Needham & Company analyst Charles Wolf noted recently that Apple’s retail stores appear not to be translating enough foot traffic into sales for the venture to be profitable, according to The New York Times [free subscription required]. Wolf believes that at least 2 percent of visitors to the stores must buy computers in order for the stores to be a success. Apple reported seeing 800,000 visitors to its stores in December, and reported an average annualized per store revenue of about $10 million during the fourth quarter.
