Monthly Archives: May 2006

$2,489 vs $971 Revenue Per Square Foot

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photo by ifoapplestore.

Steve Lohr takes an interesting look at Apple’s retail store initiatives (high end, expensive locations, large open spaces and lots of space to play with the goodies), their inspiration and performance:

“We had to design an experience that was as big as the space,” said Mr. Johnson, 47, who is senior vice president in charge of the stores. “When your product line is the size of a conference table, that is a real risk.”

Taking that risk has paid off handsomely so far. Since it opened its first two stores five years ago today, the Apple chain has become a retailing phenomenon. Necessity and inspiration led Apple to toss out the conventional textbook on computer stores and to ignore the rules of location, design, staffing and services provided.

Revenue for each square foot at Apple stores last year was $2,489, compared with $971 at Best Buy, the big computer and electronics retailer, according to Forrester Research, a market research firm.

This evening, Apple is opening a showcase store in Manhattan that will burnish the company’s reputation for clever design. The entrance to the store, on Fifth Avenue between 58th and 59th Streets, is a glass cube, 32 feet on each side, with a suspended Apple logo inside. Customers walk down a circular staircase — or take a cylindrical glass elevator — to the 10,000-square-foot store below. The store will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week — a first for Apple and an acknowledgment of New York’s status as a round-the-clock city.

Study: Only One in Four Teens Can Name Broadcast Networks

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Abbey Klaassen:

For the week of the broadcast network upfront presentations, Bolt Media hopes this stat delivers a bullet to TV: Only one in four 12- to 34-year-olds can name all four major broadcast networks: ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.

The finding comes via an online poll conducted by Bolt Media, a 10-year-old Web site that six weeks ago relaunched itself as a place for users to upload videos and photos. About 400 members responded to the questions, including one that asked how respondents spent their free time.

There certainly are some questions about this, given the source of the poll, however, the media fragmentation trend cannot be denied.

Honda Civic GX: A Real, Available Car, Powered by Natural Gas

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Speaking of Honda:

Recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle on Earth, the Civic GX is perfect for getting around town and running everyday errands. In fact, the California Air Resources Board gave the GX an AT-PZEV emissions rating, which means it’s still the “Cleanest on Earth.” And it’s been completely redesigned for 2006 with a new modern, aerodynamic exterior, and ergonomic, supportive seats. The GX has everything you’d expect from a Civic, like a roomy cabin and proven performance. And because it uses compressed natural gas, the GX achieves remarkable fuel-cost savings, and helps decrease the world’s dependence on oil. The Civic GX promises to lead the way to the advancement of fuel-cell vehicles, sooner than you might expect.

via autoextremist:The Civic GX, which is rated at an EPA estimated city/highway fuel economy of 28/39 miles per gasoline-gallon equivalent, is the only dedicated natural gas-powered passenger vehicle available to retail customers in the United States. 2006 Civic GX owners will be eligible for a Federal tax credit of $4,000 for the car and up to $1,000 for the purchase and installation of “Phill,” the natural gas home refueling appliance from FuelMaker Corporation.

More on Phill, via email:

The price of Phill is $3400 US plus shipping ($150) plus installation. An indoor installation will also need a mandatory external gas sensor for $120. A “typical” installation can range from $1000 to $1500. Your actual cost of Phill could be reduced depending on where you live, and what incentives are offered in your area.
Please note that at the moment Phill is only available for purchase if you live in California, Arizona, Maryland, Washington D.C., New Jersey, Oklahoma, Nevada, parts of New York, and a select few other cities such as Salt Lake City (UT), Milwaukee (WI), Dallas (TX), Denver (CO), Chicago (IL), and Knoxville (TN).
To continue with the purchase process we will need some basic information from you in order to put your name on the waiting list. If you are interested, please contact Phill Customer Service at 1-866-697-4455 (toll free), or let us know the best way to reach you.

A Speedy Visit to the “Honda Powered” Indy 500

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I recently had an opportunity to briefly visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (home of the Memorial Day weekend Indy 500 [satellite view]) while the teams were practicing. A surprisingly large crowd was on hand to watch the drivers, mechanics and managers test their vehicles, systems and methods. Many, but not all teams had quite a number of computer operators keeping an eye on all aspects of their cars.

Silence.
There’s not much of that at the Speedway, but when it does occur – only a split second – it is jarring.

Danica Patrick easily grabbed most of the crowd’s attention. A group of fans and photographers never left her team’s side. More photos here.

