Hasta La Gadget!

Governments have laws that protect workers from unethical practices, and some countries even have laws that lay out limitations for companies wanting to stay open past a certain time in order to protect workers. However, it seems that a handful of Apple Stores in France have been found guilty of violating these laws.

A court in Paris has fined Apple 10,000 euros ($13,000) for forcing employees to work past 9 pm. That may seem like crazy talk, but it’s French law that companies aren’t allowed to require employees to work between 9 pm and 6 am unless the company provides social services, or the company is there to maintain economic activity. Basically, the company must have a good excuse in order to stay open late.

Seven out of the 15 Apple Stores located in France were accused of regularly forcing workers to stay until as late as 11 pm to clean and prepare for the next business day. Even though the store closes at 9 pm, workers were required to stay a couple hours later to organize and finish up any work for the day.

The Apple Stores involved in the fine include l’Opera in Paris, Parly 2 in Le Chesnay, Carre Senart in Lieusaint, Val d’Europe in Marne-la-Vallee, Cape Town 3000 in Nice, and Atlantis in Saint Herblain. Come April 16, a higher court in France is expected to provide its input on the case. Along with the 10,000-euro fine, an additional 50,000 euros will be required if Apple is found violating the labor law again.

[via Cult of Mac]

Apple Stores in France fined for forcing employees to work late is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Last week, Apple officially announced a 128GB version of the fourth-generation iPad, set to go on sale today, and the company has kept true to their promise. You can now grab one of these bad boys starting at $799 for the WiFi-only version, or $929 for the WiFi+LTE variant. The WiFi-only model has a 1-3 day ship time, while the LTE model also has a 1-3 day ship time for AT&T, while other carriers have a 3-5 day ship time.

However, we wouldn’t be surprised if those ship times increase ever so slightly within the next couple of days, so if you’re thinking about biting the bullet and want to buy the most expensive, top-of-the-line iPad yet, better hurry and do it today before shipping times increase to weeks instead of days.

Aside from the increase in storage capacity, there’s nothing different about the hardware. It’s still got the same A6X processor running iOS 6.1, as well as a FaceTime HD camera, WiFi a/b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.0 for all your wireless needs. The 128GB model won’t be replacing any of the current size options, but rather just being tacked on at the end.

While many people would scoff at the idea of 128GB in an iPad, we can’t say that not a lot of people would use it. Many professions in the business world would benefit from the extra capacity, including photographers, video editors, contractors, and maybe even universities, but don’t take our word for it — decide for yourself!

128GB iPad now available in the Apple Store is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you were planning on opening a store selling your brand new computer brand with a setup that’s not unlike the Apple Store, you’ll probably want to re-think your strategy starting this week. Apple has officially been granted a trademark protecting their retail store design and layout by the US Patent & Trademark Office this week. The original trademark request application was made all the way back in May of 2010, so whatever you remember about the store design back then that’s survived until now you’ll want to avoid when knocking out your own store in the future.

This fully granted trademark listing includes items such as “oblong table and stools [that are] set below video screens flush mounted on the back wall.” That’s essentially describing the sections many Apple Stores had where people were invited to classes on what their Apple product was capable of and what they could do with it in the future. You won’t see that feature in too many Apple Stores these days as the back is mostly reserved for the Genius Bar or sales counters (where applicable.)

Another feature listed in the trademark is “a clear glass storefront surrounded by a panelled facade.” This joins several other patents and trademarks surrounding the stores interiors that’ve been granted in the past, one of which is a design patent for a floating glass staircase granted back in 2003. You can find the full trademark listing at the USPTO right this minute complete with registration granted date set for January 22nd, 2013.

The original drawing of the store (which you see above) includes a note about what the store is put in place to show: “retail store services featuring computers, computer software, computer peripherals.” This listing goes on to note “mobile phones, consumer electronics, and related accessories, and demonstration of products relating thereto.” This should ring a bell as the patent was first applied for in 2010 and lists mobile phones but not specifically tablet computers – they must simply be included in the overall computer listing in the first place.

Have a peek at the patent and let us know if you find anything else that rings your bells on what Apple now has the rights to. Were you planning on opening your own store soon with an Apple look? Let us know what you plan to do now!

[via Reuters]

Apple Store design and layout granted official US trademark is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Apple have revealed the power of their retail Apple Store locations around the USA and throughout the world with a total of 11 new stores opening up and 396 stores in total in operation today. This update makes for a massive amount of stores owned and operated by Apple themselves, selling mostly their own products – 150 of these stores being outside the USA. This all leads to $6.4 billion dollars in revenue through retail sales alone in this past quarter.

This call included notes that Apple opened up 4 new stores in Greater China as well as 14 stores being moved and expanded because of outgrowing their original space. With 396 stores open today with $16.3 million in revenue coming in per store, business is obviously quite good. Apple has also made it clear that the amount of visitors heading to the stores is jumping upward as well, with 121 million visitors coming in this quarter compared to 110 visitors coming in this quarter one year ago.

When you have a look at the number of stores that are open over the sea and the amount of sales that are also outside the USA, they seem to correlate, but not precisely. With 61 percent of sales sitting outside the USA here in Q1 2013 according to Apple, it would seem that more than 150 of the total nearly 400 stores would be outside the states. Instead we’re seeing the smaller number selling more – or simply the internet taking on a bulk of these sales.

Have a peek at the timeline below for more information on this set of results and the rest of Apple’s Q1 2013 reports in segments. Note that the iPhone sold a massive, beastly amount of units with the iPhone 5 being fully ready for action this quarter, while the iPad has seen the iPad mini appearing amongst its ranks as well. Watch our Apple hub as well for more through the week!

Apple Stores bring $6.4 billion revenue alone in Q1 2013 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Insert a bad Apple Maps joke here: a car just slammed directly through the wall of an Apple store in Lincoln Park, and is now inside the Apple Store. More »