Think there'll be an apple store in Ireland?

Turtle-TM

Don't hold your breath.....

I emailed Phil Schiller, in lieu of there being no retail chief at the moment, wondering if we here in Ireland are to expect an apple store, or do we need to darken the doors of pc world, and even worse...tesco.

Well I got a reply from Mark Rogers, the MD of apple Europe, it was a lengthy enough email (not a Steve jobs one liner) but he says amongst other things

"my team run the UK and Ireland business, and whilst at this point we have no plans for opening our own retail stores in Ireland we are keen to ensure that the customers there get a good experience when buying our products"

He talks about the premium resellers (compub) and the store in store in pc world.
I've had good and bad experiences with pc world, if the main apple staff member is there its good, if its just another employee it's bad! My main gripe was with the way they sell within tesco, I even tried to buy an iPad from someone in tesco just to see what it was like...it wasn't good!

So looks like there won't be an apple store here within the next 5 years I imagine. At least online shipping comes quick and returns are easy!

boreder

They are concentrating on the emerging markets. It's pretty simple economics. Our economy is in the pan, the money isn't here to make it worth their while.

They're opening stores in places like Turkey and Brazil, where the economy is on the way up.

kodoherty93

They want to open a store here but they are very very selective about where they open a store and always open them in most expensive streets in a city Eg apple in Oxford street in London and Fifth Av. NYC.

They wanted to open one in Dublin 2 and the street had to be Grafton street and they choose the AIB branch when theyre was rumours AIB was selling it for €40 million as it was being sold as they had just been bailed out. As the AIB branch is one of the largest buildings on Grafton Street and therefore ideal for an Apple store. But AIB never sold so they never opened a store. But like you can buy an Apple in every major electronic store in Dublin so whats the point of opening really.

Also Dublin isnt "to small for one" as there is one in Belfast which isnt a major city realistically

Piliger

I think there is something dodgy about the Apple setup here, and wonder if the Glanmire setup is still part of the structure. If so then it is no surprise as the Glanmire setup screwed up all Apple marketing here for years (imho)

As a result we are left with a fragmented setup - with mini Apple shops in Arnotts, PCWorld, etc. etc. and of course Compu b. The staff in Arnotts are woeful and those in PCWorld are the usual PCWorld standard, more familiar with the prices than the devices.

boreder

kodoherty93 wrote: »

Also Dublin isnt "to small for one" as there is one in Belfast which isnt a major city realistically

Belfast is part of the UK. There's a decent presence of Apple Retail stores in the UK, and that's why Belfast has one.

Piliger wrote: »

I think there is something dodgy about the Apple setup here, and wonder if the Glanmire setup is still part of the structure. If so then it is no surprise as the Glanmire setup screwed up all Apple marketing here for years (imho)

As a result we are left with a fragmented setup - with mini Apple shops in Arnotts, PCWorld, etc. etc. and of course Compu b. The staff in Arnotts are woeful and those in PCWorld are the usual PCWorld standard, more familiar with the prices than the devices.

The Apple European HQ is in Cork (though not in Glanmire!) and is not responsible for Ireland solely, there's 3,500 odd people working there looking after the entire european market.

Ireland gets the same marketing as anywhere else (without retail stores), as far as I can tell.

Turtle-TM

While I'm not 100% sure exactly what is run out of the offices in cork, they also have a major office in London, where the head of apple Europe is, it's just behind the regent street store in London.

boreder

Turtle-TM wrote: »

While I'm not 100% sure exactly what is run out of the offices in cork, they also have a major office in London, where the head of apple Europe is, it's just behind the regent street store in London.

The European HQ is in Cork.

Here's the 'UK' contact page... http://www.apple.com/uk/contact/ - the right hand side is the corporate contact... if you change the 'uk' part of the link to de (Germany), fr (France) etc, it stays the same.

Savman

CompuB are sufficient IMHO. The Apple Stores don't offer the average punter anything extra other than standing around geeking over the newest gadget. Between the Apple Online store and the efforts of Compu B, I think we are well covered for an island of our size.

ResearchWill

Turtle-TM wrote: »

While I'm not 100% sure exactly what is run out of the offices in cork, they also have a major office in London, where the head of apple Europe is, it's just behind the regent street store in London.

Apple's head office in Europe is Cork and has been since 1975 http://www.tuaw.com/2012/04/28/irish-prime-minister-visits-apples-european-headquarters/

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=22533495

But you are correct the VP Europe, Middle East, India and Africa is based in London as far as I know. Cork has about 3500 staff.

mad muffin

Savman wrote: »

CompuB are sufficient IMHO. The Apple Stores don't offer the average punter anything extra other than standing around geeking over the newest gadget. Between the Apple Online store and the efforts of Compu B, I think we are well covered for an island of our size.

Seriously? You have no idea.

For one there is the Genius Bar. Get your problems looked at and defective merchandise swapped.

You can buy iPhones.

Piliger

ResearchWill wrote: »

Apple's head office in Europe is Cork and has been since 1975 http://www.tuaw.com/2012/04/28/irish-prime-minister-visits-apples-european-headquarters/

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=22533495

But you are correct the VP Europe, Middle East, India and Africa is based in London as far as I know. Cork has about 3500 staff.

Historically there was an Irish management group separate from London. I had a ghastly business interaction with them years ago, and I suspect they still have a hand in the irish market. Hence the mess.

Piliger

Savman wrote: »

CompuB are sufficient IMHO. The Apple Stores don't offer the average punter anything extra other than standing around geeking over the newest gadget. Between the Apple Online store and the efforts of Compu B, I think we are well covered for an island of our size.

You have to be kidding. Have you ever spent time in the London or US Apple Stores ? The staff an services are amazing ! We have NO equivalent ... or even anything close.

Savman

Piliger wrote: »

You have to be kidding. Have you ever spent time in the London or US Apple Stores ? The staff an services are amazing ! We have NO equivalent ... or even anything close.

Yep been to a few in both the US and UK, don't see the point personally.

NetNinja

Genius Bar is free in Apple stores.

Compub have their "xpert Bar" for which they charge silly money for basic help eg €19 to restore an Ios device!
http://compub.com/support/apple-authorised-service-provider/

I had a relative who went into Compub Grafton St. with an ipod touch that had poor battery life. The "xpert" there said that it needed a replacment battery. They couldn't do the replacement!? They suggested he go to a nearby phone shop for the repair!

Luckily the guy in the shop suggested he try some basic battery.care like apple advises, drain battery once a month to recalibrate etc. Basic stuff that Compub should have suggested.

Unfortunatly I don't know the name of the phone shop but fair play to the guy working there for not just taking the money for an unneeded battery replacement.

I wish we had a "real" Apple store here.

Piliger

NetNinja wrote: »

I wish we had a "real" Apple store here.

Here here.