http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/06/10/apple_uk_retail/

Apple has confirmed it plans to open two further AppleStores in the UK, in Manchester and Sheffield.

Apple currently runs shops on London's Regent Street and in Birmingham's Bullring Centre. A third store, in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, is currently being prepared for opening. To that list, we can now add Manchester's Trafford Centre and Sheffield's Meadowhall mall.

It's not clear when the two new stores are projected to open, but Apple has begun recruiting a variety of staff to work at both locations.

Quite a big coup for Sheffield I would say.

Oh just read it's in Meadowhall. Won't be going there then!... Shame it wasn't in the town centre

That's good news if Apple survives this next year. There sales are going to be hit hard with the announcement that they'll be using Intel instead of IBM. As everyone will hold back from buying one because of the imminent change in architecture.

Won't stop people buying ipods and using the music store. They are increasingly important revenue streams for them.

But you're right, I don't know whats gonna happen with their computer range..

An Apple store will, I think, almost certainly be a boon for Sheffield, albeit in Meadowhall where I'm loathed to go unless under extreme duress.

Slightly O/T, but I think a more interesting question is hinted at by chri5;

Originally posted by chri5
There sales are going to be hit hard with the announcement that they'll be using Intel instead of IBM. As everyone will hold back from buying one because of the imminent change in architecture.


Do the more computer literate out there actually think that switching to Intel will be such a major upheaval for Apple?

As one who works on the fringes of computing, I'm under the impression that this wont necessarily cause the alarm and dispondancy forecast by many. Steve Jobs made no secret of the fact that he thought IBM were underperforming against their rivals and their promise of 3 GHz desktop processors a year after the introduction of the first Apple/IBM union chips just flat didn't happen.

Will it mean such a big change in the architecture and consequently in Apples fortunes?


Apologies to those who really couldn't give two flying monkeys about this...

Originally posted by chri5
That's good news if Apple survives this next year. There sales are going to be hit hard with the announcement that they'll be using Intel instead of IBM. As everyone will hold back from buying one because of the imminent change in architecture.

Apple have been looking towards this for years. They haven't been happy with the service that they are getting from IBM for years, and what with IBM supplying the chips for the next generation of games consoles, that service is about to get a whole lot worse. Apple have been pi**ed off with the inability of IBM to make a decent powerful chip for notebooks, and with this agreement with intel they'll finally have a decent chip for mobile computing (whatever intel's failings, the pentium m is the best mobile computing chip on the market).

I think what'll happen to apple's computer range is that sales will tail off slightly (which will now be easily supported by ipod sales) before they release a intel version of the mac in about a years time (or sooner if sales are too badly hit). I for one will be having one of the intel macs when they are released (assuming that i cant pick up a cheap dual g5 before then!).

b

Originally posted by basshedz2
I for one will be having one of the intel macs when they are released (assuming that i cant pick up a cheap dual g5 before then!).



lol... Yeah, I had similar thoughts about lying in wait on Ebay to pick up some bargains...

I could just use a 12" powerbook...

There is talk of universal binaries which will run on both x86 and PowerPC but I'd say they will drop support for the IBM chips at the first opportunity.

Most Mac users expect a longer shelf life for their investments and to be fair you could buy a Mac and get a good 5 years from it with problems.

If you buy one now you’re looking at 2 years before software drops off and your left thinking "oh crap".

IMO I think sales will drop off rapidly. But they do have the iPod which will probably save the day for them.

edit: I'd buy one though if they had a crazy sale due to the slump as they do look the biz!

Originally posted by chri5

If you buy one now you’re looking at 2 years before software drops off and your left thinking "oh crap".

IMO I think sales will drop off rapidly.

Let's not forget that the Mac customer base tend to be a clever and loyal bunch and a great deal of software for the Mac is open source. So, potentially, support for existing software could (and a degree of new stuff) continue for quite a while.

Not that I care, I'd just use my Mac for Matlab, c++, UNIX, Latex and geneic web browsing and that doesn't require me staying at the cutting edge of software.

