On Friday, Apple published a new page on their website mentioning that the company created or supported over 500,000 U.S. jobs through its business. The exact number of jobs used by Apple was 514,000 jobs, which they divided into two groups: 304,000 jobs directly tied to Apple and its business partners and another 210,000 jobs that are part of the “iOS app economy”.

The total number of jobs created or supported includes 47,000 Apple employees and another 257,000 employees from companies such as Samsung, Corning, FedEx, and UPS which supply Apple with products and services. The 257,000 employees that Apple highlighted was not direct numbers but were determined through “employment multipliers” published by the U.S. government and applied to Apple’s domestic expenditures.

With more than 550,000 apps and more than 24 billion downloads in less than four years, the App Store has created an entirely new industry: iOS app design and development.

The “App Economy” was also reported as a source of job creation, paying out over $4 billion to developers during the last four years of the App Store’s existence. The App Store sparked a whole new smartphone app industry, adding 210,000 new jobs.

Prior to the App Store, applications weren’t seriously considered to be a lucrative market. The App Store has created many jobs and markets, from developers and marketers, to app reviewers. As Apple continues to grow into the economy and increases its number of employees, the company will continue to use ‘job creation’ as a very smart marketing strategy to draw awareness and customers to their brand.

{via MacRumors}

A comment made on Best Buy’s Canadian website by one of its employees has confirmed that the retailer is set to bring Apple’s iPad 2 to its Canadian stores on Friday, March 25th at 10am. The site admin – who has been confirmed as a Best Buy employee – warned that there would be no pre-orders, and that devices would be sold on a first come, first served basis:

Was confirmed by my store manager. We will be selling them at 10am Friday when we open. It’s first come first serve and there WILL be a line up. If we are doing the same thing as last year we will be handing out a piece of paper which you will fill out telling us which ipad you want, size, color ect..

Unsurprisingly, the employee also warns that there will be lines, and that a ticket system would be exercised during the launch to sort through orders. However, Canadians should take some comfort from the experience Best Buy has gained from its U.S. launch, where customers waited in lines for hours just to be told that the few iPad 2s the retailer did have in stock had sold out. It’s believed that Best Buy’s iPad 2 launch in Canada will go much more smoothly.

There’s currently no word on how many devices customers will be able to buy from Canadian Best Buy stores, however, it’s expected customers will be limited to two devices each the same as those in the U.S

As for the iPad 2 launch elsewhere in the world, there’s no news of delays, so launches internationally should go ahead as planned. A report from TechRadar, which quotes an Apple spokesperson, confirms that the device is still planned for a U.K. launch on March 25th.