MacCentral has garnered some more details on Apple’s new line of retail stores in regards to ownership, stores outside the US, and classroom training.
All Apple’s new retail stores will be Apple owned. There will be no franchises.
As far as stores in other countries, Apple won’t discuss future plans. However, the company has said that it’s exploring many geographic locations for stores.” Stay tuned.
The online and brick-and-mortar stores are run by two different Apple execs. However, the company plans on leveraging many elements in its current infrastructure, including inventory management, which extends to Apple properties and Apple resellers.
As far as classroom training in the new retail stores, which seems to be a missing ingredient, sources have told MacCentral that Apple had looked at this, but decided against it as it’s determined to not offer the most efficient use of current space. However, it could be a future possibility as Apple learns and develops the stores over time.