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.

Multiple companies have been testing out same-day delivery in a select number of markets, with Amazon being one of them. However, it looks like they’ll have some competition if recent reports are to be true. It’s said that Google will be creating their own same-day delivery service called Google Shopping Express that will ship goods to customers who ordered them the same day.

According to TechCrunch, one source is saying that Google’s Express service will be $10 to $15 cheaper than Amazon Prime, which means that it’ll be priced around $65 to $70 per year and will offer same-day delivery from brick-and-mortar stores like Walmart and Target, although a complete list of chains wasn’t given, nor is finalized.

It’s not said when the service would be launching, but sources say that internal testing has begun, so if we were to see this new service come to fruition, it could be fairly soon. In an effort to streamline Google’s e-commerce initiative, it’s said that the company will be creating a centralized storefront that will combine Google Shopping and Google Wallet services.

Google recently acquired locker storage provider BufferBox back in December, so it’s very possible that the Mountain View-based company could be planning to debut a locker delivery service that Amazon is currently testing in several markets, where packages are delivered to lockers in stores, and customers can pick them up at any time, similar to a P.O. Box.

[via TechCrunch]

Google rumored to be working on Amazon Prime same-day shipping competitor is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s a hard time to be in the tech-retail sector, a fact that Best Buy knows all too well. The business has announced a fourth quarter net loss of $377 million on revenues of $16.7 billion. Incoming CEO Hubert Joly was upbeat despite the bad numbers, saying that the company’s domestic sales helped offset its failures overseas. At the same time, Best Buy announced that founder Richard Schulze’s attempted bid to buy back his company had failed, as the deadline for his offer expired at the end of February. As such, the company will now concentrate on turning a profit without any Apple store-style reinvention.

Filed under: Misc

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Source: Best Buy, (2)

On Friday, a report surfaced on 9to5Google that Google was making serious plans to open permanent retail locations, and it’s been followed up today by the Wall Street Journal indicating the same thing. Both cite unnamed sources, who claim that the company wants to provide space for customers to try out its Nexus devices, software like the Chrome browser and unnamed upcoming products. The rumors differ slightly on potential timeframe, with the initial one suggesting we could see shops open by the holidays this year, while the WSJ indicates a wider timeframe with the possibility that stores may not launch this year at all. Google’s already opened a few pop-up shop temporary locations at airports and in other stores, like the one pictured above in the UK.

As Google moves further into hardware the potential of Apple-style branded physical stores grows, whether just to sell the phones and tablets we’ve seen so far or alongside more secretive projects like that rumored “X Phone.” Also, once moonshot attempts like Project Glass and self-driving cars hit, having trained retail staff for hands-on demos may be just what the doctor ordered for skeptics. There’s no word on where these stores may appear of course, but if you spot any darkened storefronts in your local mall please drop a line in our tips inbox, along with its distance from the nearest Sbarro — we hear Googlers loves Sbarro.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google

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Source: 9to5Google, Wall Street Journal

Rumor has it that Google will be opening up its own retail stores by the end of this year. Google will be following both Apple and Samsung by giving consumers a place where they can get a hands-on feel for its products. You can get a feel for the latest Nexus device or Chromebook before you jump the gun and buy them. Google is hoping that by offering this hands-on experience, it would be able to get more consumers to purchase its products, and hopefully get more demand for its upcoming products.

Considering that this is Google, we can expect their retail stores to be quite the spectacle. The store will probably be overly colorful and lively, which would be perfect for attracting the attention of curious customers. Inside you will be greeted by well-trained Google employees who will act as your in-person Google search engine (for all things Google).

The rumors state that Google came up with the idea of launching its own retail stores because it needed a way to give consumers a hands-on feel for their new Project Glass product. Google figured that consumers are more likely to purchase the Project Glass product when they get to try it out first-hand to see if its worth the hype. I mean, the Google name may be enough to sell Project Glass to the tech community, but it may not be convincing enough for the average consumer.

We hope that the Google retail stores become a reality, because it would be great to be able to try out products like the Nexus 4, or the Nexus 10 before we hand all of our money over to Google. Also, if Google keeps the prices of their products the same as the prices in the Play store, we can expect the Google retail store to be a big hit.

[via Android Community]

Google retail stores coming to a place near you is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.