AppleInsider Staff
Forging ahead with an aggressive retail expansion into China, Apple on Thursday announced it will open the doors to a new Xiamen Apple Store on Jan. 14, the company's 30th in the region.
Apple picked SM Lifestyle Center shopping mall as home for the coastal city's first Apple Store. The company announced the upcoming opening through its Chinese webpage just two days before another brick-and-mortar store is set to open in Shenyang.
Like other contemporary in-mall Apple Stores, the Xiamen location boasts ample sales floor space, a Genius Bar and an area for Workshops. There are a few classes scheduled for Friday, Jan. 15, including basic lessons covering iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch hardware, as well as Apple ID and iCloud.
When it opens, the Xiamen outlet will be the 30th Apple Store to open in mainland China, a market of extreme importance to future Apple growth. Apple promised to expand retail operations in the region by building 40 Apple Stores by mid-2016. In 2015 alone, new stores popped up in Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Nanjing and more.
CEO Tim Cook anticipates China will become his company's largest market, surpassing existing strongholds like the U.S. and the UK. For Apple's last fiscal quarter of 2015, Greater China generated $12.5 billion in revenue for the company, up 99 percent year over year.
After a grand opening on Thursday, Jan. 14, the Xiamen SM Lifestyle Center Apple Store will hold normal operating hours from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
5 Comments
China will likely soft land the economy, there is no better time then now to invest into China for the next 10 - 25 years. Hopefully they could get at least 100 stores opened in China within the next 2 years.
Why is Apple doing this? The analyst, pundits, and negative nellies say Apple is doomed. /s
Great news. Hope the China does not totally go into the tank.
The reason Apple is opening stores in China is very clear. This is where the company intends to dump all its excess inventory, in big bins with flashing blue lights over them. They are rushing to get enough stores open to take up all the inventory when sales of the iPhone abruptly halt everywhere else around the world. This is what Tim Cook meant when he said China will be Apple's biggest market. /s