Techies line up outside new Apple store
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Shanghai is ready to get its first bite of the latest gadgets from Apple, as the US-company prepares to open its second store in China on Saturday.
Apple Store's in Pudong, China's second after Beijing's Sanlitun, features a design centered with a 40-foot glass cylinder, modeled after its flagship store in New York. Occupying an area of 1,500 square meters, it has the world's largest "Genius Bar", where customers can get technical assistance from Mac experts.
Kicking open the doors of the new Apple shop will be Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice-president of retail. Johnson pioneered the concept of the Apple Retail Stores and the Genius Bar.
Through the glass cylinder is the Apple logo, which was designed in California, and Johnson says it has some "Chinese flavor", as it was made here with local craftspeople and technology.
Shanghai's first store will be located in the city's financial center in Pudong's Lujiazui area. The store will include the world's first "Briefing Room", where office workers can enjoy free business workshops or get help finding the right technology solutions to meet their business needs.
The new store also boasts the widest variety of Apple products of any Apple Store worldwide, with 80 Mac computers, 100 iPods and 60 iPhones for visitors to experience hands-on.
The store has 175 employees.
"We have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to open this great store. It is the perfect time now for us to open Apple Pudong Store, as the two-year anniversary of Apple in Sanlitun on July 19 is near."
He said the company predicts this store may be one of the busiest in the world, as Chinese consumer confidence grows.
Johnson declined to say when the iPad and iPhone 4 will be released in the Chinese mainland.
"We are working on getting them here as soon as possible," he said.
Apple will open 25 stores in China before 2012, Johnson added.
"In the past 10 years, we have opened more than 200 Apple stores in the United States. We believe it is not a problem to open 25 stores within two years in China, as more Chinese customers are enthusiastic about our products," Johnson said.
Rumors abound that Apple may consider opening another store in Shanghai, located in the Hong Kong Plaza on Huaihai Road.
Several months ago at that location, construction billboards laced with Apple logos were seen, but now the billboards have all been changed to black.
Wang Hai, a security guard at the location of the rumored Apple Store, said he has seen foreigners enter in the morning and leave at dusk for some time. Wang recalled having seen large pieces of glass unloaded by cranes from high above.
"Those glass structures are said to cost 1.5 million yuan apiece, and they are unbreakable," said Wang.
According to Apple's second-quarter financial report released in April, the company's revenues in the China over the past six months have doubled to $1.3 billion.
Data from China Unicom, the only official iPhone seller authorized by Apple in China since October 2009, suggests that 100,000 iPhones were sold from October to Dec 10. In the subsequent 17 days, 300,000 iPhones were purchased, which means 10,000 iPhones were sold daily on average.
Long queues outside new Apple Store openings are already a common occurrence around the world.
In Beijing, Apple fans lined up for 22 hours to get to buy computers and gadgets in the Sanlitun store.
Meanwhile, in Shanghai, Qi Er, a 27-year-old office worker, took five days off work and is already first in line for the Saturday opening at the Apple Store Pudong.
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