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Apple’s iPhone sales soared to a new quarterly record during the holiday season, despite artificial intelligence blunders that prompted the technology trendsetter to get a helping hand from Google.The October-December results announced Thursday reflect the allegiance of Apple’s fans, who eagerly snapped up the latest iPhone 17 models even though the company still hasn’t delivered on its 2024 promise to smarten up the device’s Siri assistance with AI.Apple tried to offset its AI miscues with a new “liquid glass” design for the iPhone 17 and older models installed by way of a free software upgrade released last September. That formula helped produce iPhone sales of $85.3 billion, a 23% increase from the same time in the previous year. It marked Apple’s highest iPhone sales for a three-month period since the device’s debut in 2007.“The demand for iPhone was simply staggering,” Apple CEO Tim Cook crowed during a conference call with analyst while predicting the device will become a cutting-edge platform for AI.The iPhone’s robust performance propelled Apple to a profit of $42.1 billion, or $2.84 per share for the quarter, a 16% increase from the previous year. Total revenue also rose 16% from the previous year to $143.8 billion. Both the earnings and sales exceeded the analyst projections that steer investors.Apple’s shares rose by about 1% in extended trading after the numbers came out. But the stock price still remains slightly down so far this year, and isn’t that much higher from where it finished at the end of 2024.Zacks Investment Research analyst Ethan Feller said the worries about Apple’s late start in AI appeared to have been overblown and now appears well positioned to roll out more of the technology “as a feature that scales naturally across its ecosystem,” which also includes iPads, Mac computers and smartwatches in addition to iPhones. Apple said more than 2.5 billion active devices worldwide are now running on its various operating systems.The Cupertino, California, company will try to sustain the momentum by finally releasing a batch of delayed AI features, including an Siri upgrade that is supposed to make the assistant more conversational and versatile.To pull it off, Apple is tapping into Google’s latest AI model, Gemini 3, in a tacit acknowledgment of its own shortcomings in a technology that’s widely considered to be the industry’s biggest breakthrough since the iPhone’s introduction.Despite its AI deficiencies, the iPhone ended last year as the worldwide sales leader with a nearly 20% market share that ranked just ahead of Samsung, according to the research firm International Data Corp.In a show of its confidence, Apple forecast its revenue for the January-March period will climb by at least 13% from last year, above the roughly 10% bump that analysts had been anticipating.The AI boom is confronting Apple with another challenge: a shortage of memory chips that for smartphones and laptops amid the voracious demand for the same processors in the massive data centers that are being built to power AI features.Besides threatening to curtail iPhone production, the memory chip crunch is also driving up their prices a factor that has already been eroding Apple’s profit margins. That financial pressure could eventually push Apple to raise the prices on iPhones and other products to help offset the rising memory chip costs“We do continue to see market pricing for memory increasing significantly,” Cook told analysts Thursday. “As always, we’ll look at a range of options to, to deal with that.” Michael Liedtke, AP Technology Writer
Category:
E-Commerce
Imagine that you pull up to a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. You step out of the car and walk into the lobby, where the staff greets you by name and ushers you to an elevator. Upstairs, another staff member brings you coffee just the way you like it, minutes after you arrive. A barber is on hand to give you a fresh shave before an important Zoom call, and afterwards, you drop by a caviar tasting thats happening in the shared lounge. Amid an interior of travertine, green marble, and glass, a dedicated hospitality team and concierge service wants to make sure clients dont waste time with the little frictions of everyday life. This sanctuary might sound like one of Manhattans luxury members-only clubs, but in fact, its a new kind of coworking space that caters to the 1% of workers. Industrious Reserve is a high-end coworking space meant for CEOs and business leaders. Its supposed to give the prestige of Park Avenue and the quiet luxury of a private club, according to marketing materials. Its designed for leaders with all-remote teams, or with home offices in other cities, who will now have a place to hold court. What we observe in our business is that people want a private club experience, but they also want their own office, says Industrious President Anna Squires Levine, whose firm was recently bought by real estate services giant CBRE. Just this morning, I had a private equity executive tell me this is the product Ive been waiting for. I do not want to sign my own 10-year lease. Why would