[Macworld]

Post your comments for Apple stores generated $1.7 billion in Q1 revenue here

[DisabledTrucker]

Great, now if one would just move closer to home... I hate that I have to drive to the next town some 14 miles away to just go to the Apple store. Hell I may even apply to work in sales for them if they did. I may complain a lot about them on the boards but, they still make the best computers out there even with all their shortcomings. Also, noone can beat their iPods or iPhone, even with their shortcomings too. For the average consumer, the Mac is the best way to go, even if they do have to load up Windows on it to get some things done. To Apples credit, that's not 100% their fault either, if software developers would just start writing their apps better and use standards based code instead of Windows specific then there would be more apps that will work with the Macs.
It would also help if there were more schools that actually taught developing on the Mac than what's available. With only 1-2 schools in the country that actually teach all aspects of programming on the Apple, even those expecting some previous experience in it prior to taking their classes, how can Apple really expect there to be more than there is for it's computers. If they really wanted to do something fantastic, open Apple Schools across the country that teach more than just how to use the Apple, get into High School Adult Education and Vocational classes and teach people at all ages how to use X-Code and Objective-C/C, Perl, etc. Then they will start to see even more sales of their systems. Granted they are in some schools now but, a lot of the schools are using Windows based systems these days. Maybe they're hoping with Macbook Air to get back into schools more, and maybe that will be the clincher for them. But they have to actually put money into programming classes too, to end up with more people who can develop for them otherwise they will never be anything other than a Me 3 company.
I'd love to see them open an Apple Store here, (there's currently a major push to develop my area near the interstate here,) and put an Apple School in it that teaches not only how to use the Macs but, also teaches how to program them. There's even a perfect spot for this store right across from the High School to do just that.

[mulgamutt]

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald suggests that Apple is about to open a couple of stores in Australia (one in Sydney, one in Melbourne). A three-floor space has been leased by Apple in downtown Sydney, work is ongoing, but there's no "official" opening date.

Most excellent!

http://www.smh.com.a...0764069879.html

[AndrewRodney]

>Great, now if one would just move closer to home... I hate that I have to drive to the next town some 14 miles away to just go to the Apple store.
Please, I would have to drive from Santa Fe to Albuquerque which is 70 miles, one way. I can't feel your pain

[chuckmoser]

14 Miles?? I could only wish I had your trouble. In Bend, Oregon, I have to drive up to Portland, which is 3 hours away (in the summertime) along with a good-sized mountain pass over the Cascades... which is good fun this time of year. And, after checking the road conditions, make that 5+ hours.

[daddydoodaa]

I have to drive from Kansas City to Chicago to go to a Lego Store! That's over 8 hours...
I'd pass 4 or so Apple Stores on the way if I went via St. Louis.

[lantzn]

Really! I have a 72 mile trip to the nearest Apple Store now that CompUSA is gone. I WISH I only had 14 miles to drive even before loosing CompUSA which was still 50 miles. How could anyone possibly complain about such a distance. I drive 25 miles one way to work.

[pubb]

While reading the original post, I was reminded of Charley Brown's teacher: MWAH MWAH MWAAAAH WAAAAH. Lots of words that say nothing. Programming and development lessons at an Apple retail store? Not bloody likely.

[DisabledTrucker]

{quote:title=lantzn wrote:}
Really! I have a 72 mile trip to the nearest Apple Store now that CompUSA is gone. I WISH I only had 14 miles to drive even before loosing CompUSA which was still 50 miles. How could anyone possibly complain about such a distance. I drive 25 miles one way to work.{quote}
Being disabled and unable to drive at all, 1 mile is an eternity, let alone 14 and until that store opened last year, I would have had to go anywhere from 100 to 200 miles depending on which way I went to get to the nearest one. They are talking about opening more stores this year, I'm just putting in word for one in an area where it's highly travelled and along one of the major corridors in the United States, that happens to be under a massive construction effort to develop the area. Not too many places in the country can say that, as they already have been developed or are in lesser travelled areas.

Where I live on the I-75 and I--40 corridor, is the highest travelled area of anywhere in the world according to national statistics. With yet another interstate going in nearby as well, the proposed I-76 corridor, this area is sure to sky rocket, as proposed, to well over a 5000% increase in traffic and homeowners within the next 3-5 years. So it would make a ton of sense for Apple to put one here too as the one 14 miles away is only a store front in a mall that can barely handle it's current traffic let alone a 5000% increase in it. Even Wal-Mart, whom already has 5 supercenters nearby and said they would NEVER put one here, is about to open a store just across the street from me. All the big three auto makers have already put in their dealerships just up the road from here with more coming. There's even 5 major industrial parks within 4 miles of here, one of which has a factory making auto parts in it. With there being an excellent spot, RIGHT ACROSS FROM A LARGE HIGH SCHOOL, to put a store that's ready for development now, Apple would have a perfect place to put one. Being that CompUSA closed it's doors and there being no other computer stores to speak of anywhere nearby, that would be a perfect ground opportunity to make it's presence felt in the region by getting it's foot in the door here while it can.

Since our schools here provide the computers for our kids, whom would Apple rather that be, Dell? HP? or Apple? And oh, there is a Dell distributor about 15 miles away too. 85% or better of the people around here currently won't drive the 14-15 miles to the next town to get the support for their computers, so that leaves them currently with HP's, which are sold from the Wal-Marts around. Previously the Wal-Marts were 5-7 miles away. Where the proposed I-75/I-76 merger is going in, there are only steep cliffs, what's not cutting through the middle of farm lands, so there's nowhere there to put in a store. Although there are other places closer to it to possibly put one, those places are already developed residential areas, unlike here. With the population here blossoming, (unlike most areas of the US,) it would only make sense to put one here. As it is they are already talking about having to open yet another high school, in addition to tripling the size of the one I mentioned above, in the area to handle the current population. Our county has doubled in population in just the last 5 years and within the next 5 they are expecting it to do it again. The population when I moved here 15 years ago was already 85,000 then and the city just this past year doubled it's size by incorporating a vast area surrounding it in the county to accommodate it's vastly growing population. How many other towns in the nation can say this? Where the rest of the country is feeling the pains of the recession we're in, this area is under a major growth spurt. Oh, I won't get into the fact that a lot of the nations nuclear scientists live in this area as well, since Oak Ridge is just down the road. Let's not also forget that a postal distribution center just opened and expanded in one of the Industrial Parks here too.

I'm not saying that other places in the country can't use one too, I'm just putting in my bid for one here. I'm sure that there are plenty of other places in the US that could well be served by an Apple store opening in their area.