is in a market that’s very small. Today. Apple TV did grow in the quarter we just finished by 35% in a unit basis year-over-year.

4:17 No interest in going into the TV market. But still think there’s something there. So we continue to invest in this as a hobby.

4:18 iMac is very key, will continue to be very key. I think people will continue to want a very gorgeous large screen, all-in-one, simple to use, very elegant machine, we’re going to continue to deliver it.

4:19 Where growth coming from going forward? Here’s the exciting thing. If you take a look at the Mac, the Mac has outgrown the market 20 of the last 21 quarters. 5 years in a row. Has outgrown the market. And in many of those quarters, outgrew it by multiple. The PC industry is over 300 million units per year. Last fiscal year, Mac did over 10 million units. Ceiling is far above. Continue to invest in enormous amount of energy and talent in the Mac. Doesn’t take Market growth. 50% of customers in Apple store are from Windows.

4:20 iPod touch has been a runaway hit, and it helps the platform that you’re talking about. If you look at the iPod touch, it grew 100% last fiscal year. 55% y/y last quarter. Each fuels more app sales, more developers. iPad? Haven’t sold one yet. A lot of interest in it. I’ve been using one for 6 months or so, I’ll tell you the experience is just absolutely incredible. Can’t wait to start shipping it.

4:21 iPhone, I feel we’ve just gotten started.

4:22 Over 3 billion downloads on app store, over 140,000 apps for sale, these are incredible numbers. Who would have dreamed of these? I see opportunity all over the place.

4:23 The word “complete” is not in our dictionary. We’re all about innovation. Many times that means we’re all about obsoleting ourselves. Going to continue to make things better and going to continue to innovate. I’d say the ecosystem is really good, the platform is really good. Certainly all the foundation is in place. Will it get better? Clearly yes. But great now.

4:24 iPad new use case or replacement for netbooks? We haven’t sold one. I’m a paranoid guy by nature, but I’m not losing any sleep over cannibalization, to be honest with you. Who would buy it? I’ve been very clear about my view of netbooks. I think they are an experience that most people will not want to continue to have. People were interested in the price and they got it home and used it and went ‘Why did I buy this?’ so I think when somebody looks at iPad and compares it to a netbook, I find it hard to believe that people are going to buy netbooks. Not everyone will make the comparison so I’m not suggesting that. But I think what I’d rather do with this question is report back to you.

4:26 iPad will launch in direct channel first, and indirect channels where we have assisted sales, such as store-in-store at Best Buy, and Internationally, Apple Premium Resellers. Initially, it will be around places with really great assisted sales. Over time, it will expand. Where it goes and how fast it goes, we’ll see.

4:27 Why so cheap? We didn’t want to leave pricing umbrella for competition. For those who haven’t focused on this, it has best browsing experience you could ever imagine. Very anxious to start getting it out.

4:28 Extended key partnership with AT&T. Can you talk about advantages and disadvantages of having exclusive agreement? The primary advantages on a single carrier model, and I’ll talk about the iPhone, is simplicity and in some cases, we’re able to innovate along with the carrier and provide a feature it would be difficult to work with multiple carriers and provide. We brought visual voicemail to market, which took innovation from Apple and carrier partner. On a multi-carrier model, the question is, can you sell more units? And so what that gets at is, in some countries, carriers have very sticky relationships with their countries, so having more carriers and more distribution allows you to sell more units. If you look where are from the end of our Q1 in December, if you looked at top 10 iPhone countries, 5 were single carrier countries. 3 of those we had a contractual exclusivity, 2 we can add carriers when we desire. Across 2009, we added carriers in France, UK, Singapore, several Scandinavian countries. A great deal of our work on distribution side was expanding carriers in existing countries. Pleasantly surprised that in every single country, our units increased significantly, and our share with it. Feel like we made really good decisions. Not saying we would do it in every country. But that was our experience with the ones we did it in 2009. We do it on country by country basis.

4:32 Would another carrier need to match pricing on iPad to become carrier for it? I think AT&T’s pricing is revolutionary. (Unlimited data for $30/month, 250 MB for $15/month.)

