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St. Louis Business & Technology News
www.slfp.com/SLFPBIZp.htm "When you think Saint Louis, think Saint Louis Front Page," a weekly publication covering the news and events in the greater St. Louis area. 
St. Louis Front Page P.O. Box 1354 St. Louis, MO 63188 Voice: 314-771-0200 Fax: 314-771-0300 To submit news, contact: editor@slfp.com To advertise, contact: advertising@slfp.com 
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By Betty Magrath, SLFP.com ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com) December 19, 2004 - Building on the growing iPod market phenomena, Apple has opened a series of "mini" retail stores across the country. On Saturday, December 18, Apple unveiled its new Mini Store at Saint Louis Galleria. Nancy McGee, manager of the Apple Mini Store, stated that "This is the 10th Mini to open. It features a smaller assortment of product, but the best of the best. We are prepared to really sell around the phenomena of the iPods. Considering the shortage of iPods, we hope to make a lot of people happy this Christmas." The clean high tech decor of the store consists of large back-lit photos of people framed by stainless steel panels. The look resembles a giant titanium "G5." Furniture consists of a single wood counter at the rear in front of a large plasma television screen. Product is displayed on a single wood shelf along two walls. McGee stated that "The mini concept provided the company with a way to go into markets where they were not able to get either the 30 or 45-foot-wide real estate. At 750 sq ft, this is a more flexible option." "The strategy was not to compete with our sister store at the West County location, but to see how the concept would work in St. Louis. We are great marketing support for each other," she said. Customers will also find an assortment of the popular iMacs. The new Apple Mini store features sleek iPods ranging in price from $299 to $399. The iPod minis, at $249, are the size of a business card. Software and iPod accessories are also available. The opening of the Mini stores across the country has been met with great enthusiasm among the so called Mac addicts. Sean and Alanna Anderson, from Houston, MO, got their two daughters, Morgan (4) and Reagan (2) up at 3 a.m. and drove 150 miles just to be in line for the opening. "I work on a Windows computer for a living, but at the end of the day, I go home to my Mac and relax," stated Anderson. "I don't have an iPod, but hopefully for Christmas," he said with a twinkle. "We'll go see Santa after this." His wife laughed, "Yes, he's a Mac addict." Calvin Richmond, Kayla, MO, also rose early and drove about 130 miles to be among the first in line. When asked how he gravitated to Mac computers, Richmond responded that several years ago, he woke up one morning and decided he was not going to be intimidated by computers anymore. "The other computers didn't make sense, so I got an Apple." Joshua Monroe, (19), was first in line, having arrived a six a.m. at the Galleria. "I wanted a free T-shirt and to see the store," said Monroe, a student from Belleville, IL, who attends the University of Missouri, in Rolla, MO. "I heard about the new store on the Apple web site. I've been using computers since I was five and switched to Mac about a year ago." Fellow student Carole Longhenrich, (19), who told Joshua about the opening, was second in line. Eric Chou, from New Jersey, a student at Washington University, rode his bike to the opening just to get a free T-shirt. While waiting, he stayed busy working on his Apple laptop. Chou said that he has bought five Macs over nine years and most of them are still working. Chou doesn't own an iPod yet but it was on his wish list. "We could not find the iPods any place in town," stated Pat McBride, from University City. "My son went online and they told us this was the best place to get them. My son is 37 and this is a Christmas present for him. Santa is bringing this to him," she laughed. Upon leaving the store, McBride stated enthusiastically, "I have my iPod, my free T-shirt, and now I'm going home to bed." Being a Mac enthusiast is not limited to just young computer users. Phil Wolff, (88), proudly wore his grey Mac Accademy sweat shirt. His wife, Pauline Wolff, (85), stated that they walked every morning, seven days a week, at the Galleria. "We had seen the store and were wondering if they would ever open as they have been getting ready for a couple of months," she said. "Maybe we'll get in line and get a T-shirt." Apple spearheaded the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music players and iTunes online music store. In late October, Apple introduced the iPod U2 Special Edition as part of a partnership between Apple, U2 and Universal Music Group (UMG) to create innovative new products together for the new digital music era. The new U2 iPod holds up to 5,000 songs and features a black enclosure with a red Click Wheel and custom engraving of U2 band member signatures. It retails for $349. The company recently announced that it had shipped 2,016,000 iPods during the last quarter, representing a 500 percent increase in iPods over the year-ago quarter. The competition for Apple's iPod is mounting with other entries into the market including Sony's new Network Walkman, Gateway MP3 Photo Jukebox player and Dell's Digital Jukebox. Even Virgin Electronics has entered the market with its new MP3 player holding 5GB, or 25% more than an iPod Mini. Unlike Apple's iPod, which only works with downloaded songs from the iTunes Music Store, the Virgin Player also includes an FM tuner and can play songs from other online music services. However, Apple's loyal following recently set a milestone recently for iTunes with more than 200 million songs downloaded at a cost of 99 cents per song. "We are thrilled to report our highest fourth quarter revenue in nine years," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We shipped over 2 million iPods, our Retail store revenue grew 95 percent year-over-year, and the new iMac G5 has received phenomenal reviews and is off to a great start."
 
The Saint Louis Front Page is owned and maintained by the Moore Design Group for the sole purpose of disseminating news and information about the Metropolitan Saint Louis area. Text or graphics may not be copied, rewritten or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission. For more information, contact editor@slfp.com All rights reserved world wide © 1996 - 2008 Moore Design Group . |
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