Apple stores saw 300 million visits last year, there are 311 million in the United States

From Jim Dalrymple of The Loop: According to Apple, the company has seen almost 300 million worldwide visitors so far in its fiscal 2012…To give you some type of comparison, by July 2011, the population of the United States was estimated to be 311 million people. There is also an interesting data point from Apple’s …

GameStop makes a huge pivot to Apple retailer – as retail video game industry dies

One of the last holdouts retail, video games, looks like it too will disappear. The biggest player, GameStop, who controls nearly two-thirds of the market, has been able to stay alive by pushing used games and devices. Last year the company earned $9.55 billion, 46% of which came from used items. Unfortunately, that cannot sustain …

Amazon’s ambitious new plan for same-day delivery – and how it will destroy retail

But now Amazon has a new game. Now that it has agreed to collect sales taxes, the company can legally set up warehouses right inside some of the largest metropolitan areas in the nation. Why would it want to do that? Because Amazon’s new goal is to get stuff to you immediately—as soon as a …

Apple goes on hiring spree in Israel, Ireland (to start domination of Europe?)

Apple is to hire 500 people in Ireland. The consumer electronics giant will increase the headcount at its European headquarters in the southern city of Cork over the next 18 months from 2,800 at present, a spokesman for the company said. He said the jobs would “support our growing business across Europe.” The Cork operation provides …

Amazon has more than tripled it’s workforce since the recession began (and ended)

Amazon.com added 9,400 employees to its payroll in the quarter ended March 31. That’s the biggest single quarter of headcount growth in Amazon’s history. The company now employs 65,600 full- and part-time workers worldwide. With its current trajectory, Amazon is rapidly approaching Microsoft in size. Microsoft employs more than 93,000 but hasn’t been growing as …

Newspapers lose $25 billion in revenue – where did it go?

US newspaper publishers’ hopes that advertising revenues might be about to stabilise have been dashed by several pieces of research. An analysis of data predicts that newspapers will achieve a new low in ad sales for 2011, with revenues expected to come in at about $24 billion this year (2011) – down from the record …

The retail recession

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the bankruptcy of Borders Bookstores and the repercussions it could have. Add in Blockbuster and Tower records and collectively the retail industry for music, movies, and books is disappearing. Well, you might be able to add clothing stores to that list. A rash of closings here in Orange …