4:33 Talked a little before about virtuous cycle we have with devs. How do you protect user experience as developers go out and develop products? This is the privilege and curse of technology. Same as you’d see in PC world; at some point, if you include every hardware you’ve ever shipped, you stifle innovation. Because we’ve done this for so long, I feel like we’ve come to a really intelligent conclusion on these each time. I think that’s part of our knowledge and heritage as a platform provider.

4:35 Which way is OS market moving? I don’t see it as this or that — iPhone vs. Mac — or this over that. I think there is a place for both. What you’re seeing for Apple is that the Mac OS is very scalable. Huge competitive advantage for Apple. Use the Mac OS in a lot of products. Don’t think there’s another company that can use the foundation of their OS that way. Move at a fast speed with many fewer people than it would take if we were geographically north. (Slap at Microsoft.)

4:36 Our surveys indicate Mac and iPhone are attracting significant interest in enterprise. What are you doing?

4:36 For the iPhone, 70% of Fortune 100 companies in US are either deploying iPhone or currently testing for deployment. 50% of the FT 100 are doing the same thing. Huge uplift in interest as we went to iPhone 2.0 software and then 3.0 because we put a number of enterprise features in the software. We clearly see this continuing. On Mac side, amazing how many CIOs are now visiting Apple and are interested in the Mac. We haven’t put on a huge channel, and don’t have a huge sales force, but many CIOs that once thought standardization was the most important thing in life, they now look at salaries of people and the importance of having peoples’ creativity at peak, and are increasingly allowing employees to decide. This helps Apple immensely.

4:39 I think people in general and they think enterprise is bigger than consumer. But it’s not. In PCs, it’s 10%, which is sizable, but consumers are over 50%. Our heart and soul and DNA is in consumer. It just so happens there are consumers working in enterprises who want to use these products.

4:41 People are looking at this differently. At least the people with a lot of vision are.

4:41 Just short of 300 stores. Ron Johnson has built a retail team Bar None. We went into retail not as a test, not as pilot, but to sell to consumers, because many wanted it. We knew we’d never have enough stores to cover the world. So after we got going, we set a range of 25-50, reasonable range we could execute really well. Made a strategic call in 2008, we thought we’d see many more opportunities — some top properties would come on the market with better economics. And guess what? Now, there’s a lot of great properties on the market. So we’re going to do about 50 this year. We’ve always had the team to do 50. It’s not easy to do, it’s very hard to do. But we’re going to do it. We didn’t lower the bar at all. These stores are among the best we’ve ever done. If you haven’t been to NYC Upper West Side store, it will make your jaw drop. Next time you’re in Paris, go to the Louvre; it’s just amazing. Another store in China in Shanghai in the summer that is mind blowing. Another one in London that will also drop your jaw.

4:45 New chip. Apple has been in silicon design business for years. Not new to us to be in silicon design business. As we looked at some of the products that we are doing like the iPad, and some we will do in the future, we felt that we had the best knowledge of what we wanted the silicon to do. And were in the best ability to deliver that ourselves versus going out to somebody else and buying something that wasn’t exactly what they wanted.

4:47 Acquisition strategy: Historically, we have acquired companies for technology and talent. And they have been on the small size. We’ve looked at large companies, but we have not had a large company pass a strategic and a financial test. We don’t let our money burn a hole in our pocket. Unless we find something that really makes sense for Apple shareholders, we’re not going to do it. The small ones have been incredibly valuable for us, mainly from the talent POV, but also from technology. If we find a large one, we won’t be shy about it. But we won’t do it to do it. We have never been about being the biggest, we’ve always been about making the best products. Not having highest market share or most revenue. Acquiring something that makes our revenue go higher wouldn’t be a reason why we’d buy a company.

4:49 How do you stop hubris from creeping in? Executive team in the company spends a lot of time thinking and discussing how to retain and recruit the best talent in the world. At the end of the day, I know it’s a cliche, but people are our most important asset in the world by far. It’s people who deliver innovation. We are the most focused company that I know of or have read of or have any knowledge of. We say no to good ideas every day. We say no to great ideas in order to keep the amount of things we focus on very small in number so that we can put enormous energy behind the ones we do choose. The table each of you are sitting at today, you could probably put every product on it that Apple makes, yet Apple’s revenue last year was $40 billion. I think any other company that could say that is an oil company. That’s not just saying yes to the right products, it’s saying no to many products that are good ideas, but just not nearly as good as the other ones. I think this is so ingrained in our company that this hubris you talk about that happens to companies that are successful and sole role in life is to get bigger, I can tell you the management team at Apple would never let that happen. That’s not what we’re about. Small list of things to focus on.

