Filed under: Retail
Photos from AppleStore Beijing
Apple opened its first Chinese store last Friday, just in time for the opening of the Olympic Games on August 8th. Unlike their counterparts in London, the queuers didn't appear to need chairs for comfort, but umbrellas were useful for keeping the heat at bay.
According to our tipster in Beijing, the store sells all Apple products except iPhones, which have not yet been officially launched there yet.
Chris Evers also took some pictures of the opening, which you can see on a MobileMe gallery here.
UPDATE: That MobileMe photo gallery appears to be unavailable right now. We'll leave the link in place in the hope that it comes back up soon. Thanks to the commenters who alerted us to the breakage.
Thanks to Zach Honig for the tip and the main photo.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brian said 10:59AM on 7-21-2008
the mobile me link is down.
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Eric said 11:04AM on 7-21-2008
That gallery is down...doesnt work
FAIL
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Mikey said 11:09AM on 7-21-2008
Wow... That's a nice fish.
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Murphy Mac said 12:05PM on 7-21-2008
Can't wait to see how this store does. Time for Murphy to hire a China-based station chief.
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boshi said 1:04PM on 7-21-2008
Good to see the 1% of the population in China who will ever make enough money in their lives to afford one are happy about the iPhone. Then again, 1% of 1 billion is still 10 million...
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FreeRange said 3:18PM on 7-21-2008
This really is an ignorant comment. There is an incredible growing middle class in China, currently estimated at about $100 million people, that is expected to increase to 700 million by 2020 (McKinsey), and these are consumers that can well afford Apple products today. In fact, you have car sales in China increasing in double digits over the last several years. (Some areas have seen 50% growth in auto ownership. In Beijing alone there are over 350,000 personal autos added a year.) There is also a booming real estate market and continued economic expansion that is in double digits year after year - millions upon millions of Chinese consumers are enjoying Apple and other foreign consumer products like never before.
Tim said 4:06PM on 7-22-2008
Free Range? You just said there are 100 million dollar people in China. But that is a very valid point. China has a growing middle class that will be able to spend money on things like nice computers and so on. The Apple Store just confirms that. I'd say it's more an economic and environmental issue than one that should be discussed and debated on this blog, though.
SUGAR GROVE said 6:23PM on 7-21-2008
I dont think the umbrellas were used to keep out of the sun since there are no shadows reflecting that it was sunny. I do believe it was to keep prying eyes from the Chinese governmnet from watching who the buyers might be.
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fedek said 10:11AM on 7-22-2008
omg i cant believe how the web is filled with stupids, so these umbs work? they feel so much safer now!