Very good to see more Apple stores. But what about that little strip of land north of Sheffield and south of Glasgow? Or does theat bit not exist. Would be nice to have a store somewhere around Newcastle that doesn't involve a day trip out to visit.

The Melbourne location would be way more Apple than anything in Sydney. Sydney is iRiver, Melbourne is Apple. Clearly!

"Apple's Apple Store line-up runs to over 150 hundred outlets"

So that's 15000 ? Wouldn't it have been easier to say that ?

I can't comment on the Australian Store, but the job postings for the UK Stores have been on the Apple site since the start of the year. Most other sites 'covered' this many months back! Slow news day?

"Very good to see more Apple stores. But what about that little strip of land north of Sheffield and south of Glasgow? Or does theat bit not exist. Would be nice to have a store somewhere around Newcastle that doesn't involve a day trip out to visit."

How about Manchester Trafford centre - there was one there last time I went...

The Manchester store, surely?

;)

At least any Bull could justifiably be described as "Concrete".....

I'll get my coat (again)

So, no wonderfully designed store then? Just a box store like all the rest in there.

There's only one or two spaces for it to go as well, two very small box shaped spaces and there's no sign of any of the bigger shops moving or closing down just yet, so it looks like the Oracle one may be quite small.

Seems pretty odd to me, I'd have thought they would have gone for a high street position on Broad Street!

Count yourself lucky Andrew, how's about that other large part of the UK that's kinda stuck in the water, Northern Ireland - if we want to visit an Apple store it's a ferry or plane trip!

Why they stick 8 stores in one part of the UK and none in the rest is a total mystery to me.

I know this is Bohemian Brighton et al, but does it really need *another* Apple gaff? It's already got three (two Solutions Inc store and Cancom). Looks like the 'official' Apple store will be giving them a run for their money, let's just hope there's enough people who will want to buy an iPod. (Mac sales is not really what you could call outstripping iPod sales.)

Maybe Newcastle could benefit more as said :)

As if Melbourne is better for it. Silly jealous Melbournites!

You'd be the capital for Bill Gates and Microsoft than Apple. I heard you guys got the biggest XBox 360 userbase there for Australia, so you obviously love Microsoft long time there! :P

PS. On a serious note, what difference would Apple opening a store be compared to the already lavish offerings from some existing Mac stores in Sydney? (Stores like the Bondi Junction one are multi-level stores with tech support desks, seminar rooms, and more)

I can't be the only one wondering when they are going to stick a store in either Cardiff or Bristol. Not only is there a huge catchment area (M4, M5, Wales etc.) but both Cardiff and Bristol both have two universities and multiple colleges. Not to mention to tech heavy industries around the area. They also happen to be fairly affluent areas. The nearest store at the moment is Birmingham, which is a bit of a trek, especially if you need a "genius".

...Wow! Apple stores are spreading like a virus! Oh wait- Jobs told me they don't get viruses....

Apple stores are spreading like OSX exploits that aren't real because there isn't any proof-of-concept code to show the average Mac user!!!! Watch out!!!

...and for all you Mac h8ers, Mac stores are like "juicy country fried stakes dipped in butter"... you can NEVER have too many of them! ...mmm.... butter...

What about Ekatahuna in New Zealand? It is the centre of the universe after all.