Reasons for the delay are unknown but speculation points to some part of the construction not being complete in time.

Apple offered no explanation on the Apple Store Angaben website but stated that “We’re putting the finishing touches on the final touches.”

At the media opening of the Upper West Side store Johnson also covered some interesting numbers, as picked up by Gizmodo:

• Apple’s total sales in 2001 were $5.4 billion. Apple Stores this year: $6.6 billion. (Apple’s total sales this year were $36.5 billion.)
• They hit 170 million visitors this year. 10 million people hit Genius Bars or personal training.
• Sales per store—$26 million, which is just below what Macy’s, Target and Best Buy make per store. But, if you look at the real estate, it’s a slightly different picture. Apple Stores do sales of $4,300 per square foot which is 5x the $872 per square foot Best Buy does.
• Wow—over 100,000 applicants on file for jobs at the Apple Store worldwide. 10,000 people submitted applications for the new Upper West Side store. Just over 200 got a job.
• Apple realized they were going too small with their stores, so now all of their stores will be at least “three tables wide.” In other words, they’re going to be bigger. They’re also going to be opening more stores next year, more like 50. More of them will be “significant stores,” iconic ones like the Fifth Ave. store with the Apple Cube. And they’ll be going more international, adding stores all over Europe, like the UK, Paris and two in Shanghai getting those “significant stores.”
• All checkouts are done using an iPod touch now with a new EasyPay system, if you care about the purity of the Apple Store and the old Windows Mobile system offended you.

Gizmodo also posted a gallery of photos from the store unveiling.

The Apple Store Upper West Side is the fourth in Manhattan and Apple’s 15th in the New York metro area, joining the hugely successful Apple Stores SoHo, West 14th Street and Fifth Avenue. Nearly 170 million people on four continents have visited Apple retail stores this year. Apple now operates 280 stores in ten countries including the US, UK, Italy, Australia, Canada, Japan, China, Switzerland, Germany and France.

Apple Store Upper West Side located on Broadway at 67th Street, the Apple Store Upper West Side is just minutes from Lincoln Center and Central Park will open on Saturday, November 14 at 10:00 a.m.

Image courtesy of Matt Buchanan

With Reserve and Pick Up, you can make sure the top things on your list are definitely under the tree. Reserve an iPod or Mac online today and it will be waiting for you to pick up and purchase at an Apple Retail Store from December 15 to 24. You can even have many products wrapped. It’s just another way we make it even easier to get through the holiday crowds — and your gift list.

Apple is also offering gift wrap into “special gift boxes” for $5 for iPods, MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

“We are very pleased to extend the experience of the Apple Store in France, said Ron Johnson, Senior Vice President of Retail Apple. The new store is located below the famous Louvre Pyramid, in the Carrousel du Louvre. This is the place to go shopping, train and develop ideas.”

ifoAppleStore and MacGeneration were both on hand to offer video and images from the media preview.

The Apple Store, Carrousel du Louvre will open this Saturday at 10am.

Customers can still receive printed receipts if they wish or it can be emailed, returns will be processed by scanning the barcode on receipts.

EasyPay touch devices will also smooth the process of iPhone purchases, easily capturing all four barcodes situated on iPhone boxes. AT&T tariffs and discounts can all be dealt with through the new system.

The next European city on Apple’s target is Barcelona in Spain. Apple is said to have leased a 10,000 square-feet space in the Paseo de Gracia in the center of Barcelona.

In the UK where 22 stores are currently open, Apple is this week opening its first store in Wales. The grand opening on Thursday 29th October at 10.30am is of the St David’s 2 store in Cardiff.

Scotland is also set for a October 29th grand opening of the Union Square Apple store in Aberdeen.

Apple is also working on a store situated in Covent Garden, London scheduled for May 2010 grand opening.

