Earlier this year, Apple’s Retail power was at a standstill. It was reported that Apple had opened over 250 stores, eight per quarter the year before, but all of this suddenly came to a stop when Apple opened only one store in the 3rd quarter of its sales this year. Apple’s Retail domination had come to a screeching halt over the past summer, but now the gears have started up again and Apple Stores are popping up all over. Just yesterday, Apple opened its 4th retail store in Downtown, New York, being the 15th in the New York Metro area.

Their retail slump is out and stores are up and running again but could this be a sign that Apple’s products are heading downhill? As we saw in the 4th Quarter results, iPod sales had plummeted, bringing Apple’s total revenue down a small percentage. So in place of declining iPod sales, Apple could be making up some money by putting out more stores. More stores would mean more sales, but Apple’s innovation seems to be really be the problem.

They haven’t made much progress, they had the same old products for the past few quarters, updating small features like video recording and Voice Control. Apple needs something big to bring them back up, something like the iPhone to bring back some credibility. iPod sales are still going down, and we all know that it takes only one thing to affect every other product in the line. Innovation is what is lacking, and retail stores aren’t going to help that.