Apple hits record revenue per store visitor, says analyst

Apple stores continue to outpace the rest of the retail industry in sales per customer.The company took in record revenue per visitor of $57.60 during the first quarter, mobile analyst Horace Dediu said Monday in his Asymco blog. That's up from $51.75 per visitor in the first quarter of 2012.At the same time, the number of visitors rose by 7 percent from the prior year's first quarter. And the average revenue per Apple store reached $13 million for the quarter, its highest number ever for a non-holiday quarter, Dediu noted.The average number of visitors per store hit 250,000 per quarter (averaged over the prior 12 months) -- a healthy leap from 170,000 visitors per store per quarter three years back. More space in new stores and renovations in older stores may be the reason behind this jump in visits, Dediu speculated. Looking at sales per square foot in the United States, Apple did twice as well as second-place Tiffany and three times as well as third-place Lululemon Athletica.Overall, Apple stores are now ringing up a profit of around $12 per visitor per quarter, Dediu added.

Apple hires Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve

It appears that Apple will soon be taking tips from a fashion insider. The tech giant officially announced that it hired Paul Deneve -- the former CEO of luxury fashion goods company Yves Saint Laurent -- to work on "special projects," according to Bloomberg."We're thrilled to welcome Paul Deneve to Apple," Apple told Bloomberg. "He'll be working on special projects as a vice president reporting directly to Tim Cook."Earlier Tuesday, AppleInsider reported on a tip it received that Deneve had been hired. The news source speculated that Deneve may be filling John Browett's shoes. Browett resigned from his position as Apple's retail chief last fall and the company has yet to hire his replacement. However, according to Bloomberg, Deneve won't be working on retail.It's unclear what "special projects" entails. It could mean that Deneve might be working on Apple's design side or even on the company's rumored iWatch. During an interview at the D11 conference in May, Cook said that he finds wearable computing "profoundly interesting", but that "you have to convince people it's so incredible you want to wear it." Cook pointed out that most young people don't wear watches, so it would be the company's job to make them appealing.CNET contacted Apple for comment. We'll update the story when we get more information.