Over in North America Apple is looking to open its newest store in New York City. Situated on 67th and Broadway the Upper West Side Apple Store has been clad with plastic covering depicting a giant curtain, the bottom left corner has been peeled away revealing the words “Opening Soon.”

ifoAppleStore also breaks down the changes Apple will implement this holiday season “to reduce visitor confusion and streamline sales.” Apple will reportedly be dropping the colour-coded T-shirt system, all Apple store staff will wear the same colour T-shirt reducing customer confusion. Employees with also stop using the portable EasyPay systems and and begin using an iPod touch based solution as was rumoured earlier in the year. The iPod touch will have a scanner accessory attached and run point-of-sale software.

As a One to One member, enjoy a year’s worth of personal training sessions for just $99. Sit down for in-depth, face-to-face sessions with your very own personal trainer. Experts in all things Apple, our Trainers help you get the most out of your Apple products. Just tell them what you want to be able to do, and they’ll teach you how. To become a One to One member, visit your local Apple Retail Store.

For that fee you are able to attend one one-hour lesson per week on a wide array of topics. It is not limited to one store nor must you spend the year on only one learning track. Sounds great right? Well, like @mac.com, it is about to go the way of the dodo bird for many customers. As distilled by TheAppleBlog:

Here’s the new deal. Whereas previously anyone could buy a One to One subscription without an accompanying purchase, beginning June 2, Apple will limit new subscriptions to customers buying a Macintosh at an Apple retail store or on the Apple Store web site.

There is no “grace period” for the undecided, either. Customers who want to buy a One to One subscription must do so on the day they buy their new Mac. Existing One to One customers will be able to renew their subscriptions for one further year.

Apple’s focus with One to One is shifting away from convincing customers to switch, to supporting customers who have already made the move from PC to Mac. “We originally set up One to One to get people to switch to the Mac,” Johnson said. “Now we want to expand it to make it even more relevant to people who have bought their Mac.”

I have two thoughts on this change: big mistake and corporate double-speak.

In USA Today, Apple Senior VP of Retail, Ron Johnson relayed the following:

The company said Wednesday that it plans to remodel 100 of its stores this year, to make more room for customer training and displayed products. Additionally, it will open 25 new stores, including a fourth location in New York City, and new ones in Paris, Italy and Germany.

“We know that a lot of people are cutting back, but we’re doing the opposite,” says Ron Johnson, Apple’s senior vice president of retail. “We’re investing in the downturn.”

If all of that is true, why are they cutting back a hugely successful program? It has been speculated, not without reason, that Apple’s cutbacks in full-time positions have created a shortage of employees qualified to do such training. Considering that some of the training is on such sophisticated program as Final Cut Pro, that sounds plausible. It appears to me that they are touting an expansion while slipping in a contraction through the back door with a side-order of unwarranted pressure on a new purchaser to have to make a decision on the spot. Current subscribers can renew once.

In my opinion what this amounts to is “buy a new Mac, and you get the privileges, but if you hold on to your trusty Mac, no soup for you.” I don’t see how this benefits them unless they are purposefully trying to strangle the program. I can’t imagine many people falling for the point-of-sale pressure sale (which is sleazy IMHO), so this will turn into a minimal boutique program for their new conquests. I, the loyal Mac owner, am shut out. I found this option to be one of the perks to being a Mac owner, and one I use to evangelize the Mac to my friends who fear having to learn new things but do not want to feel like they have to spend $100 right at point of sale for the privilege of having security in knowing that there is someone to teach them if they can’t figure it out themselves.

All in all this has the sour bite of a Granny Smith rather than the sweetness of a Macintosh. There is one potential upside that needs to be explored further. Ron Johnson had also stated:

Still priced at $99, the annual subscription includes personal setup, transferring of files from an older computer (Windows or Mac) and help with projects.

In the past, sessions timed out at one hour; now the limit is three hours, but sessions might also include up to three participants.

Does this mean three hours a week? Three hours once every three weeks? Those details remain to be seen. Since I had wanted to sign up and don’t plan on buying a new Mac any time soon, I went to my local Apple store last night and purchased a one-year membership. I hope I will qualify for the one-year renewal as well. I mentioned to the Apple-bot that I had heard about these changes, but all he would say is that “there are exciting changes to be announced to the One to One program!” I told him the changes were announced and that they weren’t all that exciting. I then received script number two: “No comment.” Yes that is hyperbole for effect. The employee was very nice and helpful, but it was apparent that I knew more than he did and that he wasn’t comfortable with criticism of Apple being aired, and even less comfortable when I said that I was about to write on the subject. Usually I am helped by someone who already knows who I am as I tend to be quite outspoken when I visit. Hard to believe, I know.

