Appletell recently reported on the rumor that Apple is going to open stores-within-a-store in 25 Target locations with the possibility of expanding across the country if they do well. Target has confirmed this will happen, but they may take a different form.

Not everyone is fortunate to live in areas that have a large enough population to warrant an Apple store being built. You can always buy online, but what if you want to see the product before you make your purchasing decision? If there’s a Target nearby, you may be in luck; Apple is rumored to be opening a store-within-a-store inside Target at certain locations later this year.

A recent Nielsen survey showed that the iPad is the most wanted gifts of this Christmas season. That may be why Apple has lowered the $499 starting price of the refurbished iPad 2. Starting today, Apple is offering the refurbished base iPad 2 16GB WiFi model for $419 dollars. For the higher capacity iPad 2, Apple is offering great discounts of $80 to $100. Buyers will still enjoy a one year warranty, and each refurbished product is thoroughly tested by Apple.

Apple has started selling the iPhone 4S without any contract commitments. The iPhone 4S unlocked models will cost $649 (16GB model), $749 (32GB model), and $849 (64GB model). Orders can be placed through Apple’s online store, and all models will start shipping within one to two weeks, according to estimates by Apple. As usual, Apple offers customers the choice to buy the iPhone 4S in either black or white.

We’re a half hour away from Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” media event, and the online Apple Store is now closed with the familiar “We’ll be back soon” sticky note. When it comes back up, will we all be ordering our new iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S? Both? How about the possibility of a new iPod touch or even a MacBook Air refresh? We’ll have to wait until later this afternoon to find out.

When you buy a participating product from the Apple Store, Apple Retail Store, or an Apple Authorized Campus Store you will also get a $100 Back to School Card to use at the Mac App Store, the iTunes Store, the App Store, and the iBookstore. You can also get up to a $100 rebate on a qualifying printer when you buy a new Mac in addition to the current education discounts.

Apple’s Store was offline for a few hours earlier this week and, as always, people investigated for any changes or additions. They discovered that now you can share the configuration for the Mac Pro and iPod classic on Facebook and Twitter. You use the pop-up menu on the select button that you use to configure that model.

Effective July 20th, Apple Computer has made some of its software available only through the online Apple Store. In addition, Apple has stopped preinstalled, configured-to-order software from both the Apple Store for Retailers and the online Apple Store. If you want to buy Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, iLife, iWork, Aperture, and Apple Remote Desktop you have to buy them through the online Apple Store.

You can now buy the first products to use the Thunderbolt technology from the Apple Store: an Apple Thunderbolt cable and an external RAID system from Promise called Pegasus (just be sure to download and install the recent Thunderbolt firmware update before you take advantage of these new products).

According to a new Apple support document, issues with the rubber bottom of the white unibody MacBook coming off will now be covered by the company free of charge through a replacement bottom case. The issue has been caused by the glue used with MacBooks that have been purchased between October of 2009 and April of this year.