I do that? Then I have to build it and manage it and figure out the Wi-Fi for 10 years. I want somewhere I can show up and feel like a boss. [Photo: Industrious Reserve] The first location of Industrious Reserve, a high-end coworking space meant for CEOs and business leaders, will open soon inside the fifth and sixth floors of Manhattans Lever House, a famous modernist skyscraper. Reserve access starts at $7,000 a month per person, $9,500 if it includes one of the 44 private office suites (monthly membership costs for other Industrious locations in New York City vary between $399 and $1,700.) The new corner office The Reserve offering represents a significant departure from the classic corner office layout for corporate leadership, a design for status and hierarchy that reached its apex shortly after the International-Style Lever House opened in 1952. As much as its a story of service firms finding new ways to cater to increasingly wealthy clienteleafter all, theres no shortage of private club space or budget for high-end office amenitiesit also speaks to the changing role of a modern CEO and their workspace. [Photo: Industrious Reserve] Corporate leadership needs to showcase accessibility, transparency and cultural presence, says Todd Heiser, principal and co-managing director of Genslers Chicago office. But that doesnt mean having the face of the company operate out of the lunchroom, or like many famous tech leaders, flipping open a laptop and sitting with the rank-and-file. What Heiser says leaders desire nowand Reserve seeks to provideis a place to work in close collaboration with the trusted team that makes a modern business function, almost like a capitalist situation room. [Photo: Industrious Reserve] In a world that requires lightning-fast decision-making, CEOs want proximity; they want to be able to assemble the executive team in minutes and work in a space that fosters faster alignment. Heiser pointed to Logan Roys office on Succession or Rebeccas office on Ted Lasso as examples of leadership spaces that were both characters in their own right and typically open for rapid-fire meetings with advisers. One real-world example, the new HQ for Hyatt, includes space for leadership to quickly huddle, assemble, and lead team meetings outside of a stiff boardroom. The Capitalist Situation Room In the 1950s, office designers, influenced by notions of hierarchy and congruence theory, laid out workspaces to cleanly delineate hierarchy. Meanwhile, with todays more open plan and collaborative design, the workplace power dynamic is dramatically demonstrated by access, says Heiser. It helps that shrinking office footprints also means axing luxurious private offices. Gensler found one in five workers today doesnt have assigned seating, though execs do tend to have a reserved spot in most offices. As opposed to the classic corner officelong a symbol of hierarchy and corporate powerthis new functional layout thats emerging more post-pandemic displays the leadership style of todays LinkedIn CEO. Employees read leadership spaces like cultural text, says Heiser. The layout, the openness, the adjacency all tell people what the organization values. It actually comes clearly from the top. [Photo: Industrious Reserve] Reserve, in both its name and lofty privacy, communicates exclusivityits a considerable expense to joinbut it also gets described as the type of space where a leader can collaborate with a team. Levine spoke about the design, by the in-house team at Industrious, as a fusion of physical, technological, and experiential, trying to create a turnkey experience for execs while also creating a sort of townhouse on Park Avenue vibe. The feeling of intimacy should be akin to a secret, top-floor, light-filled brownstone in the middle of New York, says Levine. [Photo: Industrious Reserve] What sets Reserve apart, argues Levine, is the dichotomy; leaders can enjoy an intimate private office to meet with advisers, offering that connection to their top staff, as well as a semi-public spacemembers and guests only in the clubfor socializing for larger gatherings. Its a space for using time impactfully, being in the bunker with trusted advisers, and being the best version of yourself. Compared to the gigantic floorplates of modern high-rises, the Lever House is slim and elegant; in the afternoon, the sunlight from the window hits the middle of the floor. [Photo: Industrious Reserve] So far, membership interest has come from private equity firms, venture firms, hedge funds, and high-end retail and fashion shops. Levine says its either firms with big headquarters elsewhere who want a Manhattan outpost, or smaller, super distributed teams seeking a central meeting place. Levine expects the small handful of drop-in memberships and private offices to be snapped up well before the space opens in the spring, and Industrious plans further expansions of the concept in pinnacle cities such as Singapore, Tokyo, and Berlin. It takes a very special building and a very special landlord partner to make it happen, says Levine. We like to be thoughtful and methodical about the way that we expand so we know we can do it with a high degree of execution.
