Asymco analyst Horace Dediu does a very good job of dissecting the Apple financial data released publicly to discover trends and tidbits of information. Today Dediu looked into Apple's international retail strategy and pulled out some tasty nuggets about Apple Stores.
Apple's rate of store openings is surprisingly slow, but Dediu goes on to point out that sales outside of Apple's retail channel are a much higher portion of the total of the total than they were in 2007. The percentage of sales from Apple Stores has actually dropped from 17 percent in 2007 to 12 percent in 2012.
Dediu points out that while the most current Apple Stores are in the Americas, the company's strategy is to open more stores in other markets.