Such an irony it has been. The place which literally gives births to almost every semiconductor chip out there, did not have a single flagship store of one of its industries’ biggest consumer — Apple. Well the irony is ending.
Apple is now all set to set up its first official Apple Store in Taiwan. According to the company’s Taiwan website, the Apple Store will be in Taipei 101 – the most landmark skyscraper Taiwanese folks have ever built.
The store will be decorated with papercut art by Yang Shiyi, whose work is already featured on a sign marking the shop’s future location. This was revealed when Apple’s CEO Tim Cook tweeted with a photo.
Here comes Apple Taipei 101, our first store in Taiwan! 有閒來坐! pic.twitter.com/hniIt9K3Xa
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 11, 2017
While the company has not yet announced the official date of store’s opening, local newspaper Apple Daily (unrelated to Apple) speculates that the store will be operational by the end of this month.
Apple users in Taiwan had to rely on the company’s official website site or visit authorized re-sellers like Youth, Studio A, and iStore to buy products. With the opening of the official store, users will have direct access to the products.
Ironically, Apple’s key suppliers, which also includes Foxconn, are headquartered in Taiwan with operating factories in China. Though, the company had no official offline stores in the country.
It seems that Apple is now focusing on expanding its offline presence with Apple Stores to give its users consistent experience. Recently, Apple also launched its first store in Singapore and is preparing to open one in South Korea.
Apple is also keen on expanding its presence in India. The California-based company has already started production of iPhone SE in India. A couple of months ago, we reported that Apple has opened up new 100 small stores under the franchise mode in India.
These stores are currently in the pilot phase and are established under a fresh initiative eyeing a six-fold expansion of such outlets in the country by the next year. With such move, Apple is aiming at taking on established players such as Samsung and other Chinese competitors.
