Apple Gearing Up Stores for "Army" of New Devices

By Kevin Parrish
published

Unnamed sources told 9to5Mac that Apple held a secretive summit at San Francisco's Fort Mason for the company's global Retail Store Leaders. This meeting was supposedly led by Apple CEO Tim Cook and went on for approximately three hours to talk about changes to the way iPhones are sold and marketed. According to Cook, around 80 percent of all iPhones are not sold in Apple Stores, and that – it seems – is unacceptable.

Cook told Store Leaders that despite low iPhone sales in Apple Stores, 50 percent of all services iPhones are diagnosed, repaired or replaced at Apple Store Genius Bars. Cook wants to see the sales match the service: 50 percent iPhone sales and 50 percent service, and so on. In other words, customers are drawn to wireless carrier subsidies, and Apple needs to create incentives so that the financial transaction remains within Apple's walls.

According to sources, one of the first elements in this strategy has been the recent Back to School promotion which offers a $50 gift card to students purchasing an iPhone. Additional incentives for customers and stores selling iPhones will be revealed at Apple's quarterly meetings for retail stores on July 28.

The recent summit is reportedly in retaliation against carrier stores who are reportedly providing incentives to salespeople who sell devices that are not iPhones. Because it cannot work around this roadblock, Apple has no choice but to fight back in its own brick-and-mortar stores. It's a tug-of-war over the consumer dollar, and Apple is just now pulling on the other end.

Cook reportedly hinted to Store Leaders a possible trade-in program at Apple Stores, a "competitive" program that's expected to appear within the next few months. It may even encourage customers to upgrade a damaged older iPhone model to a refurbished iPhone 5. There's also talk of upcoming improvements to price-matching policies internationally.

Retail Store Leaders were also introduced to iOS 7. Cook talked about how critical the new operating system was to Apple, and even discussed ways to promote the new platform when it lands on iDevices later this fall. There was also apparently talk about upcoming devices, as one source said to expect "an army of new products this fall."

Apple is reportedly gearing up to finally launch its low-cost "lite" iPhone in a number of different colors this fall. Also expected to arrive is a new iPad, a new iPod Touch, an iOS gaming console and a next-generation Apple TV set-top box. We may even see the company's rumored iWatch too.

Kevin Parrish
32 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Benthon
    Choo choo. All aboard the hype train.
    Reply
  • ojas
    Apple made action figures, then?
    Reply
  • house70
    This is contradictory information. First, Cook complains about low sales in their own stores, as opposed to carrier's stores, then complains about carrier stores selling other phones, too, implying that they do not sell enough fruit? Carrier's stores sell too little, or too much (compared to Apple's stores)? Which is it?
    BTW, it's not the salesperson fault if consumers choose a different device than the fruit-bearing one; it's just that people have learned to see past the shiny logo and realized that others have better devices. If one walks in a carrier's store and asks for the best devices available, they get pointed towards HTC One or Galaxy S4; can't fault the salespeople for telling the truth.
    Reply
  • bllue
    New devices = minimal 'upgrades of the previous version at a higher cost
    Reply
  • Avus
    iPhone 5.1/5.2/5.3... iPad 3.1/3.2/3.3...
    Reply
  • 10hellfire01
    11099011 said:
    Apple made action figures, then?

    I was thinking of the iCup perhaps...
    Reply
  • wildkitten
    11099050 said:
    This is contradictory information. First, Cook complains about low sales in their own stores, as opposed to carrier's stores, then complains about carrier stores selling other phones, too, implying that they do not sell enough fruit? Carrier's stores sell too little, or too much (compared to Apple's stores)? Which is it?
    BTW, it's not the salesperson fault if consumers choose a different device than the fruit-bearing one; it's just that people have learned to see past the shiny logo and realized that others have better devices. If one walks in a carrier's store and asks for the best devices available, they get pointed towards HTC One or Galaxy S4; can't fault the salespeople for telling the truth.
    No, this isn't contradictory. It even says in the article that the carriers providing incentive to salespeople for not selling iPhones is what prompted the summit in the first place...
    The recent summit is reportedly in retaliation against carrier stores who are reportedly providing incentives to salespeople who sell devices that are not iPhones
    This means they are not pleased with the sales in the carrier stores and are looking for alternatives.

    Fact is, EVERY phone manufacturer can have this same complaint. No carrier, be it Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc, has the manufacturers best interest at heart. It behooves each maker to protect their brands and such.

    But the problem Apple, and every other cell phone maker has, is that while their is some good reasons to buy a non subsidized phones, those reasons are not necessarily reason enough for most people to do it. Until the carriers offer non subsidized calling plans, in other words, a plan that is cheaper if you bring your own device, there is not much reason to go and pay $650 or more for a phone when you pay the same amount per month for your cell phone plan had you just bought the phone at the subsidized price of $200 or less.

    Reply
  • back_by_demand
    So when the going gets tough you screw the retailers, seems fair considering they have burnt bridges with suppliers and vendors for years, who's next? Customers?
    Reply
  • back_by_demand
    iOS gaming console, I almost laughed a lung up
    Reply
  • John112
    When you go into a store asking for the best phone, they give you the best phone which is not apple, be it the s4, HTC one, etc. Sales people make commission and that's their incentive to sell. Apple is feeling threatened that the consumer is being more educated about what the better product is.
    Reply