Filed under: Retail

Rio de Janeiro may have picked up the 2016 Olympics, but they won't be getting an Apple store. According to MacMagazine Brazil, the city's Secretary of Heritage emailed Steve Jobs personally to ask if there were any plans to start up an Apple store in the city. Jobs replied back in the negative, citing high taxes on imports in the area and saying that "many [other] high-tech companies feel that way."

Apple has no stores at all in Mexico or Central or South America. Almost all foreign countries apply import tariffs to products manufactured elsewhere, but apparently charges in those countries are too high for Jobs to be interested. He said that the high charge "makes it very unattractive to invest in the country." Some manufacturers will lower their retail prices to a certain country in an attempt to dodge higher tariffs on more expensive goods (taking a small cut on profits in order to avoid paying high fees), but obviously Apple, as a premium manufacturer, would rather not get involved if it means lowering their prices. So, for the moment, Brazil will have to go without an Apple Store.

[Thanks, Silvio Sousa Cabra!]

Yes, that's 10pm Eastern DAYLIGHT Time; hopefully by now you've worked out exactly what time it is where you are so you can show up on time instead of coming in at the end. (Thanks, cell phone with automatically updated clock!) Tonight's show will also include the debut of a TUAW challenge! What kind of challenge? Tune in to find out!

While you're there, I'm sure we can find some other Apple news to discuss this evening. I'm sure if we look really hard there is some interesting tidbit out there for all of us to chat about...

Unlike those customer service recordings that try to convince you, your call really IS important to us. Without the audience, we are just talking to ourselves, and what fun would that be? To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantage of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then!

In the wake of yesterday's iPad sales estimates of 50K in the first couple of hours (now revised by Silicon Alley Insider and Apple 2.0 to about 91,000 in the first six hours), we have an unconfirmed but plausible number from inside the retail stores. According to our source, the in-store pickup reservation count differential between the start of the day and closing time was about 41,000; that represents reservations for the WiFi iPad only.

If you've got a pickup reservation and you happen to know your ID number for it -- and you made your reservation either at the very beginning of the day yesterday, or at the very end of the day -- let us know in the comments and we'll start doing some arithmetic. We'll also try to cross-confirm this number with other little birdies from the retail front. Update: Looks like there's no tracking info on the registration emails. Drat.

Update #2: Separate confirmation on the estimate for Saturday & further counts lead us toward about 50,000 reservations during the course of the weekend.

According to MacDailyNews, shoppers who placed iPad pre-orders this morning are being told by Apple Store employees that demand could affect their plans for in-store pickup.

It seems that several customers ordered iPads this morning, opting for at-home delivery. For whatever reason, they later changed their minds and opted for in-store pickup. That's when things got tricky.

When requesting the switch, those customers are being told that their existing orders will have to be cancelled and new in-store orders placed. However, the employees warn, demand for the iPad has been so "overwhelming" today that they can no longer guarantee that an in-store pickup order will be available on April 3rd if placed at this late hour.

As of this writing, the online Apple Store notes that Wi-Fi iPads ordered today will be able for pickup at Apple Retail Store "...between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on April 3."

In other words: Selling like hotcakes.

The early adopters are out in force today. Based on analysis from Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog & the investors of the AAPL board on Investor Village, it seems that as many as 50,000 iPads were pre-ordered in its first two hours of availability this morning. That's pretty staggering demand, especially considering that on a typical day Apple only receives an average of 15,000 online orders for all products combined.

Naturally, we have no way of knowing if these numbers are exact as of yet. The numbers reflect over 50,000 orders placed in two hours, and the percentage of those that are iPad orders isn't clear. Considering that the iPad was just made available for pre-order today, however, and the 15K daily average noted above, it's likely the majority of orders placed this morning were indeed for the iPad. Additionally, the numbers only reflect the number of orders placed, not the number of units ordered; taken with the 2-pad maximum for today's pre-orders, the data does suggest that somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 iPad pre-orders were placed within two hours of its availability.

This suggests a huge demand for the device, at least among early adopters. It will be very interesting to see if this trend is repeated once the iPad is actually available in stores.

One interesting note: even if all 50,000 of those iPads were the $499 version (which is very unlikely), based on iSuppli's analysis of that unit's build cost, it means Apple gained nearly $13.5 million in revenue profit from the iPad alone in a mere two hours -- and that's the bare minimum. Once you factor in all the other models and their higher prices, the numbers climb by several million dollars. Even for a company with a market cap in excess of $205 billion, that's still pretty amazing performance.