Apple, this is a mistake for the following reasons (I love lists):

1. Pressure-sales have never been your style. The decision to purchase an extended warranty and training is something to be done after a few days thought, not on the spot of an already expensive purchase.

2. So someone doesn’t buy One to One training and is thoroughly confused on how to use their Mac. In the past you could offer One to One training and save yourself a return. Now the customer will return the computer, and if they were willing to try One to One training, turning them away will make them an angry camper that very likely will never consider a Mac again.

3. Existing loyal users, such as myself, have come to rely on the availability of One to One to learn new things. What is the incentive to buy or upgrade to new Apple programs if we were the type to know that One to One was there as a safety cushion?

4. You make money on this. It isn’t like it is free. If it isn’t turning a profit, increase the price. No one expects you to be a charity.

5. The people coming for One to One are foot traffic to your store. They might not otherwise have returned for months or even years. Now they are there up to once a week to see all the new shiny, shiny and breathe in the RDF-infused air.

6. It creates community. Apple has remained aloof to community and in that I believe it is really keeping itself from even further success. Non-paid enthusiastic users are the best salespeople in the world.

7. Most people still consider the Mac the great murky unknown, and with Microsoft’s latest pushback (and they are good on selling fear of the unknown as they are currently doing with Linux) this is a bad move. Even if very few might-be-switchers took advantage of this, the very fact that is was available was reassuring. It was to me when I was Mac-curious.

Do you think I am right, or am I out of my tree? Let me know below.

About Me: In addition to my position as Assistant Editor at World of Apple, I run idrankthekoolaid, an Apple fangrl satire blog; and am an Administrator at MyAppleSpace in which I also fill the role of Hostess of their vidcast MASTv. I would really enjoy it if you would follow me on Twitter.

The interview with Johnson which comes via USA Today also reveals that Apple plans to open a fourth retail store in New York City as well as open stores in Paris, Italy and Germany.

Although Johnson reveals very little about the redesign he does talk about how it will help Apple, new display tables will enable “twice the amount” of Mac computers and other products to be on display at one time. The Genius Bar will also gain 50% more room.

Although not directly related to retail stores Apple’s One to One program will see some changes.

But beginning June 2, Apple will limit sign-ups to people who buy new Mac computers at Apple Stores or via its website. Additionally, any of the 500,000 current One to One subscribers can renew.

“We originally set up One to One to get people to switch to the Mac,” Johnson says. “Now we want to expand it to make it even more relevant to people who have bought their Mac.”

One to One sessions will now last three hours instead of the current one hour.

Johnson also admitted that he global recession was affecting foot traffic at retail stores bit insisted that it was still strong.

ifo goes on to relay reports from The Chicago Business who report that Apple will erect a 15,000 square foot stucture on the land designed by local architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson..

The device will also hook up to an external credit card reader thanks to the new iPhone 3.0 OS and the POS software will reportedly offer concierge, ordering and store management features according to AppleInsider.

The system is expected to hit stores in July with a full rollout by September.

Earlier in the week AT&T also began selling non-subsidised iPhones with no AT&T contract but limited sales to one per customer, in Apple’s case no such limit applies.

AppleInsider adds that although the iPhones are technically not locked they will still only be supported on AT&T’s network but naturally they could be unlocked for use on other carriers.

Apple has posted a selection of photos on its website and several Flickr sets are available, of note are the ones from smokeonit and Oifi74. A QTVR panorama (caution, adjusts window) is also available.

The report comes after Best Buy announced that it is offering $150 off all Macs.

Now according to the NY Post plans for a 34th street Apple Store are dead and Apple is attempting to offload the site back to developer Robert K. Futterman. According to one source Apple CEO Steve Jobs visited the site and said, “This is not for Apple.”

The developrrs Web site says the property, which can support about 18,000 square feet on three levels will be available for 13 years starting April 1, 2009.

