Apple Store: 250 locations strong
From the original pair of stores—Tysons Corner, VA and Glendale, CA—that rang up their first sales on May 19, 2001 to the 250th location, which is scheduled to open this Friday, Apple’s retail division has grown to become a $6.3 billion operation that operates in eight countries.
What’s more, the Vintage Faire storefront in Modesto will be the 42nd in the Golden State—by far the most of any other US state.
And, whenever Apple hits one of these milestones, it’s always entertaining to rehash quotes from the people and publications that said the Mac maker would fail.
The first comes from BusinessWeek, which boldy posited Apple would fail and miserably at that:
The way Jobs sees it, the stores look to be a sure thing … Jobs’s focus on selling just a few consumer Macs has helped boost profits, but it is keeping Apple from exploring potential new markets. And his perfectionist attention to aesthetics has resulted in beautiful but pricey products with limited appeal outside the faithful: Apple’s market share is a measly 2.8 percent.
—Cliff Edwards, BusinessWeek.
Who’s David Goldstein? He was and is—he has since recanted the statements below—an eminent computer biz analyst.
No computer manufacturer has successfully branched into retail stores. It’s completely flawed. They’ll shut it down and write off the huge losses in two years.
—David Goldstein, president of the Channel Marketing Corporation via New York Times.
Of course, the mother-of-all “Apple is doomed” hubris comes from Michael Dell, CEO of a company that’s now worth significantly less than Apple.
What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.
—Michael Dell via News.com.
Of course, since that fateful day way, way back in 1997, Dell opened and then closed a chain of 140 retail kiosks, a vain attempt to emulate Apple’s brick-n-mortar successes.
With all of that said and done, it’s congratulations, Apple!—not even the biggest fanboys among us would have guessed seven-and-a-half years ago the Apple Store would become so very successful…
What’s your take?
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November 12th, 2008
If you look at the state of Apple back in 1997, what Dell said wasn’t all that wrong. Jobs had just semi-returned as an advisor to Amelio and the company was putting out crap product.
Dell revolutionized how we buy computers and lowered the cost, let us pick the features and customize them in a way that hadn’t been possible before. He started it from a dorm room.
Yeah, a kiosk is the same as a store. You left out Gateway was his main competition at the time and was the company he was emulating.
You could have just given a congratulations shout to Apple and did a recap without going smarmy fanboi.
November 13th, 2008
Just say you smiled at the “Pwned Michael” picture…