Apple peels off 1,600 staff

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 24 Apr 2009 at 17:57

Apple has laid off 1,600 retail staff, despite posting profits of $1.21 billion in its second quarter.

The company's retail operations pulled in $20 million during its second quarter, a 1% rise on the year before. This came despite the fact that average revenue per store was down to $5.9 million compared to $7.1 million in the same quarter of last year.

Apple noted that it concluded the second quarter of 2009 operating 252 shops compared to 208 during the same period of 2008. Despite the cuts, the company is still planning to open an additional 25 new shops during 2009.

Apple has not confirmed where the cuts will take place or when. It currently employs 15,600 staff worldwide.

One thing that almost certainly won't appear in the new Apple shops are netbooks, after Steve Jobs's stand-in, Tim Cook, launched a vitriolic attack on the low-cost machines.