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Apple Schedules Extended Retail Meetings May 22nd

Training

It is probably training for iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion so the employers will be ready for all the questions and customer support when they are released.
 
May 22nd is a Sunday. No self-respecting retailer is going to release anything on a Sunday. The entire point of releasing on a weekday is to get into the news cycle. Most news organizations have a scaled-down staff on the weekends. Every piece of Mac hardware ever has been released on a weekday. As I recall, some OSs and iOS devices were released on a Friday evening.

There's zero chance they will be releasing Lion or anything having to do with Lion until it can be publicly previewed at WWDC. The retail store employees won't get to see it nor will they receive any training until after it has been unveiled to the public.

But I assure you, there's no chance of a media event or even a product release on a Sunday.

The only thing that's remotely feasable would be some sort of MobileMe revamp, but again, I'd see that more likely happening on a Monday.

My guess is that it's just changing out promotions for the Summer season. Maybe we'll see some pricing updates which could account for the cellphone secrecy.

And for that matter, BGR could even be wrong about the details.
 
vant said:
This is not a normal 'overnight'. Nor is this a normal meeting.

1. This overnight includes more employees than normal. This overnight also includes more hours. The iPad 2 launch overnight had very few employees, no black curtains during the night, and no cell phones taken away.

2. This meeting had an one week notice. That is not normal at all. Most 'all-hands' meetings have an one month notice.
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Ryth said:
Agreed. The locking up of all phones, NDA and new hardware suggests much bigger.

This is most likely the pre-reveal of Lion and the next set of Pro Products, possibly the new Mac Pro.

I've seen them prep for the back to school events when walking by the Apple Store in Clarendon...they don't black out the windows or anything of the sort for that and this is way too early for it. BTS doesn't happen till early/mid july in the stores.

Something 'big' is coming.
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I am so excited!!! Stuff like this is what really gets me going!


Tones2 said:
Apple fanaticism once again in play here. :)

This will be nothing. Apple doesn't operate this way for major announcements. They would announce at an event and set a day for release. No time for that here.

Tony
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and they wouldn't announce the verizon iPhone at a Verizon media event



TheUndertow said:
/rolls dice for the Apple Gaming Console (Apple TV's Trojan....horse)
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It is a possibility
 
How can you miss the obvious?

In response to the heavy and persistent demands of their users, Apple is going into the sales and installation of black drapes.

Who says they don't listen? :D
 
MacRumors said:
- During the overnight shift, it's going to be required that employees lock cell phones in the main office.
Click to expand...
When the cellphones are handed back, anyone receiving back their Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7 or Pre will be handed an extra piece of paper - a pink slip!
 
SwiftLives said:
May 22nd is a Sunday. No self-respecting retailer is going to release anything on a Sunday. The entire point of releasing on a weekday is to get into the news cycle. Most news organizations have a scaled-down staff on the weekends. Every piece of Mac hardware ever has been released on a weekday. As I recall, some OSs and iOS devices were released on a Friday evening.

There's zero chance they will be releasing Lion or anything having to do with Lion until it can be publicly previewed at WWDC. The retail store employees won't get to see it nor will they receive any training until after it has been unveiled to the public.

But I assure you, there's no chance of a media event or even a product release on a Sunday.

The only thing that's remotely feasable would be some sort of MobileMe revamp, but again, I'd see that more likely happening on a Monday.

My guess is that it's just changing out promotions for the Summer season. Maybe we'll see some pricing updates which could account for the cellphone secrecy.

And for that matter, BGR could even be wrong about the details.
Click to expand...


Well said but I do enjoy watching the members here froth at the mouth about all the things it won't be. Going to be an awful lot of disappointed folks come Sunday.

I think this is something about Apple 10th anniversary in retail.
 
My Guess

Going with a celebration of 10 years for the Apple store by releasing the iCloud service (which hopefully includes a MobileMe revamp to free).

Lion and iOS 5 seem like WWDC content.

Should be an interesting week when you kick it off with a rumor like this. :)
 
Speculate away, but Apple store employees are usually hearing about a new product as it's publicly announced and given a super fast training on a product.

It's standard in retail to have store meetings on Sundays because they are the shortest business day, and it's often standard to have up to 2 meetings to touch all employees working or not, and Apple stores have a large number of employees for their size.

