Despite Apple’s unequaled revenue stream, and its ability to usually smash quarterly estimates, not all is hunky dory in Cupertino. According to MacRumors, the company is cutting back significantly in retail channels, with recent hires in the firing line. The company is either laying the employees off altogether or severely cutting back on part-time staff hours.
The report comes after the company instituted a pretty big pay raise for employees, so the news coming out of MacRumors suggests the ship is still not quite set.
According to one report, all employees at a certain store in the United Kingdom with less than six months of service have been laid off, including a group that had been hired only one month ago and had just completed their training program. New hiring has also been halted, and internal company transfers between stores have been placed on hold.
Apple’s retail stream is one of its most lucrative forms of income, and the company already has a ton of cash reserves, so it’s unclear why the moves are being made. As with any store, traffic fluctuates depending on the time of year, so interest is likely to pick up once the new iPhone hits in September. Still, it’s unnerving to read about any company, big or small, letting employees go.
Perhaps Apple should focus its resources on something outside of the courtroom, and maybe its hardworking staff could keep their jobs.
[via MacRumors]