Now a third store is ready to open on September 13 at 10.00am in Chadstone.

Moving back to Europe, ifoAppleStore is reporting that the first Apple store is due to open at the end of September in Geneva. The store recently received a new black facade that read “Bientôt ouvert,” meaning, “Opening soon”.

ifoAppleStore is also noting that Switzerland’s second Apple store is nearing completion in Zurich at the Glattzentrum shopping mall northeast of downtown.

“We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone,” a spokesman said.

Apple sold about one million of the new iPhone models in the United States around the July launch weekend, but buyers in Poland may be reluctant to pay hefty monthly charges.

There were no queues at T-Mobile’s (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Era stores, which will also due to launch the iPhone on Friday.

Fake lines (or any lines) have not formed in front of local T-Mobile stores. Good luck to those who are looking forward to buying an iPhone in their home country!

Curbed website reports that The SoHo Alliance has written for help from the Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer, saying that, “No bar, nightclub or construction site comes close to ruining continually our quality-of-life like Apple SoHo has”.

Alliance director Sean Sweeney said the “final straw” was Tuesday August 12th when the Jonas Brothers played at the Apple Store attracting “thousands of young teenage girls who screamed incessantly”.

Sweeney also explained acts of “irresponsible corporate behavior” by Apple, such as night construction without a permit, and “Apple employees during their breaks lounging, eating, smoking, littering–in effect trespassing–on nearby people’s stoops”.

Sweeney is looking for a solution to the issues from the borough’s president.

Apple Store, Sainte-Catherine
1321 Rue Ste-Catherine Ouest
Montréal,
Quebec,
H3G 1P7

Photos of opening available from MacCheech.

Your favorite Apple Retail Store is making it easier and more convenient to purchase an iPhone 3G. All stores will now open at 8:00 a.m. every day but Sunday and, to accommodate demand, we’re adding staff to help you get up and running as quickly as possible.

While standing in line for the iPhone 3G store staff will “prequalify” you which will involve things like administrative paperwork and credit checks. If you pass “prequalification” then you will receive a ticket for an iPhone 3G which can either be redeemed on the spot or before 6pm that day (4pm Sunday)

Apple also recommends checking iPhone availability using the iPhone Availability checker which updates every evening after 9pm.

The Liverpool One shopping centre is yet to fully open but a healthy crowd turned out to greet Apple’s newest UK Apple Store.

Apple Store, Liverpool One
Unit 95, Paradise Street (West)
Liverpool One Shopping Centre
Liverpool
L1 8JF

Photos of opening available from Elliot Norton.

As well as opening its first store in South Carolina and its fifth in Arizona.

Apple today announced that the Apple Store Saint-Catherine will open on Friday July 25 at 5.00pm. The two story Apple store is said to have a $1.2 million annual lease and have a plot of around 8,000 square feet.

Apple Store, King Street will represent the first retail store in South Carolina and Apple Store, Arrowhead will be Arizona’s fifth, both open on Saturday July 26 at 10.00am local time.

The Apple store situated in the Liverpool One shopping development will open this Saturday at 9am.

Join us for the Grand Opening and get the chance to win a Digital Lifestyle Collection that includes a black MacBook and a silver iPod nano. The first 1,000 people through the doors will receive a free Apple T-shirt.

The Apple store represents the first for Liverpool, a city with over 800,000 residents.

The store which will reportedly take up 577 square metres will be located in the Highcross shopping development in Leicester, UK.

Apple is continues recruiting staff for stores in Liverpool, Belfast, Bristol and White City, London.

The Wall Street Journal has posted some pictures from the media opening day and as always ifoAppleStore is offering complete coverage of the store opening.

“This is the first of many stores we will open in China,” said Ron Johnson, Apple’s senior vice president of retail, in remarks at the store. He later added that Apple will open stores “in Beijing, in Shanghai and beyond,” and confirmed that another store will open in Beijing’s Qianmen area, a shopping street south of Tiananmen Square that has been renovated ahead of the Olympic Games, which begin next month.

The Apple Retail Store is the perfect place to get your iPhone 3G. When you arrive, a Concierge in an orange shirt will direct you to the iPhone bay where you can take advantage of our free Personal Setup. A Specialist will help you choose an iPhone 3G, review coverage maps, select a rate plan, and — best of all — have your new iPhone 3G ready to make calls, browse the web, and receive email right on the spot.

