Apple Opening First Retail Store in China

[MacRumors]

from WSJ's China Journal
On July 19th, Apple is opening its first retail store in China in Beijing's Sanlitun entertainment district. The store opens at 10 a.m. local time.

"This is the first of many stores we will open in China," said Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of retail, in remarks at the store. He later added that Apple will open stores "in Beijing, in Shanghai and beyond," and confirmed that another store will open in Beijing's Qianmen area, a shopping street south of Tiananmen Square that has been renovated ahead of the Olympic Games, which begin next month.

The store carries the same design as Apple's other retail stores but with a multilingual Genius bar. Since Apple has not yet negotiated a distribution deal with Chinese carriers, the iPhone will not be available initially. Apple's presence in China was reportedly minimal before the iPod's introduction about 5 years ago, but Apple appears to be continuing to expand their international retail push. This will be their 219th retail store worldwide.

The Wall Street Journal's China Journal provides photos from the new store.

Article Link

[tjcampbell]

Won't most people just get stuff from their friend that works at the factory?

[donga]

Originally Posted by tjcampbell

Won't most people just get stuff from their friend that works at the factory?

haha, yeah, but there's still ton$ of people who'll just pay for it.

[Sirobin]

Heh, I can totally see at the stores, once the iPhone launches, "Shoot, we're out of phones. Somebody go next store and get more"

[ravenvii]

Originally Posted by Sirobin

Heh, I can totally see at the stores, once the iPhone launches, "Shoot, we're out of phones. Somebody go next store and get more"

or "****, we're out of phones. Somebody go grab some fakes - nobody will know the difference!"

[DocGrover]

Lucky Chinese, I have to admit with quite a bit of envy.....
It's quite hard to believe that China gets numerous Apple Stores before we do here in Germany where there isn't a single one yet. Okay, we have Gravis, but that's by far not the same......

[TwinCities Dan]

Awesome News! Go Apple!

[teflon]

Yeah about time!
iPods are actually quite popular in Beijing, especially since they have a huge amount of foreign population.

[NDLaHam]

This is great news! I have been in Hangzhou, China for 7 weeks and started to realize they don't have Apple stores. No where. 99 percent of all people here use PC's too so this is a good way to spread the market share a little to Apple. Also the only Macs and iPods I did find here were was more expensive then the United States.

[cheungpat]

When could I see an Apple Store in Hong Kong? I hope Hong Kong would be next. (Next to Shanghai, apparently.)

[QuantumLo0p]

I wonder what sort of back doors China will force Apple to put in? (Above what is there now)

[onigami]

Originally Posted by guifa

Even disregarding the current dollar's slide, the Euro is overvalued at the moment. Undervalued (maybe) dollar and overvalued Euro, these prices seem okay.

The dollar is not undervalued. Spending on the military and the elderly has sent the budget deficit (and, subsequently, the national debt) to an all-time high. Increases in debt devaluate a currency. The euro is not so much overvalued than it is attempting to exploit this problem. Unless the next president can balance the budget, it's unlikely things will change.

Originally Posted by QuantumLo0p

I wonder what sort of back doors China will force Apple to put in? (Above what is there now)

Yeah, I agree. It's revolting that any company would deal with these scum. Only way you can get a non-"clean" computer (that is, one without several backdoors and their cutesy "internet police") is if you work for the hacker corps that hack the US DoD and UK MoD for the PLA.

I will laugh wholeheartedly the moment something goes wrong 080808. It's almost necessary. The look on those CPC officials' faces will be worth it.

(of course, I'm just restraining myself)

[gcmexico]

bring on Apple Mexico and Ecuador!!!!

[twoodcc]

wow, now this is big! and more stores coming also. i think this is great for apple

[Marvy]

I think Apple will do well in China. While there are obviously many products (and fakes) much cheaper than Apple products in the PRC, it seems to me that the so-called snob-effect is sweeping the new Chinese upper middle-class, just as it did in the Western culture not too long ago.

People will buy things that are much more expensive, simply because they are more expensive, and people would like to identify with this newly found luxury. It is the only way I can explain the very crowded Haagen-Dasz ice cream restaurants, where a scoop of ice cream can cost 50 times as much as another place nearby.

This is by no means criticism. In fact I find it quite understandable. I think, if Apple manages to create a sleek and luxurious environment in Apple Stores, people will go for it.

[apple.]

this look like a really nice apple retail store!

[Rot'nApple]

Well I'm gonna, well not complain, but comment on the fact that those few pictures of the Apple store I have seen seem rather small, square foot wise, for a store in a country with a population of 1.3 billion (est). I thought the store might have been a little larger for the sheer population fact to accommodate larger numbers of possible Apple store visitors. Never having been to China, is the store located in a heavily populated and trafficked spot, that its size might present a problem? Of course one can always wait in line...

[WildCowboy]

Moderator Note: This thread is not for discussion of communism, socialism, or human rights issues. If you would like to discuss issues that are appropriate for our Politics, Religion, and Social Issues forum, please start a thread there. Thanks.