Potential Apple store in London financial district threatened by “rights to light” laws

While Apple’s London Covent Garden and Regent Street stores have given the company a prominent presence in the city centre, a proposed development at 100 Cheapside in London’s uber-rich financial district may be threatened by neighbours claiming rights to sunlight.

ifoAppleStore got their hands on a rendering of the proposed development which would cover 87,000 square-feet of office space, and 13,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. A report from Reuters notes that Apple is currently interested in moving in. Judging by the mock up above, an Apple retail space would fit nicely in that large windowed, street-level storefront.

However, it looks like if Apple is really interested in making it happen they might have to throw some of those billions to appease neighbours and get the job done. Reuters reports:



“Rights of light issues have traditionally been resolved informally, often with millions of pounds changing hands before building work begins, or via the workaround — or power to bypass the law — which uses Section 237 of the Town and Country Planning Act.”
The plot is owned by City of London, who is currently trying to get authorities to bypass “rights to light” laws which lead to a court ruling that a portion of a building in Leeds be torn down last year. Although that decision was later settled without demolition of the building, claims of rights to sunlight continue to emerge.

The City of London is still looking for a buyer after the original bidder backed out citing concerns over the Rights to Light laws and concerns from neighbouring buildings. Perhaps Apple could step in and add a little of their retail design magic to the proposed design in order to satisfy concerns from neighbours?

Those involved in the project are more than likely happy to have Apple interested in the development. ifoAppleStore notes they even used photos of Apple stores as examples for retail spaces in their application project summary document here.

Apple has been aggressively expanding their retail presence, with three new grand openings this Saturday and thirteen stores expected to open by the end of September.They also have plans to open a one of a kind retail space in Grand Central Terminal in New York City by December.


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Google’s Schmidt: “I was on the Apple board until I couldn’t stand it anymore” Updated

Update: According to Google, Eric actually said that he was on the Apple board until he couldn’t stay on the board anymore.


Salesforce.com’s rock concert style Dreamforce 2011 conference has attracted industry heavy-weights, such as Google chairman Eric Schmidt who openly lauded Apple chairman Steve Jobs’s industry-defining achievements. In a chat with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on stage at San Francisco’s Moscone West center, Apple’s preferred venue for product launches, Schmidt said this of Apple’s former chief executive:

What Steve has done at Apple is certainly the best performance of a CEO for over fifty years, maybe a hundred years. But not only did he do it once, he did it twice. We’ve all benefited from the tremendous innovation at Apple. And I say this as a very proud former board member at Apple.
Of course, the comment earned Schmidt an instant applaud from the audience. He then addressed the question of his stay on Apple’s board at a time when Apple had already been deeply involved with the development of the original iPhone. He said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle:

I was on the board until I couldn’t stand the board anymore.
He wouldn’t elaborate, but it’s worth remembering that Schmidt resigned from Apple’s board of directors on August 3, 2009, years after Apple had finished the original iPhone development and well into the third-generation of the iconic handset. Steve Jobs was quoted in Apple’s official statement explaining Schmidt’s exit:




Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.
Of course, Jobs wouldn’t shy away from touching on the subject in later public appearances. For example, he made it clear it was Google who decided to compete with Apple, not the other way round. He told the Walt Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg at D8 conference last year that “we didn’t enter the search business”.



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Apple opens area of App Store for “Apps Enhanced for Lion”, begins selling Final Cut Pro 7 the old fashioned way

Cnet notes a new section just hit the Mac App Store called Apps Enhanced for Lion.

Apple was a good sport too and allowed one third party app in the top two rows of apps.

Update: Macrumors notes that Apple has begun selling Final Cut Pro 7 (which is likely not enhanced for Lion) the old fashioned way.

We confirmed with an Apple telesales representative at 800-MY-APPLE that Final Cut Studio, part number MB642Z/A, is again available for $999, and $899 for educational customers. The product is only available through the 800-number and is not available in Apple Retail Stores or on the Apple Online Store.
Final Cut Pro 7 was pulled ahead of the release of Final Cut Pro X in June but there has been some backlash among the higher end users because of missing features. Apple, for what it is worth, promised feature updates by the end of summer (which is coming on pretty fast now).

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What the iPhone 5 icon looks like extrapolated into full size

What’s interesting here is that the button isn’t wider as originally prognosticated. In this scenario,it is actually shorter to make room for the bigger screen.

Earlier today we broke the news that an iPhone icon in the Photo Stream beta software had some new dimensions including a more edge to edge screen and an elongated button, which coincidentally matched the earlier rumors. One obviously possibility is that this device is a larger-screened iPhone 5. However, we’ve received word that of the two new iPhones coming out from Apple, this device might actually be the smaller, cheaper iPhone that is set for release at the same time.

One was called the “upgraded one, the iPhone 5″ and the other, “a new smaller one”.
To that end, we’ve got a mock up of what something like that would look like using current iPhone sizes, and the dimensions offered up by the icon (above) if it is a smaller device. If it is the bigger device, or at least bigger-screened device, It could look like the below:




This would be a nearly 4+ inch screen, nearly the size of the Galaxy S line.



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Two men plead not guilty in iPhone 4 prototype case

Not to be confused with yesterday’s story of an iPhone 5 prototype potentially being lost in the wild, today CNET reports that two men involved in last year’s high profile case of the lost iPhone 4 prototype purchased by Gizmodo have pled not guilty.

This comes after the court decided to not file charges against Gizmodo and instead file misdemeanours against the two men, Brian Hogan (pictured above) and Robert Sage Wallower, suspected of finding and selling the device.

Hogan, the man who allegedly obtained the prototype iPhone in a bar last year has plead not guiltily, along with Robert Sage Wallower, who is charged with possessing stolen property in the case, in front of Judge Jonathan Karesh this morning. Pretrial is slated for October 11.



CNET reports:

“At an arraignment here this morning, Brian Hogan, the man who allegedly found the prototype in a bar after it was left there by an Apple engineer, and Robert Sage Wallower, who is accused of that charge as well as possessing stolen property, entered their pleas before Superior Court Judge Jonathan Karesh.”
We’ll keep you updated as more becomes available…


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iPhone 5 icon shows up in Photo Stream?

Apple’s latest Photo Stream beta has an interesting icon that seems to look like the rumored iPhone 5s with extended screen and elongated home button (we count 4 pixels by 2 pixels – close up below the fold and actual icon, right). What do you think? Coincidence? (Thanks Steve and Olivier!)



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- Posted using my iPhone 4

Huge glass panes arrive at the Fifth Avenue store

TUAW posted has this image and a short video, embedded below, of workers unloading huge glass panes outside Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue store in New York City. The store lost its iconic glass entrance two months as Apple has been working to upgrade the cube to a more seamless appearance. Although the main entrance is closed, the store itself has been open all this time. The upgrade will reportedly cost the company $6 million, nearly matching the seven million dollars Apple allegedly paid back in 2005 to assemble the glass cube entrance. They want to reduce the number of glass panes from 90 to just 15, three per side, per released company plans.




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- Posted using my iPhone 4