Apple has revealed that it will be opening its first store in Taiwan in the near future. The store will be located at the Taipei 101 skycraper and will take up space on both the basement level and the ground floor. The combined floor space will be approximately 1,322 square meters. Taipei 101 is the fourth tallest building in the world and is in the Xinyi District of Taiwan’s capital city.
“Taiwan’s first Apple Store will soon open in Taipei! Apple Store – Taipei 101 will provide a space for people to experience Apple’s full range of products and services; At the same time, for people to come together to create, share and learn,”
Authorized resellers
While the specific opening date has not been set, a Taiwanese publication has speculated that it could happen as soon towards the end of this month. Currently, Apple sells its range of products such as iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, Mac desktop and laptop computers via third-party resellers. Apple also sells to its Taiwanese customers directly online. Some of the Apple authorized resellers in Taiwan include iStore, Studio A and Youth.
So far there are about 495 Apple stores spread across 17 countries around the globe. The United States takes the lion’s share of the stores having 270 of them while the remainder is distributed in the rest of the world. In the greater China area, Apple has more than 40 retail stores with five of them located in Hong Kong and about 41 retail stores located in Mainland China. Most of these stores are stationed in MixC and Galaxy shopping malls.
Recruitment of employees
Apple’s plans to open a retail store in Taiwan first came to the fore in 2016 when it posted ads for various positions include business leader, store leader, manager, expert and genius. This came at a time after Apple had raised in a bond offering approximately $1.38 billion in Taiwan. The absence of an Apple retail store in Taiwan has been ironic since majority of the key suppliers to Apple such as Foxconn are headquartered on the island.