Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Apple has reportedly jumped on a sudden vacancy left by a fine dining restaurant in Philadelphia's historic Center City district by signing a lease for its first retail outlet in the nation's one-time capital."

Bit of a design challenge for the firm Apple hires, since the building is on the National Register of Historic Buildings and was built in 1937. Apparently this is an up and coming area of the city, with huge potential that is seeing large growth of professionals and others moving into the area. I'm surprised this is the first one for the city, Portland already has 3 of them.

"As she ticked off her holiday-shopping list, public-relations executive Rebecca Sullivan prepared to buy her husband an iPhone. But like many other potential gift-givers, she was thwarted in trying to put the hottest handset around under the Christmas tree."

When I bought my first iPhone, it was a lot easier since I could take it home and activate it right from my computer. For some consumers wanting the element of surprise, the current requirement to activate in-store may have put a damper on it, and I suppose could have actually affected sales. One alternative that is offered is a gift card from Apple, but that certainly doesn't have the same effect as being able to watch someone open up a package and see the iPhone box. For me, though, I just worked around it. I was told by AT&T when I purchased my wife's iPhone 3G, that her current iPhone would be in service for about 3 hours and then would no longer be active, which gave me a small window, but a window nonetheless. And for my daughter's iPhone, we surprised her with a visit to the Apple Store, which is a treat in and of itself when you live where we live. If you want the iPhone bad enough I don't think this roadblock will stop you.