Apple to open first store in India next month

The company has unveiled a barricade around the outside of the two stores, which is covered in Arabic calligraphy.

The Mall of the Emirates Apple Store in Dubai will hold its grand opening festivities at 4 p.m. local time on October. 29, to be followed by Abu Dhabi’s Yas Mall location at 7 p.m. Regular operating hours for both stores will be from 10 a.m.to 10 p.m., Monday through Wednesday, and 10 a.m.to 11:59 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday.

The store openings have been rumored for months, after Apple advertised for retail jobs in the region.

Apple declined to give further details; it has been widely speculated that the Dubai Apple Store would be the largest in the world, but nothing has been confirmed regarding this. This will be done in partnership with the Croma retail stores, who will basically dedicate space to Apple within their stores.

There is a possibility that at one of the upcoming Apple event, where Tim Cook walks up to the stage and showcases a new Apple Store, that he would be talking about a store in India.

During the “reveal” of the Mall of the Emirates’ $1 billion extension on September 28, the mall’s management had chosen to remain tight-lipped about the Apple Store.

The Abu Dhabi store will open in the Yas Mall, located on a man-made island.

We had asked Michael Cesarz, the CEO of Shopping Malls at Majid Al Futtaim Properties, about why Apple Store wasn’t part of the line-up, but he said he “will not comment because it leads to speculation”.

In August, The National reported the UAE was a target market for the technology giant. “We launched the Apple Online Store, UAE in 2011 and it’s one of our fastest-growing markets around the world”.

In terms of gender, men in the UAE prefer Apple while women like Samsung. Google is ranked No. 1 in the lower socio-economic level and, interestingly, Apple is ranked only once, at No. 2 in the moderate socio-economic level.