regent street
iPhone 4 launch day line watch (updated)
From the London store Welcome to the latest installment of our annual tradition: the iPhone launch day queue experience in pictorial form.
iPhone 4 launch day line watch
Welcome to the latest installment of our annual tradition: the iPhone launch day queue experience in pictorial form. London’s getting the party started early (not as early as some , admittedly) with a sizable crowd turning the corner from the Apple Store at Regent Street, but we’ll keep this post updated with imagery from all over the place
Nokia confirms New York and Chicago flagship stores are closing in early 2010
No surprises here, but Nokia has confirmed a Nokia Experts report today that the company will be shutting down its North American flagship stores in New York and Chicago, leaning on big boxes and carriers to handle the in-store experiences going forward. Considering the fractional market presence Nokia has in the States compared to the UK — where it’s closing its Regent Street location — the move comes as no shock, but it’s still a shame to see these really attractive, high-tech hero locations close down. The way we saw it, these stores were never about sales; they were about exposing Nokia to the public and vice versa in a cool, hip environment, and regardless of how you feel about the company’s handsets, they’d effectively accomplished that with the flagship strategy.
Nokia shuttering London flagship store
We’re not sure exactly what this means for the rest of the world’s nine Nokia flagship stores, but it’s been announced that Nokia will be pulling out of its prominent Regent Street location in London as it apparently prepares for a retail revamp going into early 2010. Weak foot traffic is cited as the main reason for the closure, and if Nokia can’t generate sales in the heart of one of its strongholds — Western Europe — we can’t imagine that this bodes well for the other flagships either, all of which were designed and built around a high-tech, pricey theme (the Regent Street store alone was rumored to run Nokia a cool ?4 million, about $6.5 million, to open) that likely drags on the company’s bottom line quarter after quarter. Then again, we’d assumed that these stores were built to foster mindshare, not necessarily to contribute euro day in and day out — but this is probably why we’re not executives at a major phone manufacturer