However, I suppose if you're a media developer or someone else that requires new software with the latest shiny things that go beep then I could invisage a problem.

I see Mac's as a cult folowing (i hope thats the right words for what i meen) so they might just buy out the last of powerpc models for the collector value, speccially as the systems would likely go down in value rapidly to help sales of stock. I do think tho people that use macs for business purposes such as creative media would hold off buying macs untill the new systems come into market, so as most people buying macs are not home users (please correct me if im deluded) the sales will drop.

There's already an Apple Store in Selfridges, Manchester ? :P

Originally posted by ADC_28
Not that I care, I'd just use my Mac for Matlab...

What version of matlab are you running? Everytime i upgrade to the newest version my computer slows to a crawl! If it wasn't for the toolboxes i'd use scilab anyway 'cause that's open source! (and doesn't cost ££££ for a license!)

b

Originally posted by basshedz2
What version of matlab are you running?

Matlab is a strange creature indeed.

On my tower system (64 bit AMD, 1.5Gb RAM L33TN3SS etc etc) I have to run 6.5 (r13) and it runs pretty sweet. 7.0 (r14) will install, but fails on startup with no error message and has done over 2 installation of windows and a different HDD.

On my laptop (2.8 Pentium, big, old clunky) I can run 7.0 and it runs reasonably quickly. But this is after 2 installs, the first one ran slow, fell over, wouldn't let me save Figures as jpegs and all sorts of other 'hilarity'.

A damn good shouting at and removing every last bit of Matlab (including registry entries) meant that the next install ran fine. I've never figured out why.

I've heard similar stories from colleagues putting Matlab on Macs and Linux machines. To be honest, here at the department, 99% of people are perfectly happy with 6.5 and whilst 7.0 does have some useful features (pressing F1 to access help and better docking with m-file editor windows) I'd just stick with 6.5 if it's giving you a headache.

Have you considered Mathmatica?

Originally posted by applejuice
There's already an Apple Store in Selfridges, Manchester ? :P

Unfortunately your wrong, the 'Apple Store' in Selfridges is actually run by the London Mac specialist Micro Anvika, and provides not nearly the service an actual Apple Store does, like the one on Regent Street London.

As for the on going discussions about Apple's future, i think its bright, although with the boom in Apple's products I am aware they might become targets for viruses. Its not the first time Apple has faced a challenge, they switched from Motorola chips to IBM Power PC chips 10 or so years ago, the also switched from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X just a few years ago, and at both times people envisaged problems. Yes, there were a few bumps - but they certainly didnt go bust!

Great. Just what Meadowhall needs. Another shop selling overpriced crap.

Originally posted by chri5
There is talk of universal binaries which will run on both x86 and PowerPC but I'd say they will drop support for the IBM chips at the first opportunity.

Most Mac users expect a longer shelf life for their investments and to be fair you could buy a Mac and get a good 5 years from it with problems.

If you buy one now you’re looking at 2 years before software drops off and your left thinking "oh crap".

IMO I think sales will drop off rapidly. But they do have the iPod which will probably save the day for them.

edit: I'd buy one though if they had a crazy sale due to the slump as they do look the biz!

Thye do already, the announcement mas made using powerpoint running on a mac x86

Darwin which is the base for OS X already runs on x86 chips, so it wont be difficult to port.

Joel

Originally posted by slh73
Great. Just what Meadowhall needs. Another shop selling overpriced crap.

Perhaps you'd like to see the place filled with 99p shops then?

If you want cheap shops go to castlegate and bask in the glory there.

hope they do open the apple store in meadowhall, we have just launched allthingsipod.co.uk so the more ipods sold in sheffield the better.

I can confirm the store launch is 10th December 2005... for those wanting up to date information about the new Apple Store in Meadowhall please see my web site.

mymacpad.co.uk

If you would like to contribute to the site then simple register and submit news, articles and reviews.

Adrian Thompson
myMacpad Administrator