Apple Gave Few Phones to Other Retailers

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Apple Inc.’s new iPhone 5 remained a hot item following the sales kickoff Friday, with customers flocking to stores to buy the new handset. But they seemed to have little luck finding the gadget at the Silicon Valley company’s retail partners.

While Apple’s own stores appeared to be selling the new device in large numbers, other retail chains that offered the device had limited quantities from the outset, according to sales staff in stores and other people familiar with the situation.

Shortages have hit Apple partners in the past, but the disparity seemed more pronounced this time.

Apple Retail Chief Admits Staffing Mistake

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Apple Inc.’s retail boss told employees the company made mistakes with its staffing levels, leading to news reports that the company was cutting employees, according to two people familiar with the matter.

In a communication with store leadership teams, senior vice president of retail, John Browett, who took the reins of Apple’s retail stores in April, said the company had been trying a new staffing formula for its retail stores.

Apple Stores to Match Discounts on iPhones

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The company has begun telling retail employees that they may offer discounts of $49 on the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4 to customers who cite lower prices from other outlets, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The outlets include stores operated by Target Corp., Best Buy Co. and Sprint Nextel Corp., according to Apple‘s communications with employees.

Microsoft Pulls From Apple Playbook With Surface Tablet

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Microsoft Corp.’s first personal computer, the Surface tablet, provides further evidence that Apple Inc.’s strategies and success continue to shake up the tech sector.

The software giant is for the first time emulating Apple’s longtime practice of managing both elements in a computing device—one that will directly compete with products from its biggest customers.

Though insisting it remains committed to helping other hardware companies make successful tablets using its software, Microsoft also endorsed Apple’s philosophy in forceful terms.

“We believe that any intersection between human and machine can be made better when all aspects of the experience—hardware and software—are considered and working together,” said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, during the Surface launch event Monday.

Apple Raising Pay for Retail Workers

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Employees began learning of the raises in face-to-face meetings with managers last week, according to three Apple employees in various regions across the U.S. The raises, which are based on performance, will begin appearing in paychecks around the middle of July, two of these people said.

Employees said they were appreciative of the move, though they considered the raises had been a long time coming. The increased wages, one person said, more accurately reflected Apple’s position as a high-end retailer.

The iPhone Gives ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ a Second Chance

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Old is the new cool in videogames.

Videogame titles that once gathered dust on collectors’ shelves have found a new life on mobile devices such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone, giving companies a cheap way to make money while also helping to promote new software.

It is what Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. did when it was preparing to release the third installment in a popular film-noire series called “Max Payne.” About a month before the new title went on sale, the company released “Max Payne Mobile”—the first game in the series released 11 years ago, reworked to run on smartphones and tablet computers rather than videogame consoles and personal computers.

Microsoft to Offer Xbox Subscriptions at Best Buy, GameStop

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Microsoft Corp. plans to boost the number of outlets offering its subscription plan for the Xbox, an effort to attract more users by lowering upfront costs of acquiring the game console.

The company, which had previously only made the offer available through 17 of its own stores, plans to extend its $99 offer—which combines a Xbox 360 and Kinect motion sensor with a two-year service contract—to all U.S. Best Buy Co. stores and a “select” grouping of GameStop Corp. stores.

Microsoft said it still regards the program as a pilot, adding that the stores will offer the deals to a limited number of users for a short period. If there is enough interest in the program, it may once again expand, the company said.

Sony Rejects Web-Based PlayStation Console

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Sony Corp. considered but ultimately rejected a download-only plan for its next videogame console, people familiar with the matter said, opting to include an optical disk drive rather than break with decades-old industry practice.

The Japanese electronics maker’s flirtation with dropping the optical drive underscores the rising importance of online networks in the videogame industry, which allow console users to download games, television shows and music without the need for disks or cartridges.

Hospitals That Mend The Apple Set–In This ER, Doctors Operate on Pocket-Size Patients

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The patient might have been under water too long. Only a few months old, the victim wasn’t responding.

A doctor, in green surgical scrubs, rushed to his sparkling clean operating room, hopeful the patient could be saved.

After thoroughly scrubbing and putting in some new parts, he tightened the last screw and pushed the power button. The familiar Apple Inc. logo filled the screen of the phone.

This doctor works at the iHospital.

Fight Over iPad Name Spills Into U.S. Court

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Proview Electronics Co. has taken its legal battles with Apple Inc. to a U.S. court, claiming the iPhone maker used deception in buying the iPad trademark and shouldn’t be allowed to keep it.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California in Santa Clara County on Feb. 17 but previously unreported, claimed that Apple had committed fraud when it used a company set up by one of its law firms, called IP Application Development Ltd., to purchase the iPad trademark from Proview on Dec. 23, 2009 for 35,000 British pounds ($55,000).