RaduTyrsina
News Team
Apple is expanding the global reach of its retail stores, as part of a worldwide strategy to sell more devices from their own stores, instead of relying on carriers and third-party sellers. Apple has now confirmed on its website that the first retail store in Brazil will open on Saturday, February 15. The store will be located in Rio de Janeiro’s famous VillageMall luxury shopping center. The store will also be the first for Apple in Latin America.
Apple has made a similar move back in 2008, launching a retail store in Beijing to coincide with the Olympic Games. Now, Apple is making use of the same situation, as the start of the FIFA World Cup will be held in Rio during the months of June and July. So, Apple has enough time to train the first employees to work in the Store. Apple could even temporarily relocate several U.S. retail employees to work in the new venue.
Apple wanted initially to open the store in July, but it experienced difficulties in recruiting employees for its Brazilian store. Brazil is known to have hefty import taxes and that’s why Apple had to work closely with Foxconn to move some iPhone and iPad production to Brazil. The store will host a couple of workshops on opening days on various subjects related to iPhone, iPhoto, iPad, iCloud and the Numbers app.
Source: iPhoneforums
