And it really emphasizes the power and genius of Apple's retail strategy. iPhone would be a very different story if they were dependent of at&t and other 3rd party retailers.
If european retail can do anything close to what retail has done in the US, there is yet another growth driver for Apple. Wow.
On one hand, growing a business in a slow and steady manner is very prudent.
However, it seems a little crazy to be growing Apple retail as slowly as they are.
The general rule is to start slow, perfect the concept and then grow like crazy.
Apple stores drive lots of revenue and profit - there should easily be a thousand stores worldwide (not the 200 that we have now).
However, it seems a little crazy to be growing Apple retail as slowly as they are.
I disagree. It may be true for traditional retailer, but Apple already has presence in other stores too and it must balance expanding its own stores vs. not destroying its relationships with its partners. Moreover, there is a certain expectation over an Apple Store (as in location, architecture, etc.), so Apple can't carelessly choose a place and build a store. Therefore, it makes more sense for Apple to take its time so that every store maximizes the profit and exposure to Apple products. There is no need to be in a hurry when it already has traditional retailers and an online store selling its products already.
Commenting by HaloScan
