Matching Apple Store Locations With Computer Use

Is there some correlation between Apple's retail store locations and figures released in Oct. 2005 on Internet use and computer ownership? Apparently so, even if it's entirely unintended.

None of the 7 bottom-ranked states has an Apple store. Oklahoma, the eighth lowest-ranked state, received an Apple store just last September.

The map below shows the states without an Apple store, and the just-released rankings (2003) by the Census Bureau for households with computer access, and households with a computer, as a percentage of the state's population. Please read the Census Bureau's report for their explanation of the various factors that influence the percentages.

As you can see, the Gulf Region states are particularly indicative of a connection between Apple's location decisions and computer/Internet use--four of the states rank at the very bottom of the 50 states and District of Columbia. New Mexico, West Virginia and South Carolina round out the bottom seven states. Oklahoma, the next lowest-ranked state, just opened an Apple store in September.

Most of the upper-west states without an Apple store actually score high or mid-level, mostly because their low population skews the Internet/computer-use percentage.

By the way, at the top end, Utah and Alaska are ranked #1 and #2, followed by New Hampshire and Washington state.

Having said this, do not imply that Apple relies on census data to determine the location of future stores. As I've detailed elsewhere, Apple builds stores based mostly on where known Mac customers live, in combination with a strategy of opening stores only in Tier 1 retail locations, along with a requirement to achieve profitability. Apparently some of these factors are mirrored in the Census Bureau figures, creating a cause-and-effect appearance.

The states in black do not have an Apple retail store. The numbers indicate the state's rank for household with Internet and computer access as of 2003. I've included figures for some southern states with an Apple store for comparison.

11-1-2005