[h/t MacRumors]

With iPad preorders finally available, at least for USians, I was relieved to place my order for an 16 GB iPad, due to be delivered on or after April 3rd.

Along with a bluetooth keyboard (which I've been meaning to pick up for some time now), a case, and taxes, the whole kit & kaboodle came to about $650 for me.

I declined AppleCare for the moment, and am now feeling a little conflicted. At $99 for two years of coverage, it seemed a little steep. However, AppleCare has saved me in the past; it's something I've meant to buy on less robust items and earlier technology. I'm probably going to end up adding it on, although please feel free to convince me otherwise in the comments.

I kept with my decision to go with the 16GB unit for now. I may end up passing the unit along to family once I'm ready to upgrade to a better system, but I do need a unit as soon as possible for work. Out of the accessories on offer, I felt that the case was going to be really handy for day-to-day use.

I passed on the dock (both the regular and keyboard varieties; I have enough charging desk space without), the USB power adapter (I've got plenty left-over from iPhones, along with Apple-branded cables), the VGA adapter (my existing component cable should work for the moment, but it's something I'll likely pick up at a later date), and the MobileMe membership (do I even need to justify that decision?). None of these seemed compelling enough for immediate pre-order. Interestingly, Apple does not seem to offer any engraving options for the iPad yet, although I'm guessing they will at some point.

So what did you end up ordering? Did you go for one of the overseas ordering work-arounds that have been posted around the 'net? What size did you buy and why? Did you pick up accessories? If so, which ones did you decide on and what motivated that decision?

Share your pre-order details in the comments!

This feature over at GigaOM has quite a few interesting insights about the iTunes LP program -- while Apple sells it wholeheartedly as "the visual experience of the record album," it appears the story behind the story is not quite so clean. According to an anonymous source in the industry (note, not Apple themselves), the service didn't come from Cupertino. Instead, it was designed by record companies, and agreed to by Apple as a "concession" to "make a gesture in favor of album sales." The piece also states that Apple subsidized the creation of the first few "LPs," some of which cost up to $60,000 to assemble and license.

As you might expect with any other less-than-popular product at Apple, iTunes LP isn't exactly being thrown into the spotlight, either. While a much more visual music experience would be perfect for the iPad, GigaOM notes that it didn't even merit a mention by Jobs at the iPad announcement. It's certainly possible that iTunes LP could find a new home in the future, if bands really get behind the service and make their own (a few have, as noted, but the cost seems pretty prohibitive, especially if sales aren't that impressive), but from what this anonymous source says, the LP service is a record company concession that hasn't paid off for Apple even in the way its originators hoped.

[via iPodNN]

The survey included 3,171 consumers; it also indicates that for people planning on buying an e-reader in the next 90 days, 40% said they will buy an iPad for that purpose. 48% of those surveyed said they would buy a Kindle, 6% would opt for the Barnes & Noble Nook. Only 1 percent were interested in a Sony Reader.

That kind of dramatic shift in the market is likely to be disruptive if the numbers hold up. The iPad is unlike any device offered to consumers (except for its popular little siblings the iPhone and iPod touch), and usually getting people to buy something new can be tough sledding. Even the iPhone was a direct enhancement of existing cell phones with a much better interface and media features.

The news may not be all rosy for Apple. 1 in 4 potential buyers say they will likely put other Apple purchases on hold because of their iPad purchase.

Ten days ago we reported that eBay seller heylookitskibbe was auctioning a stair from the staircase from the Fifth Avenue Apple retail store in New York. Shortly after our report, the stuff hit the fan.

Heylookitskibbe turned out to be former Apple employee, Mark Burstiner. The stair, made by Seele GmbH exclusively for Apple, was being replaced by Seele employees when Burstiner asked if he could have it. They gave the 250 pound stair to him, which he kept for a year before auctioning it. When Seele GmbH saw the news that the stair was on eBay they claimed ownership of the stair and demand that the auction be taken down and the stair returned to them. Burstiner removed the auction but refused to return the stair, claiming that it had become his property.

Yesterday we reported that, despite the legal threats, the auction was back on eBay. The auction has now come to an end with Burstiner raking in $9950 for little more than a chunk of glass thousands of people have walked on. The starting bid was $700 with a Buy It Now price of $2500.

The announcement of the iBookstore wasn't particularly surprising -- analysts had expected such a move from Apple for months. What was somewhat surprising was that as of the initial announcement of the iPad and its tie-in with the iBookstore, there were no announced plans for international versions of Apple's e-book marketplace. Up until today, the only officially announced venue for the iBookstore has been the United States.

