back to article Apple slices retail staff as sales slide

Apple has cut the number of full-time retail staff it employs from 15,600 to 14,000 as sales growth slowed in the second quarter of 2009. According to an SEC filing Apple's retail sales grew by $20m, or one per cent, in the second quarter of fiscal 2009 compared to the same period of 2008. iPhone and Macbook sales made up most …

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  1. ffrankmccaffery

    sweet

    and hopefully thisll be the first of many

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    No cuts, just seasonal

    Most retailers take on staff at their busy times (Xmas and Thanksgiving) then let them go once the rush is over. Apple is no exception. This is a desperate no-story.

  3. A. H. O. Thabeth

    @ ffrankmccaffery

    You are happy that people are losing their jobs?

    Nice one FFrank!

  4. Gareth Irwin

    Ffrankmccaffery

    Are you 12 or something? thats peoples lives you are taking the piss out of.

  5. NoCo37
    Thumb Down

    @No cuts, just seasonal

    That line of thought would be fair if it was in January or February.

  6. John Molloy

    Well done ffrank

    Let us know how you feel when YOUR job is on the line.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    @ffrank...

    What a NASTY thing to say! What a silly little boy you are! It's sad that ANYBODY should loose their job, wheter they work for Microsoft, Apple, Sun, or whoever. I hope that you loose yours...

    So thats approximately 6 people PER store just to put some perspective on things, still why change "journalsitic" style, eh Reg? When were you bought by the Daily Express Group?

  8. B

    @ffrank

    I doubt this story is even true, but no, this is not the first of many. Apple is rolling and for good reason, they're making better products. Let go of the hate.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Halo

    rong

    rong. appil is supa specal oresum. onli microwsof iz goin out of bizniz.

    kthnxbi

  10. Inachu
    Thumb Up

    I stopped going

    I stopped going when they starting making appointments mandatory.

    We need that Comcast lady to show up in the Apple store and wave her hammer around a few times.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Other possibilities...

    'Equivalent full time staff hours' is an accounting procedure to help grasp the likely bill in wages, and does not record the actual number of workers that make up those hours worked. So.... a drop in this figure could mean that staff are working fewer hours, or that there are indeed fewer staff. Or combinations thereof.

    "An assumption is a conveniently tempting platform from which to jump to a conclusion. It's usually further than you think."

  12. elder norm

    wrong as usual

    I believe if you ready closely you will see that these are not people but people hour equivalents. In other words if Apple cuts back on hours, the numbers drop. Also note that its before the holidays and after the holidays. Takes a real genius to know that you have more store hours during the holidays than after....

    PS. note that last year same time Apple reported 12,000 mhe units and 14,000 this year. More people or just super overtime????

    Brains on you folks. And remember to read the words.... they are important. :-)

    Just a thought.

    en

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Less than 10% OS market and dropping

    No wonder the stores are suffering.

  14. Alexis Vallance
    Thumb Down

    Price rises

    Nothing to do with hiking prices by about £200 per Mac?

    Oh no, of course not.

  15. Howard Hanek
    Gates Horns

    Apple Slices Retail Staff

    We'll maybe with all the redundant retail space it could actually sell apples and apple products. You know - pies, cobbler, dumplings - candy apples. It would mean having to retrain the staff to know what Brown Betty meant or a Macintosh other than an old doorstop of a computer. Just a thought.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well...

    I'm pretty sure everyone who wants an iPod has one by now.

  17. studentrights
    Alert

    This article is WRONG!

    1) This has already been debunked... fully...

    No, Apple did not fire 1,600 retail store employees

    http://macdailynews.com/index....blog/comments/20915/

    2) The number of full-time equivalent employees went UP year-over-year from 12,000 to 14,000...

    "Apple's SEC 10-Q filing, dated May 1, 2008, clearly and unequivocally stated, "As of March 29, 2008, the Retail segment had approximately 12,000 full-time equivalent employees." 14,000 today - 12,000 a year ago = 2,000 new employees! Okay, "full-time equivalents" or "man-hours," whatever. "

    3a) This is also wrong... it's 15,900 not 15,600...

    "The Wall Street Journal noted that the filing also indicated that Apple's estimate of roughly 14,000 "full-time equivalent employees" is down from 15,600 reported in Apple's 10-Q filing from January."

    3b) As someone already pointed out the reduction was a result of holiday staff...

    "[The cuts were] in retail. After Christmas. Meaning holiday staff, as usual, did not continue past the holidays. Also in the same 10-Q filing, conversely, Apple increased R&D headcount in the current year to support expanded R&D activities, but did not provide a hard figure, perhaps in order to protect that information from competitors. We predict that these facts will not be present in many (if any) other media outlets' news stories about this issue."

    4) The Register just had a system failure on the facts. Please re-boot and fix your article.

    5) These are much more fun to read... these are not holiday staff... since MS has no retail stores!

    Microsoft quarterly revenue drops for first time in company history; net income plummets 32%

    http://macdailynews.com/index....blog/comments/20901/

    Analyst predicts more Microsoft layoffs than 5,000 already announced

    http://macdailynews.com/index....blog/comments/20860/

  18. Ted
    Happy

    FASLE REPORT, there were NO CUTS...

    24 hours later, we now know the report was a mistake and there where no employees who where cut.

    Move along... Apple Retails Stores are doing just fine...

    http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090424/did-apple-just-fire-1600-retail-workers-nope/

  19. Ted
    Thumb Up

    Apple doesn't control the value of the £

    @Alexis Vallance

    Apple hasn't raised prices, the £ has simply lowered against the $ in the last 8 months. So your complaint lies elsewhere... this handy chart will show you why prices for you... are increasing.

    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GBPUSD=X&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

  20. sleepy

    @Alexis Vallance

    When the old prices were set, it was over $2 to the pound; today it's $1.47. It's your pounds that have shrunk, not Apple's prices that have grown. Currency hedging by Apple protected customers before recent model changes, so that's why I bought my Macbook in December.

    Also, "Full time equivalents" means total man-hours worked divided by total hours available to work. It's nothing to do with "full time employees" versus temporary. There was a surge in the second half of 2008, using extra temporary staff and overtime related to the holiday period and the iPhone G3 launch, which is now passed. (Selling an iPhone 3G is labour intensive including carrier activation). No-one's been laid off, so far as anyone knows.

    However, Apple's retail sales per-store are down substantially.

  21. Adrian Hagger
    Stop

    Adrian Hagger

    Check this article out to get to the truth, seems the The Register's reporter should have done his homework first !! http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090424/did-apple-just-fire-1600-retail-workers-nope/

  22. Bill Bankson

    Apple retail employee count

    I think you need to pay attention to the terms used in the 10Q - they always report employment as “full-time equivilents“ so quite naturally the hours of most employees would be curtailed at the expiration of the Christmas shopping period.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    yes but

    "Apple hasn't raised prices, the £ has simply lowered against the $ in the last 8 months. So your complaint lies elsewhere... this handy chart will show you why prices for you... are increasing."

    Yes its always interesting when american companies do that, yet when the pound gets better against the dollor....... the price doesn't go down and tends to stay the same!!!

    That is why us brits get annoyed with price rises like this, because they never seem to go down as quick as they should, but shoot up the moment the pound gets weaker.

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