You did read that right. Honda powers all of the cars in this year’s race. Evidently Honda has dominated recently and the teams coalesced on their engine this year.

105.5 MMM Payola ?

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Rich Albertoni follows the money at Entercomm’s local station, 105.5 (NY AG Spitzer filed suit against Entercomm recently). I rarely listen to it – how often must we hear the Police or Sting for that matter?

We’re fortunate to have WORT and WSUM along with our public radio stations. Those interested in the nuts and bolts of the music business would likely find the Lefsetz Letter useful “First in Music Analysis“.

I also very much enjoy listening to KCRW [LA], WFUV [NYC] and WXPN [PHL] online.

Kristian Knutsen has more.

I wonder if any other local media outlets will pick this up?

More Madison Water Problems?

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WKOW-TV:

Untreated groundwater from two of three Madison wells sampled for the study… turned up five different viruses, that one public health director says ***could*** cause serious illness.

There are differing opinions about how serious this is.

Madison’s Director of Public Health says we are all exposed to viruses and bacteria every day so there is no reason to be concerned. But the Board of Water commissioners questioned the director of public health from the Marshfield Clinic, who did the water study, he had a very different answer.

Madison Common Council Paid Sick Leave Summary

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Kristian Knutsen summarizes last night’s vote (filed at 3:22a.m.):

In what might be its most highly anticipated meeting of 2006, the Madison Common Council will be hearing testimony, deliberating, and voting upon the proposed ordinance to require employers in the City of Madison to provide mandatory sick leave for their employees.

The coalition that organized the proposal held a rally on the steps of the City-County Building immediately preceding the meeting, in large part to attract public registrants to speak in favor of the proposal at the meeting. Following four hours of public testimony and one hour of debate among the alders, it fails with a vote of 9 ayes and 10 nos.

Touching the Surface of Our Tax System: Think Warren Buffett is paying $4 billion for Iscar? Think again.

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Avishay Ovadia:

This brings us to the investment in Iscar. On the face of it, Buffet paid $4 billion for 80% of the Israeli metal cutting toolmaker company. Why only on the face of it? Because in actual fact, the sum was a great deal lower.

While the structure of the deal is not known, it seems that Buffett has set up a local company that will acquire 80% of the activity of Iscar from the Iscar group, controlled by the Wertheimer family. The family will retain control over the old Iscar, which will own 20% of the activity. In the next stage, a company will be formed, into which Iscar’s activity will be transferred (by both sides), leaving Buffett with an 80% stake in the new company, which will take in all Iscar’s activity.

Buffett, therefore, is buying activity, rather than company stock. The significance for tax is a benefit of around $1 billion over a 10 year period. Why? Because income tax regulations allow the recognition of amortization of goodwill on deals for acquisition of current activity at an annual rate of 10% of the goodwill. Almost all the sum paid for Iscar’s activity will be attributed to goodwill, resulting in an annual tax-deductible expense of $400 million. This expense will generate a tax saving of $100 million, assuming an effective tax rate of 25% for Iscar (for which it qualifies as a company with approved enterprise status). $100 million over 10 years is the expected saving, amounting to $1 billion.

La Femme: French Politics = Madison’s Political Climate?

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James Traub:

There’s a reason that the leaders of France’s Socialist Party are called “elephants”: They live forever. Among the elephants now vying to become the party’s candidate for president in next year’s election are Laurent Fabius, who served as prime minister 22 years ago, and Lionel Jospin, who served as Socialist Party leader a quarter-century ago and suffered a defeat in the last presidential election so devastating, both for himself and for the party, that you would have thought prudence alone would dictate political retirement. But in France, politics is a profession; once you arrive, you stay.

No one has thought to call Ségolène Royal an elephant. For one thing, it would be unbecoming, since she is a woman — and a woman who, when she works her smile up into her eyes, bears a passing resemblance to Audrey Hepburn. Royal is, remarkably enough, the first truly présidentiable woman in French history. But what is most striking about her candidacy, which so far consists of a highly orchestrated media seduction, is not the fact that she is a woman but rather that she has positioned herself as a nonelephant, indeed, almost an antielephant. She is, in effect, running against France’s political culture, which is to say against remoteness and abstraction, ideological entrenchment and male domination itself. And that culture, which is embodied by her own party, has struck back, ridiculing her as a soap bubble borne aloft by a momentary gust of public infatuation.

I was struck by the similarities between the French “Establishment” and the local political establishment vis a vis newcomers/challengers.