As with in the UK, Apple notes that stock of the iPhone is limited,

iPhone 3G will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, and sales will start at 8:00 a.m. Arrive early to get in line as daily quantities are limited by stock on hand.

In order to purchase and activate an iPhone 3G, you will need:

• Credit card
• Social security number
• Valid, government-issued photo ID
• Your current wireless account number and password or PIN (if you’re new to AT&T)

Apple reminds users to sync their current iPhone one last time before purchasing a new iPhone 3G.

Apple also offers advice to business customers wishing to sign-up for an iPhone 3G:

Current and new iPhone users who now receive or will receive service under a corporate account and wish to purchase iPhone 3G need to contact AT&T directly. Also, if you want your Phone to access your business email account, check with your IT manager first.

Mac Rumors reports that AT&T stores are due to get the displays tomorrow:

Beginning July 8th you will receive the new iPhone 3G demo devices at your store to enhance your sales process. These devices will be used the same as your 2G demo devices in your sales process but now you can demonstrate the additional capabilities of the iPhone 3G including the App Store

Apple Stores in the US are rumoured to be opening at 8am to mirror AT&T stores, iPhones will be activated within Apple stores and cannot be paid for with cash.

It should also be noted that iTunes 7.7 which is required for iPhone activation should be released sometime Tuesday, just in time for the New Zealand iPhone launch.

Today MacPlus.net has posted photos of the interior of the future three-level store including the glass staircase, back-lit wall graphics and stainless steel interior panels.

The first store will open in the Sanlitun area of the city which is said to be a fashionable bar district. According to an industry insider the three-story Apple store will open its doors on July 19.

The second Apple store will reportedly open in Beijing during the Olympics.

“You may not place iPhone 3G on hold for anyone. No exceptions. Do not create a waitlist,” explains the document and continues, “It is critical that all stores follow the same process to ensure every customer has an equal and fair opportunity to purchase a phone.”

Employees are being encouraged to call customers who have reserved an iPhone Personal Shopping session on or after July 11th and inform them that Personal Shopping sessions won’t apply to the iPhone 3G.

Employees are being told to say that they “don’t have any information regarding upgrades.”

When asked particular questions regarding corporate and business plans, Apple employees should reply “If your business uses a corporate plan, sometimes called a CRU or IRU plan, you will need to go to an AT&T store to purchase the iPhone 3G for your employees”.

Finally when questioned on iPod touch pricing and whether the unit price will be lowered to match the iPhone, retail employees should reply, “Not that I am aware of”.

Thinking this was some kind of misunderstanding on behalf of the reporter I sought confirmation, didn’t take long to find another source of the statistic.

Although exact figures on the sizes of Apple stores are hard to come by, rough estimations would suggest that Australia’s first store is not the second largest in the world, in fact far from it.

The benchmark for Apple stores appears to be London’s Regent Street store which was expanded in size at the end of 2006, in the press release that followed Apple stated that the store was over 28,000 square feet but didn’t say how much over.

More recently Apple opened the Boylston Street Apple store in Boston, at the time stating it to be U.S’s largest Apple store and only trailing behind Regent Street. This stirred interest as the physical plot measurement for the Boston store is only 6,384 square feet, making the three story store only 19,152 s.f. at a stretch, we have to account for the size of walls, storage rooms and the staircase.

Elsewhere in America you have the Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York weighing in at around 20,000 s.f., the SoHo New York which is said to be 21,000 s.f. and we can hardly forget the most recent New York store in the Meatpacking district; the West 14th Street Apple store is estimated to be around 30,000 square feet although no official figures are available to back this up.

America also boasts the Chicago Apple store on North Michigan Avenue which is stated to be 24,000 square feet.

So now we know this, how does the Sydney Apple store compare?

According to official plans for the store the estimated square footage is 4,800 per floor, over three floors that is only 14,400 square feet.

