Items tagged with Store
Microsoft just opened a brand new, flagship store at 677 5th Avenue, in New York City. And since we’re just a short drive away, and were already spending some time in Manhattan today with the folks from Motorola and Verizon, we thought we’d pop in and take a look around.Microsoft's New Flagship Store On 5th Ave.Before you even get close to the front doors, there is no mistaking that this new store is all about Microsoft. Multiple logos are visible from across the road and a ton of product is front-and-center for all to see, behind the giant wall of glass out front. The store is comprised of multiple stories—an elevator has buttons for floors 1 – 4, but only the first three floors are open to...
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Say what you will about the power of the ecosystem, but one of Microsoft's biggest hurdles to overcome in the mobile arena isn't quality hardware nor software. Nokia makes killer phones, and most of the AAA-level apps in the Windows Phone store are of high quality (just look at Evernote, for example). But there's a reason that the iPad and iPhone have exploded, and a lot of that has to do with a unified app buying experience. Now, Microsoft is reportedly looking to pull off something similar. For years now, the company has been leaning towards a more Windows-centric world. In other words, tying the raw DNA of Windows into each of its business sectors. Xbox, Windows, Windows RT and Windows Phone...
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Friendly gestures evidently only get you so far, and in the cutthroat world known as technology, it appears that RadioShack and Staples are tossing a cold shoulder in the direction of Amazon. As retail locations selling consumer electronics begin to fade, same-day delivery icons like Google and Amazon are beginning to gain major traction. The annoyance of having to visit a store to pick something up (compared to having it appear at one's doorstep) cannot be understated, and in a bid to get those straddling the divide into a B&M location that they may otherwise pass over, Staples and RadioShack previously agreed to install Amazon Lockers in their stores. For those unaware, Amazon's Locker...
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We hear the phrase "the future is mobile" a lot, but just what does that mean? Most of us are equipped with smartphones, and some of us tablets... just how much more mobile can we get? With devices that we don't own, but still use, of course. Case in point: an installation eBay is planning to kick-off with a major retail partner in New York City this summer. The plan was mentioned at TechCrunch's ongoing Disrupt conference by eBay CEO John Donahoe. Details are extremely light at the moment, but what is known is that this retail outlet will have a touchscreen window, likely to allow passersby to browse various collections and maybe even buy something. Would you have to log into your eBay account,...
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In addition to tinkering with its return policy, it looks as if Best Buy is making another change in order to deal with one huge, lumbering reality: the Internet. A few months ago, Target announced that it would begin price-matching Amazon all year round in an effort to halt "showrooming" -- a term that describes the act of using a retail shop to check a product out, only to go home and buy it online for less. A few years ago, this process happened, but not in huge enough numbers to make material dents in the bottom line of brick-and-mortar retailers. Nowadays, it's notable. In fact, Circuit City caved years back in large part because of its inability to cope with a world where massive amounts...
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If the first thing to come to mind after hearing that a store with "Apple" in its name, or one which uses a logo with an apple in it, was forced to shut down, I think very few people would blame you if you thought it was caused by the Cupertino giant's hands. It's happened before, after all, and I'm sure it will happen again. However, for "The Apple Shop" in Norwich, UK, which sells actual apple food products, there were other reasons it was "forced" to change its name. You see, if your business has "Apple" in its name, even if it has nothing to do with electronics, people are bound to ignore the differences and ring you up for warranty information, product problems and other inquiries that end...
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The digital shopping world is firmly upon us. Target is making the lives of parents a little easier this winter, with the addition of QR Code shopping. The company is planning to prop up 20 popular toys in a special section of the store in the weeks leading up to the holidays, with each of them boasting QR codes. The company will let parents scan the codes of toys they'd like to discretely purchase, and then they can sort out the shipping details later -- and shipping is free to anywhere in America. It's a really interesting take on shopping, and the benefits are numerous. For one, it'll allow parents to snag a toy without their kid seeing it in the cart. Secondly, it'll help those in urban areas...
