Apple, Inc. (AAPL) needs to send personalized holiday cards to all of its customers to thank them for their unwavering and fierce loyalty. Apple-philes are a special breed of fanatic, and they are always in search of the next innovation. Witness the initial iPad sales, which surpassed even Apple's optimistic expectations. And witness early pre-orders of the iPhone 4, debuting in the U.S. on June 24.

First, anxious shoppers crashed AT&T, Inc.'s (T) shopping server in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. AT&T has now suspended advance orders indefinitely. And still, the number of pre-orders for the iPhone 4 were 10 times higher than orders for the 3GS last year. If you weren't one of the lucky ones to order through Apple or AT&T while they still had existing inventory, you'll be waiting until the next shipment, expected to be before July 2.

Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) command over its customers is nothing short of amazing. The company creates and markets some of the best personal consumer electronics in the world. Its marketing efforts to make its products the de-facto standard in the markets where they compete is also second to none. Seeking to get in on that action, consumer electronics retailer Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) opened Apple "mini stores" inside national retail locations recently.

Now, this was an odd move to some, as Apple already has retail stores all over the nation that do quite well for the company. In fact, they've done exceptionally well in an age where direct retail outlets have flopped for other computer makers. But Apple makes a lot more than just computers as we all know. So much more, in fact, that it has jettisoned the word "computer" from its corporate name this year.

Apple Computer, Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) welcomed another strong quarter of bringing brand new Mac users into its fold. At its most recent quarterly earnings report Apple told analysts repeatedly that this quarters percentage of Macs sold to first time Mac owners or users was up over 50%, a figure that they found very exciting. At the last quarterly report Apple said that 'nearly 50%' of its users buying computers in the retail stores were new to the Mac. The signs that this percentage is holding, and even growing, is a very positive sign for Mac all around.

The company reminded analysts that it had over 1 million Bootcamp downloads, the software that allows users to dual-boot Windows on their Apple machines, and that it had plans to further integrate Bootcamp into their software. This is no doubt an important part of the reason many felt comfortable enough to make a switch to Mac.

Tobias Buckell is an author, freelancer, and professional blogger. He owns shares in Apple.

How much do Apple enthusiasts love the new Apple store in Manhattan? A heck of a lot, evidently. Steve Jobs went out on quite a limb by designing an I.M. Pei-inspired cube around the subterranean store's entrance at the base of the GM building on 5th Avenue and 59th Street. Apple fans are already lining up, waiting for the

Today the cube came into view and press was invited to tour the fabu new location. Forbes says, "Apple appears to have met the challenge of creating a flagship store worthy of the distinction." Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson (who uploaded this photo to his flickr account) says, "The design reminds me of an x-ray of the original NeXT Cube... part of the cubist design leitmotif." Scott McNulty from TUAW is "obsessed." Just check out the many fan photos elsewhere on flickr for an indication of the cult of the cube.

The store opens tomorrow night at 6 p.m. and could be the very symbol of a company for whom the retail strategy actually works. After what I've read today, I have to conclude: this is one of the few pieces of Manhattan real estate that were really worth the money.

[Photo John Brockman]

Apple was plugging along today, basking in the glow of its new (and black) MacBook, and Steve Jobs was probably patting himself on his back after yesterday's lovely write-up in the Wall Street Journal. I'm so smart, he was probably thinking, those naysayers just wish they'd invested in Apple way back when!

And then. Everybody started selling. Before MacBook could rack up its nth sale (rumored to be good even by Apple's projections), before Jobs could reach around for that acrobatic back pat, the market had hammered APPL to the tune of $2.08 -- a whopping 3.19%. The stock ended the day at $63.18.

Despite the sell-off, reviewers can't say enough good about the MacBook; MacWorld said it was faster than the fastest iBook G4 in almost all of its tests. And Forbes went raving on about the new Manhattan Apple store (in a historically dank and failure-ridden space, however). So why the big sell-off? Could it be a side-effect of bad news at rival Dell? If you sold today, what were you thinking?

The Wall Street Journal today covers Steve Job's retail strategy for Apple, that has succeeded beyond Wall Street's wildest dreams -- and, in fact, was roundly dismissed as a bad idea when Jobs first came up with it five years ago. Apple believed its computers weren't being merchandised appropriately, especially when compared to PCs running the ubiquitous Windows operating system. Why not open Apple retail stores? Jobs thought.

Of course, there are lots of reasons why not, starting with cost and continuing on through the headache of managing retail employees and ending with pissing off your retailers. Although the first few concerns seem to be far outweighed with the fantastic success of the Apple stores ($2.35 billion in revenue for fiscal 2005, 17% of Apple's total sales), the last continues to be an issue. Several retailers have sued the computer company, claiming that Apple gives its own stores preference for hot new products.

Even more than sales, Apple stores seem to be a flashpoint for the company's avid (or would "avid" be a vast understatement?) customers and feature unique and iconic only-in-Apple designs. With Friday's upcoming unveiling of Apple's second Manhattan store under the GM building, the company will be stepping into 24-hour retail and certainly will become even more of a mecca for Apple enthusiasts everywhere. Doubting Thomases should only look to the company's stock price (up $0.25 on a bad day for the market) to see whether the market believes Jobs can pull off yet another unusual success.

[Photo of Manhattan Apple store Patricio00]

Writing in Wired today, Leander Kahney argues that Apple's stores are key to the company's success. "The stores are as important to Apple as the iPod or OS X when it comes to driving the public's extraordinary interest in the resurgent company -- though it's hard to say which is more important, because they're interrelated." As Leander notes, Apple says its stores are now making more than $1 billion in sales per quarter, and the company's 136 stores now account for about 17% of its total revenue.

Part of the attraction is simply the design of the stores, and indeed, Apple was one of five companies that won a Hot Retailer Award last year from ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers), which polled 3,126 mall managers and marketing directors in the U.S. and Canada. Looking forward, Apple has said it will open 40 stores in 2006. Two factors that I would keep in mind: rising commercial rents and the fickle nature of consumers. For instance, the Apple store in downtown Soho may be a gem, but I wonder how the design will look in, say, five years -- will it be outdated? And how much re-design does Apple plan to do on its stores? (Full disclosure: I have freelanced for ICSC).

[Photo of Apple store in Chicago io_burn]