Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Apple's London store plans extended hours following event; more

Apple plans to extend business hours at its London-based flagship retail store following Tuesday's press conference. Meanwhile, Best Buy is being stocked with the new iPod touch this weekend, NewsCorp. has a change of tone, talks are underway to bring the iPhone to Spain, and Apple has updated its iPhone credit terms.

Extended London Store Hours

Apple has called a press conference at its London-based flagship shop on Regent Street for next Tuesday. As a result, the store will not open to the public until 4:00 p.m. that day.

Employees of the store, however, have been asked to arrive at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday for a 90 minute briefing. They say Apple plans to extend the store hours till 10:00 p.m. that day and that employees will be asked to remain on site until 11:00 p.m.

Additionally, Apple at around 10:00 p.m. last night is said to have begun some modifications to the store's theater area. No further details were available. It's widely expected that the Cupertino-based company will use the press conference to divulge plans for its iPhone launch in Europe.

Best Buy gets Touch'd

Meanwhile, several Best Buy stores — Apple's new best friend in the retail business — began receiving their first shipments of Apple's new iPod touch player on Friday. A source at the retailer tells AppleInsider that all locations should have both the 8GB and 16GB models on sale over the weekend, or no later than Monday.

A change of tone for NewsCorp.

Over at NewsCorp., executives appear have tweaked their tone regarding iTunes video licensing talks with the iPod maker. President and chief operating officer Peter Chernin, who on Tuesday said his firm enjoyed a "perfectly good relationship with Apple," later told Reuters that the two companies have a "pretty limited relationship."

"[W]e'll see how it goes," he said. "I assume it will be prickly and dicey and contentious like all negotiations are and like all negotiations should be."

The

">change in tone

may spell trouble ahead for Apple, which, amid growing opposition from content providers, has failed to advance its iTunes video download service with any significant improvements since last fall. NBC Universal's recent decision not to renew its video licensing agreement with the electronics maker may have been the first sign of backwards progress.

Those sentiments were outlined in recent piece over at Forbes titled "the iFlop," where columnist Scott Woolley

">called out

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs for his failure to follow through on promises to evolve Apple TV into the future of television.

iPhone in Spain

Meanwhile, Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica SA has acknowledged that it is in talks with Apple over the right to sell the iPhone in Spain. On Wednesday, Spanish news agency Efe quoted Telefonica's Chairman, Cesar Alierta, on the matter, adding that Apple is sealing exclusive contracts to sell iPhone with only one operator in each country

$100 iPhone credit good for iTunes gift cards

Finally, Bloomberg reports that Apple incorrectly stated Friday that its $100 iPhone credit couldn't be used towards the purchase of iTunes gift cards and has since updated its terms. While it remains true that users can't add the credit directly to their existing iTunes accounts, they can use it to purchase new gift cards, the publication said.