Most retailers take on staff at their busy times (Xmas and Thanksgiving) then let them go once the rush is over. Apple is no exception. This is a desperate no-story.

That line of thought would be fair if it was in January or February.

What a NASTY thing to say! What a silly little boy you are! It's sad that ANYBODY should loose their job, wheter they work for Microsoft, Apple, Sun, or whoever. I hope that you loose yours...

So thats approximately 6 people PER store just to put some perspective on things, still why change "journalsitic" style, eh Reg? When were you bought by the Daily Express Group?

rong. appil is supa specal oresum. onli microwsof iz goin out of bizniz.

kthnxbi

I stopped going when they starting making appointments mandatory.

We need that Comcast lady to show up in the Apple store and wave her hammer around a few times.

'Equivalent full time staff hours' is an accounting procedure to help grasp the likely bill in wages, and does not record the actual number of workers that make up those hours worked. So.... a drop in this figure could mean that staff are working fewer hours, or that there are indeed fewer staff. Or combinations thereof.

"An assumption is a conveniently tempting platform from which to jump to a conclusion. It's usually further than you think."

Nothing to do with hiking prices by about £200 per Mac?

Oh no, of course not.

We'll maybe with all the redundant retail space it could actually sell apples and apple products. You know - pies, cobbler, dumplings - candy apples. It would mean having to retrain the staff to know what Brown Betty meant or a Macintosh other than an old doorstop of a computer. Just a thought.

1) This has already been debunked... fully...

No, Apple did not fire 1,600 retail store employees

http://macdailynews.com/index....blog/comments/20915/

2) The number of full-time equivalent employees went UP year-over-year from 12,000 to 14,000...

"Apple's SEC 10-Q filing, dated May 1, 2008, clearly and unequivocally stated, "As of March 29, 2008, the Retail segment had approximately 12,000 full-time equivalent employees." 14,000 today - 12,000 a year ago = 2,000 new employees! Okay, "full-time equivalents" or "man-hours," whatever. "

3a) This is also wrong... it's 15,900 not 15,600...

"The Wall Street Journal noted that the filing also indicated that Apple's estimate of roughly 14,000 "full-time equivalent employees" is down from 15,600 reported in Apple's 10-Q filing from January."

3b) As someone already pointed out the reduction was a result of holiday staff...

"[The cuts were] in retail. After Christmas. Meaning holiday staff, as usual, did not continue past the holidays. Also in the same 10-Q filing, conversely, Apple increased R&D headcount in the current year to support expanded R&D activities, but did not provide a hard figure, perhaps in order to protect that information from competitors. We predict that these facts will not be present in many (if any) other media outlets' news stories about this issue."

4) The Register just had a system failure on the facts. Please re-boot and fix your article.

5) These are much more fun to read... these are not holiday staff... since MS has no retail stores!

Microsoft quarterly revenue drops for first time in company history; net income plummets 32%

http://macdailynews.com/index....blog/comments/20901/

Analyst predicts more Microsoft layoffs than 5,000 already announced

http://macdailynews.com/index....blog/comments/20860/

24 hours later, we now know the report was a mistake and there where no employees who where cut.

Move along... Apple Retails Stores are doing just fine...

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090424/did-apple-just-fire-1600-retail-workers-nope/

@Alexis Vallance

Apple hasn't raised prices, the £ has simply lowered against the $ in the last 8 months. So your complaint lies elsewhere... this handy chart will show you why prices for you... are increasing.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GBPUSD=X&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

Check this article out to get to the truth, seems the The Register's reporter should have done his homework first !! http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090424/did-apple-just-fire-1600-retail-workers-nope/