Why is Gizmodo purposely altering this story to expose its anti-Apple bias? The employees aren't fired!!! What's happening, as everyone who knows anything about Apple knows, is that if you're an Apple employee, you get a little rosette implanted in your hand. After you've been there for awhile, it starts blinking red, and then turns black, which means you get to participate in the Carousel Ceremony with a chance to RENEW!!!
It's awesome.
You go to this huge venue with thousands of other employees cheering you on.. "renew! renew!"... and you get a chance to RENEW!!! Of course, employees who don't achieve renewal are vaporized. But there's always that chance!!!
As part of the severance package, the employees will be allowed to keep their nifty teal shirts. Replacement workers will be hired on a temporary basis and will wear red shirts.
@OMG! Ponies!: Red shirts? Are they basically in training for the their first year? Not allowed to play, but watch from the sidelines to not use up their allowable time working in the store...
@krom: Well there was an article early today by Dan Nosowitz that stated MS was in financial trouble,
...was forced to make its first large-scale layoffs ever, letting 1,400 people go in January
and in this article where Apple, which is a smaller company, is laying off 1,600 seems to be doing great.
Also on that same note: Apple is bucking the recession making $1.2 billion this past quarter and MS is going down the tubes after making $2.98 billion.
And... look at the picture chosen for each story. Apple's is a bright sunny picture of an Apple store and MS's is a ROD Xbox.
@baltwade: However, the AAPL earnings story also said that the growth came from iPod/iPhone sales and that there was a decline in Mac sales.
Similarly, MSFT's losses are directly attributable to the slowdown in computer sales.
At the end of the day, when the economy begins to recover (or when August rolls around), it will be interesting to see the effect on each company's earnings. AAPL has placed a lot of eggs in the iPod basket and whether its Mac division still carries the same weight may be evaluated at that time.
It's easy to mock Microsoft's FUD ads, but if they're still coming out in August, that's 6 months of spreading the word that PCs are cheaper in the middle of a recession when people are looking to buy PCs. And a netbook counts as a sale for MSFT. Similarly, it's easy to overlook Microsoft's other ad campaign - the brand ads with the CEOs of Nestle and Quiksilver talking about why they use Microsoft for enterprise. Windows 7 is coming out this summer (ostensibly), meaning that companies that did not adopt Vista may adopt Win7. And that is more sales for MSFT.
That's the big difference between the two companies: AAPL is tied to hardware and needs to sell hardware for sales; MSFT is a software company and only needs to sell licenses - not new computers.
It doesn't necessarily mean that they are laying off people. For the kind of position a high amount of fluctuation is usual, so they are probably not extending temporary contracts. Nothing unusual..
@petethefreeze: Oh yes they laid off people. This is based on their 10Q (10K?) report, so it's after the fact. They announced earlier this year that they were going to cut their retail workforce. This isn't really news.
"6) Employees were also offered a severance package, not a very good one. 2 weeks of pay per year of employment with at least 6 months of COBRA."
When they say "6 months of COBRA do they mean King Cobra the malt liquor? If so this Best Buy seems like a stand up organization. "You're Fired!!! Here's some 40s!"
$12/hr is good money where I come. My Fiance has a 4 year degree and works as a technical writer for an insurance company and she only makes $10/hr. As far as I know there is only one Best Buy store in West Virginia. Their employees probably only make about $7-$8/hr
Please please, everyone! Let's all try a new tactic against the ryanbrenner. It feeds on the negative replies you post to it, growing stronger each day, ready to strike back with an even more idiotic post to enrage us.
I suggest we wall just ignore the ryanbrenner. Maybe it'll tire of us and frequent lifehacker instead. I'm sure they'll love "lol, GTD, ha ha ha!" or "what's the g in gmail stand for? gay?" or some similar turn of phrase from it's sick twisted mind.
So please, for our sanity and the purity of the Giz, just ignore the ryanbrenner!
Will one of them be the Geek Squad guy who tried to hard-sell me a new mac when I took my girlfriend's in because the backlight on the screen went out and is still under warranty?
@RyanBrenner - Are you f'ing kidding? I hope your post is a joke but something tells me you're serious. What kind of clueless newb would expect a retailer to take back a computer because THEY got a virus ? Yeah- Lowes wouldn't take back my stainless steel refridge either after my kids put a smudge on the door... those rotten bastards! (And Lowes too...)
Dude, have you ever heard of anti-virus software? Owning a PC means doing maintenance. You know, anti-virus/spyware... defrag.... is any of this ringing a bell ?
@ryanbrenner: You are joking right? Is this some failed attempt of sarcasm? If you are using Windows Defender as your system security you shouldn't own a computer. That or you are the type of guy that believes that you could one day save a Nigerian princess.
@ryanbrenner: Also, can people stop ending sentences with "lol" or "rofl" or any stupid combination thereof when they say things are not even remotely funny? "Windows Defender" is not a punchline. It is the store brand of anti-virus programs. It is the big bottle in the grocery store labeled "VODKA." You use that, and expect BB to be liable? Do you also click on the links that say "YOU HAVE WON A NINTENDO WII!!!"?
i didn't want to say it but Best Buy? come on more like Worst Buy, I bought my gateway mx2000 from there and 2 months later when it had a virus they wouldnt even take it back!? circuit city (or the See-square as i like to call it) has way better customer support and it sux they're gone now.
at least we still have PC richards but buyer beware: best buy is not the best buy!