There was a similar story a few months ago, and it turned out to be about changes to customer programs and not products. Typically companies do this at the beginning of each season, and it's the beginning of a new season!

Seriously, I hate these stories getting everyone pumped up for what is usually nothing. Do you know when retail employees learned about the first iPhone? Yeah, when the keynote was live. Do you know when employees learn about any new product? The same time we do, because with that large a number of retail employees, keeping a secret wouldn't be possible. Store managers for Apple are not even told. Ask an Apple retail employee! (A real one, not some doosh bag claiming to be one.)

If it is a product of any kind, it will be very minor, at best software that requires a slightly longer lead time than hardware. After the disastrous launch of MobileMe I could see Apple taking extra steps, or maybe a new iWork. However, the new iLife was not made available to retail employees until it was publicly announced, and that was several programs not just one. I'm betting on a promotion of some kind
 
They only need 1 back end guy, so odds are good that it wont be a new physical product. That would be too much new stuff for 1 guy to stock by himself.
 
SwiftLives said:
My guess is that it's just changing out promotions for the Summer season. Maybe we'll see some pricing updates which could account for the cellphone secrecy.
Click to expand...

Pricing is a definite, and the yearly Back-To-School specials.

Yes, Apple's weathered the Economic Storm, but how long can they last? Especially with Android starting to surpass their iPhone sales, as well as their computers being still on the high-priced side.

Could be an announcement regarding that their computes are going to ARM chips... ;)
 
9to5mac has some more info on this. But I don't get it? Sure have a 10th anniversary event, launch 10th anniversary products. But it's the 10th anniversary of the Apple stores, not Apple. So I only see this as an excuse to throw a celebration, as to what we will see who knows??
I think we will just see special offers, maybe special edition hardware.
 
Now this is interesting given the potential of a new Apple product coming shortly before WWDC. :apple:

It brings to mind one of Apples most memorable introductions: that of the original iMac G3 way back in 1998. Remember when Steve introduced the iMac in early May 1998, with the promise to deliver the product in mid-August of that year? Just about a week later came WWDC riding on the hype that was generated by that new revolutionary product, and during the event Steve and the rest of the team introduced Apples plan for a modern operating system: that was when Carbon was introduced, and the announcement of a gradual transformation from Classic MacOS to MacOS X.

This years WWDC is widely reported to be software centric: as we await the introduction of iOS 5 and MacOS X 10.7, and its also anticipated that no iPhone 5 will be announced. As usual, nothing is expected on the iPod/music front until September. Personally I don't think hardware releases that included MBAs, MPros (unless its a major redesign?), displays, ... etc would warrant this level of preparations :-/ iCloud? Perhaps. If Apple is planning something, I'd say perhaps its something novel: maybe a (non-Mac?) MacOS X device :confused: A super-tablet of some sort - I doubt it given what Steve said during last Octobers event when he introduced Lion ???

No matter what, its fun to wait :p
 
Last edited:
Nick412 said:
It is probably training for iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion so the employers will be ready for all the questions and customer support when they are released.
Click to expand...

why do they need black curtains to train, their employees about something that isn't coming out for awhile, and why take their phones? surely they will not keep their employees held captive in the apple store basement until, iOS 5/Lion launches
 
SwiftLives said:
May 22nd is a Sunday. No self-respecting retailer is going to release anything on a Sunday. The entire point of releasing on a weekday is to get into the news cycle. Most news organizations have a scaled-down staff on the weekends. Every piece of Mac hardware ever has been released on a weekday. As I recall, some OSs and iOS devices were released on a Friday evening.

There's zero chance they will be releasing Lion or anything having to do with Lion until it can be publicly previewed at WWDC. The retail store employees won't get to see it nor will they receive any training until after it has been unveiled to the public.

But I assure you, there's no chance of a media event or even a product release on a Sunday.

The only thing that's remotely feasable would be some sort of MobileMe revamp, but again, I'd see that more likely happening on a Monday.

My guess is that it's just changing out promotions for the Summer season. Maybe we'll see some pricing updates which could account for the cellphone secrecy.

And for that matter, BGR could even be wrong about the details.
Click to expand...


MobileMe revamp and/or pricing updates IS something BIG!
nothing to disappointed of!!
 
You've heard it here first...

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A day late. Jesus is coming for me the day before, I know this, there's a flier in my mailbox telling me so. :p
 
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