According to MacRumors, a new job listing has been posted on Apple's website for "Manager, iBooks Asia Pacific & Canada." Part of the managerial position's role includes being "the primary person responsible for building the book business in Asia Pacific and Canada" -- for now, "Asia Pacific" is only loosely defined as "Australia, New Zealand, and other countries." It stands to reason that Apple will eventually want to expand its iBookstore to all markets currently served by the iTunes Store, but as MacRumors notes, no job postings have yet appeared for Europe, Asia, or other regions.

Considering how prohibitively expensive paper books are here in New Zealand, I'm greatly looking forward to the launch of the iBookstore. In the US, ebooks generally aren't priced competitively compared to their paper cousins (something I've never been able to comprehend), but in the South Pacific, ebooks are very attractive alternatives to paperbacks, which can cost upwards of NZ$20 each. Once the iBookstore makes it down here, Apple has at least one guaranteed customer -- as long as the iBookstore isn't restricted solely to the iPad, that is.

[Via MacRumors]

John Siracusa drew my attention to an article by Macmillan CEO John Sargent on the agency model, availability and price, in which he says that the company actually plans to keep their hardcover/paperback separation even while selling ebooks. While new hardcover ebooks will sell for $14.99 and $12.99 ("a tremendous discount from the price of the printed hardcover books"), the company will aim to sell "ebook editions of paperback new releases" for as low as $6.99. As Siracusa goes on to say, "now let us all sit back and ponder the concept of 'paperback' and 'hardcover' ebooks."

Macmillan is sticking with an old pricing scheme even in a brand new marketplace. Just what exactly makes the difference between a "hardcover ebook" and a "paperback ebook"? Read on to find out.

A former Apple Store employee has defied legal threats and re-listed a broken stair on Ebay.

In 2008, three broken stairs were removed from the spiral staircase in the Fifth Avenue Apple retail store in New York. Former employee Mark Burstiner asked the Seele GmbH employees who were hauling them away if he could have one, and they said yes, according to Mark's story on Gizmodo. After storing it at his place for a while, he decided to put it up for auction on Ebay.

Shortly thereafter, Seele contacted Mark to claim ownership of the stair and demand that the auction be taken down and the stair returned to them. Mark removed the auction but refused to return the stair, claiming that it had become his property.

Now, the Ebay listing is back up. As of this writing, the bid is at US$9,9500. It's only a 3-day auction, so get your bid in early. Also be aware that the winner will take home a massive glass step (it weighs more than 200lbs) as well as Seele's ire -- they still claim ownership of the stair. Buyer beware, indeed.

[Via ifoapplestore]

While this may sound like an odd pastime, for some Olympic fans pin collecting is a huge deal. The official Vancouver 2010 website store lists 459 different pins for collecting and trading with others, but those aren't all of the pins that fans will find. Often, local businesses or organizations will make their own pins to give away or sell, and at these Winter Games, Apple joined in on the fun.

TUAW reader Alan Waite was in Vancouver earlier in the week to attend the Games and visited the Apple Store at Pacific Centre. Much to his surprise, Apple was giving away a limited edition set of pins (see photo above) to store visitors to commemorate the event. Very classy, Apple! Waite noted that the Apple Store at Oakridge Centre had a special red iPod nano pin with the Canadian maple leaf on the screen.

Custom pins like these aren't as common as the mass-market versions sold by the official Olympics website, so Alan not only has cool memorabilia from the 2010 Winter Games, but a relatively rare piece of swag as well.

Website Geeky Gadgets has reported a tip they received on UK iPad pricing. Apple's UK website still lists the cost in US dollars with the disclaimer, "Please note, pricing is in US dollars. International pricing will be announced at a later date."

According to Geeky Gadgets' unconfirmed source, the iPad will be priced as follows when it's launched across the pond:

• The 16GB Wi-Fi will be £389
• The 32GB Wi-Fi model will be £439
• The 64GB Wi-Fi model will be £489

It should be noted that the source didn't have any pricing information on the Wi-Fi + 3G model, and further suggested that the UK launch date for the iPad is more likely to be in April rather than March.

As of this writing, those prices put the UK version at a slightly higher cost than those in the US, as £389 is approximately $594.89 (the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad will sell for US$499). This is all completely unsubstantiated, of course, so treat it accordingly.

Thanks, Roland!