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It's official: if you missed the initial pre-order wave for iPhone 5 shipments, you missed the boat. In just 12 hours after going on sale at 3:01am ET on the 14th, pre-orders everywhere are sold out. If you pre-order one today, you're looking at a 2-5 week wait at the minimum. Apple has been quoted as saying that they're "blown away" with the response, but they said the same thing for the iPhone 4S. And really, did anyone not expect the iPhone 5 to be a hot commodity? So, if you aren't up for waiting a solid month to get one, and you aren't about to pay $2000 on eBay, what are you other options? Brave the lines and hit retail. Apple Stores as well as carrier stores (Sprint, Verizon Wireless and...
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Well, well -- what's this? It's the Windows Store, and no, we're not talking retail. The company just took the wraps off of the official Windows Store preview, a few months after teasing us with the name as part of Windows 8 and the distribution point for Metro style apps. The company had a launch party tonight in SF, where they described the app policies and business terms for the Store, both of which are now published to our Dev Center. They also announced our First Apps contest for developers, and confirmed that we’re also inviting a select set of developers to submit Metro style apps for inclusion in the Beta version of the Store. What's really wild is the revenue sharing. Unlike the...
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One has to wonder if Apple can keep this up. They've been knocking it out of the park for years now, with quarter after quarter of record growth. At this point, it's doubtful that any other technology company is capable of stopping them. Their stock price is way up, sales are way up, and market share is way up. And when things are going so well, it's easy to justify massive new stores in massive places, to get products and services in front of even more people. That's why Apple's currently awaiting approval from the M.T.A. to build their biggest U.S. store yet in New York's Grand Central Terminal. Hordes of commuters and tourists float through this landmark location, and pending approval, Apple...
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Is your mobile browser in need of a storefront? Possibly not, but Opera thinks so anyway. This week, Opera announced the opening of the Opera Mobile Store, which is available in over 200 countries. This storefront is a featured Speed Dial link in the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers, which makes the storefront immediately accessible by more than 100 million people who use an Opera browser on their mobile phones. The Opera Mobile Store has been built and delivered through a strategic partnership with Appia, the leading provider of open application marketplace technology. It offers both free and paid applications for virtually any mobile platform and device, and the storefront experience is...
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Did you know that Amazon will soon be launching their very own App Store for Android? It's true. Soon, Android users will have access to the standard Android Market (ran by Google) and the Amazon Appstore for Android (ran by Amazon). Why does Amazon need their own app store? The reasons are numerous and complicated, but the primary reason is that they already have a massive customer base, and a base with credit cards already on file. And since they already sell so many Android devices (tablets, e-readers, phones, etc.), there's a big opportunity to also sell apps to those customers. In fact, developers who submit their apps to the Amazon Appstore will benefit majorly from one thing in particular:...
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The multi-media drive market has really exploded over the last few years, right along with demand for DVRs, web-connected televisions and blossoming personal media libraries. More and more content is coming from the web rather than a disc, so people are requiring more and more capacity to store all of it. Toshiba's StorE TV+ is a unique twist on things, with a classy enclosure and the ability to handle up to 2TB of media locally. Users will be able to connect this device directly to their HDTV via HDMI, and if having 2TB of content right at your fingertips isn't enough, there's also an Ethernet port and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi for putting content from other network drivers and PCs/Macs. The primary...
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My, oh, my. What a difference a few years makes in the smartphone market. Nokia has long since been the dominant cellphone provider the world over, holding well over 40% of the overall market share in terms of mobile phone sales. But with companies such as RIM (who makes the BlackBerry), HTC (responsible for the Hero and myTouch 3G), Motorola (with its DROID) and Apple (no explanation needed) joining the fray, things are vastly different now. Nokia has also struggled with landing carrier partnerships in America, which are generally a necessity for a phone to become a really hot seller. Americans are trained to expect relatively cheap phones thanks to the 2-year contracts that they are tied to,...
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