@ryanbrenner: So, because YOU were an idiot and got a Virus, it's Best Buy's problem... When they (The manufacturer) provide you with the opportunity to completely re-install the entire OS from scratch off of DVD.
But, it's THEIR fault?
Wait, is this sarcasm? Because, really, sarcasm doesn't belong on this websit.
We dont need any fancy plans, just end the layoffs. There must be something the government can do to end the relocation of thousands of jobs.
I quote another users comment.
"This is not a story about another 5,000 layoffs in the sea of the millions already laid off. That's exactly how IBM wants you to report it. In fact, the recession and other layoffs are great cover for IBM. The real story is this is not a typical recessionary layoff, pruning poor performers or re-balancing skills for client needs. This is a story about a deliberate and systematic business strategy to replace 15-20K American workers each year with lower-cost BRIC (Brazil, India, China) workers. So far this year, it is approaching 10K (5K in Jan; 5K today) with rumors of more to come in June and in the fall. This is not a story about moving unskilled work to another country. The layoffs have included highly-skilled and experienced professionals-scientists with PhDs, MBAs, seasoned software developers, marketing experts, consultants, project managers and manufacturing workers. This is a story about throwing near-retirement workers into the layoff pool-and using some of the savings (not sent overseas) to hire lower cost & unsuspecting new college grads." --
05/05/09
04/24/09
Baby Shaking App1600 Employees FromApp StoreActual StoresIt's awesome.
You go to this huge venue with thousands of other employees cheering you on.. "renew! renew!"... and you get a chance to RENEW!!! Of course, employees who don't achieve renewal are vaporized. But there's always that chance!!!
04/24/09
Baby Shaking App1600 Employees FromApp StoreActual StoresKinda the same way the number 420 is divisible by '7'...
Coincidence?
04/24/09
Baby Shaking App1600 Employees FromApp StoreActual Stores04/24/09
04/24/09
04/24/09
Baby Shaking App1600 Employees FromApp StoreActual Stores04/24/09
Also on that same note: Apple is bucking the recession making $1.2 billion this past quarter and MS is going down the tubes after making $2.98 billion.
And... look at the picture chosen for each story. Apple's is a bright sunny picture of an Apple store and MS's is a ROD Xbox.
04/24/09
Similarly, MSFT's losses are directly attributable to the slowdown in computer sales.
At the end of the day, when the economy begins to recover (or when August rolls around), it will be interesting to see the effect on each company's earnings. AAPL has placed a lot of eggs in the iPod basket and whether its Mac division still carries the same weight may be evaluated at that time.
It's easy to mock Microsoft's FUD ads, but if they're still coming out in August, that's 6 months of spreading the word that PCs are cheaper in the middle of a recession when people are looking to buy PCs. And a netbook counts as a sale for MSFT. Similarly, it's easy to overlook Microsoft's other ad campaign - the brand ads with the CEOs of Nestle and Quiksilver talking about why they use Microsoft for enterprise. Windows 7 is coming out this summer (ostensibly), meaning that companies that did not adopt Vista may adopt Win7. And that is more sales for MSFT.
That's the big difference between the two companies: AAPL is tied to hardware and needs to sell hardware for sales; MSFT is a software company and only needs to sell licenses - not new computers.
04/24/09
Baby Shaking App1600 Employees FromApp StoreActual Stores04/24/09
04/11/09
When they say "6 months of COBRA do they mean King Cobra the malt liquor? If so this Best Buy seems like a stand up organization. "You're Fired!!! Here's some 40s!"
04/10/09
04/11/09
04/11/09
04/10/09
I suggest we wall just ignore the ryanbrenner. Maybe it'll tire of us and frequent lifehacker instead. I'm sure they'll love "lol, GTD, ha ha ha!" or "what's the g in gmail stand for? gay?" or some similar turn of phrase from it's sick twisted mind.
So please, for our sanity and the purity of the Giz, just ignore the ryanbrenner!
04/10/09
04/10/09
(crosses fingers)
04/11/09
04/10/09
Dude, have you ever heard of anti-virus software? Owning a PC means doing maintenance. You know, anti-virus/spyware... defrag.... is any of this ringing a bell ?
04/10/09
04/10/09
04/10/09
04/10/09
at least we still have PC richards but buyer beware: best buy is not the best buy!
04/11/09
But, it's THEIR fault?
Wait, is this sarcasm? Because, really, sarcasm doesn't belong on this websit.
04/11/09
04/11/09
04/11/09
04/11/09
03/26/09
Layoffs"Resource Actions"03/26/09
Layoffs"Resource Actions"We dont need any fancy plans, just end the layoffs. There must be something the government can do to end the relocation of thousands of jobs.
I quote another users comment.
"This is not a story about another 5,000 layoffs in the sea of the millions already laid off. That's exactly how IBM wants you to report it. In fact, the recession and other layoffs are great cover for IBM. The real story is this is not a typical recessionary layoff, pruning poor performers or re-balancing skills for client needs. This is a story about a deliberate and systematic business strategy to replace 15-20K American workers each year with lower-cost BRIC (Brazil, India, China) workers. So far this year, it is approaching 10K (5K in Jan; 5K today) with rumors of more to come in June and in the fall. This is not a story about moving unskilled work to another country. The layoffs have included highly-skilled and experienced professionals-scientists with PhDs, MBAs, seasoned software developers, marketing experts, consultants, project managers and manufacturing workers. This is a story about throwing near-retirement workers into the layoff pool-and using some of the savings (not sent overseas) to hire lower cost & unsuspecting new college grads." --
03/26/09
03/04/09