Lets look at that in an easy to digest list:

• 1. Regent Street Apple store, London – 28,000 square feet
• 1. West 14th Street Apple store, New York – 30,000 square feet (estimated figure)
• 2. North Michigan Avenue Apple Store, Chicago – 24,000 square feet
• 3. SoHo Apple store, New York – 21,000 square feet
• 4. Fifth Avenue Apple store, New York – 20,000 square feet
• 5. Ginza Apple store, Tokyo – 20,000 square feet
• 6. Boylston Street Apple store, Boston – 19,152 square feet
• 7. Sydney Apple store, Sydney – 14,400 square feet

Either my figures are really far off the mark or somebody at Apple is lacking in Maths 101.

I have contacted Apple PR for further information but no doubt they’ll refuse.

Store sizes sourced from ifoAppleStore.com, backed up with some Google research.

The Apple Store Sydney has more than 80 Macs and 60 iPods available for customers to experience hands-on, as well as an incredible range of third party products. The store’s knowledgeable staff includes more than 125 locally hired Specialists, Creatives and Geniuses who are ready to share their expertise and offer customers personalised instruction on everything from getting started with a Mac to building their own web page, creating a podcast or making a digital movie.

The Apple Store Sydney is located at 367 George Street, one block North of the Queen Victoria Building.

Nearly 350 million people have visited Apple retail stores since they opened in May 2001. Apple now operates 215 retail stores in six countries including Australia, the US, UK, Japan, Canada and Italy.

The store situated on the corner of George and King Street in Sydney occupies three stories and 14,370 square feet.

The first 2,500 customers through the door will receive limited edition t-shirts.

Please note we will be temporarily closed Thursday, May 29 at 3:00 p.m. and will reopen Friday, May 30 at 9:00 a.m. During this time, please visit one of our other two Manhattan locations.

According to Mac Rumors employees are telling passers by that a commercial is being filmed at the location and according to their sources Apple is filming a commercial for the upcoming 3G iPhone.

Image courtesy of Flickr user paulmonkeypaul

ifoAppleStore posts photos of the exterior display which teases passers by with the message “Drop in soon, Apple Store, Sydney.” To the left of the message is a swirl of blue iPod nanos.

The store which is located on the corner of George and King is the first official Apple Store to open Australia, the flagship store is said to be 14,370 square feet in size.

The Apple Store is expected to open sometime in June, possibly coinciding with a launch of the iPhone.

ifoAppleStore is offering fantastic post-event coverage and many videos have been posted on YouTube (see below).

ifo has pointed out a particular interesting piece of data about the stores Genius Bar. The Boylston Street Store Genius Bar is capable of 1,000 appointments per 15-hour week according to in-store promo material.

That equates to 67 appointments an hour over the stores 15 hour day. The Genius Bar has 17 stools so each stool would have 4 appointments per hour. It appears that Apple expects each Genius Bar appointment to take a mere 15 minutes.

Apple will be giving away “limited edition” T-Shirts and “other surprises” at the store opening.

Every Apple product is available for you to get to know and test-drive at the Apple Store. And the top floor is dedicated entirely to programs, support, and services. It’s home to the Genius Bar, One-to-One personal training and free one-hour workshops to get the most out of your Apple products. Come early and be among the first to experience what the Apple Store is all about.

Apple is apparently claiming the Boston Apple Store to be the largest in the U.S., trailing only behind the mammoth Regent Street Store in London. The claim comes as a surprise to some as the physical measurements of the plot are only 6,384 square feet, making the three story store only 19,152 s.f. a little below the 20,000 s.f. Fifth Avenue Store in New York.

ifoAppleStore.com is as always offering excellent coverage of the Store opening.

Image courtesy of Flickr user BostonCityWalk.

Gizmodo reports that the store will handle 10 times the average foot traffic of a normal Apple Store.

“According to a store employee, it’s a good thing Boylston Street is so big: Apple estimates 1,500-2000 customers/hour will visit — more than 10 times the 160/hour that the average store gets,” reports Gizmodo. “It’s something else inferiority-complex ravaged Bostonians can hold over New York.”

Although unconfirmed, sources have suggested to World of Apple that the Apple Store could open on either May 16th or 23rd.

Although recruiting has just begun the Apple store is expected to open in November 2008.

Today the Grand Arcade Apple Store opened in Cambridge, UK.

World of Apple reader Pete has been kind enough to send over some photos of the opening of the new Apple Store.

View the photos here.