Category:
E-Commerce
Saks Global, owner of luxury retail chains Saks 5th Avenue and Neiman Marcus, has announced the closure of most of its discount outlet stores, Saks Off 5th and Last Call. The store closures come weeks after Saks Global announced that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Heres what you need to know about the store closures, including a full list of the locations being shuttered. Whats happened? Yesterday, Saks Global said it would close a majority of its discount outlet stores. While Sak Global is best known for its high-end luxury department store chains, Saks 5th Avenue and Neiman Marcus, the company owns several other retailers, including Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Off 5th, Last Call, and Horchow. The company has now announced that two of these retailers will be hit by store closings. The first is Saks Off 5th, the companys outlet store chain, which sells discounted apparel and accessories for shoppers on a budget. The company also announced that it will close all its Last Call stores. Last Call is the discount outlet chain originally owned by Neiman Marcus, which Saks Global acquired for around $2.7 billion in 2024. Why are Saks Off 5th and Last Call stores closing? Saks Global is closing these locations as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, which the company filed for earlier this month. The goal of the bankruptcy is to strengthen the foundation of our business and position it for the future, Saks Global CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck stated earlier this month. Over the past several years, the company now known as Saks Global has become saddled with debt, driven by factors affecting many retailers, including reduced sales, declining foot traffic, increased online competition, and inflationary pressures. But the companys debt problems also increased significantly after it acquired competitor Neiman Marcus in 2024. This weeks announcement of store closures doesnt come out of the blue. Earlier this month, when Saks Global announced it was filing for bankruptcy, the company said it was evaluating its operational footprint to invest resources where it has the greatest long-term potential. That evaluation has now led to the closure of a majority of its Saks Off 5th and all of its Last Call stores. Saks Global now says the store closures are the result of a thorough review of its off-price business. Which Last Call stores are closing? Saks Global has confirmed that all of its remaining Last Call stores will close. This encompasses five locations in three states. Those locations are: California Desert Hills Premium Outlets (Cabazon, CA) The Outlets at Orange (Orange, CA) Florida Sawgrass Mills (Sunrise, FL) Texas Grapevine Mills (Grapevine, TX) San Marcos Premium Outlets (San Marcos, TX) Which Saks Off 5th stores are closing? Unlike its Last Call stores, Saks Global will not shutter all of its Saks Off 5th stores. However, the majority of the stores will be closing. The company says that 12 Saks Off 5th locations will remain open, while the other 57 locations will close. Those 57 locations are spread across 18 states. Here is the full list of Saks Off 5th stores that are closing: Arizona Glendale, AZ Phoenix, AZ Scottsdale, AZ Tucson, AZ California Cabazon, CA Camarillo, CA Costa Mesa, CA Livermore, CA Beverly Connect, Los Angeles (West), CA Milpitas, CA Palm Desert, CA Petaluma, CA Ontario, CA San Diego, CA Woodland Hills, CA Conneticuit Clinton, CT Stamford High Ridge (Stamford), CT Florida Destin, FL Ellenton (Tampa), FL Tampa (Lutz), FL Naples Park Shore (Naples), FL Orlando, FL Orlando (Vineland), FL Georgia Atlanta (Woodstock), GA North Atlanta (Woodstock), GA Hawaii Ala Moana (Honolulu, HI) Hawaii (Honolulu, HI) Illinois Aurora Chicago (Aurora), IL State Street (Chicago), IL Northbrook, IL Rosemont, IL Massachutses Boston (Somerville), MA Wrentham, MA Maryland Clarksburg, MD Arundel (Hanover), MD Minnisota Eagan, MN Navada Las Vegas N (Las Vegas), NV Las Vegas S (Las Vegas), NV New Hampshire Merrimack, NH New Jersey Bridgewater, NJ Elizabeth, NJ Shrewsbury, NJ New York Deer Park, NY Eastchester, NY Greenburgh, NY Riverhead, NY North Carolina Charlotte, NC Mebane, NC Ohio Columbus, OH South Carolina Hilton Head (Bluffton), SC Charleston, SC Texas Cypress, TX Dallas Park (Dallas), TX Grand Prairie, TX Katy, TX San Antonio, TX Sugarland, TX In addition to the above Saks Off 5th closing locations, Saks Global also announced that the retailer’s website, Saksoff5th.com, “is winding down operations. When do closing sales begin? Saks Global says Saksoff5th.com online closing sales will begin today, Friday, January 30. Physical store closing sales will begin on Saturday, January 31. The company says that gift cards to these physical retail stores will continu to be accepted, but only until Saturday, February 14th. Gift cards for saksoff5th.com will only be accepted until Friday, February 13th. All merchandise purchased during the closing sales is non-returnable or exchangeable.
Category:
E-Commerce
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