Apple Inc. opened its long-awaited first amass in Hong Kong on Saturday, with thousands of fans of the computer and gadget maker heavy in on the first day.Some Apple enthusiasts had camp out for nearly two days to secure a place at the head of the line and be among the first to walk from side to side the doors of the new store.The store is located on two floors connected by a glass spiral staircase in Hong Kong's upscale International fiscal Center Mall, in the city's central business district.The Cupertino, California-based company's foodstuffs are wildly popular in mainland China. The Hong Kong store up follows the opening of a third Shanghai store on Friday as the company boosts its presence in a key souk. It also has two stores in Beijing."I've always wanted to participate in this brand of event, to enjoy the atmosphere. It's cool," said 17-year-old Liu Jia-rong, a high school student starting Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong in mainland China. Liu said he ha d been in the making for the day that an Apple store would open in close proximity to his home. He was one of the first to enter the store after joining the line at about 4 p.m. Friday.The first person in line arrived a little bit on Thursday evening, according to security guards.Store staff hand out free T-shirts to the first 5,000 people in line, which snaked out the mall and over a long footbridge to nearby commuter boat piers. Some 300 people have been hired to staff the store, one of 30 that the company diplomacy to open in the current quarter."I don't want to buy anything, I in point of fact have everything already. I just want to feel the knowledge," said Henry Men Youngfan, a 27-year-old doctoral student who owns an iPhone, a Macbook Pro, an iPod Shuffle and an iPad. He travel from his home in Beijing for the event, the fourth gap of an Apple store he has attended.Apple executives said earlier this year that China was "very key" to Apple's record earnings and revenue in the quarter that ended in June.Revenue was up more than six times from a year earlier to $3.8 billion in the Greater China region, which also includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, Apple's chief operating officer, Timothy Cook, said in July."I firmly believe that we're just scratching the surface right now. I think there is an incredible opportunity for Apple there," Cook said at the time.However, analysts noted that Apple is far short of an ambitious goal set by executives early last year of opening 25 stores in the region by the end of 2011"China is a place with big potential, and that's probably why Apple is investing in this place and trying to ramp up their marketing and sales efforts," said Sandy Shen, a Shanghai-based research director at Gartner Inc.Shen said the new Hong Kong store may put a small dent in the city's "gray market" for Apple products, which is thriving because there is not enough contribute to satisfy the huge demand for iPads and iPhones. A matching mark et has sprung up with shops selling Apple devices originally bought in other countries such as the United States and brought in by couriers to be resold at hefty premium.
???????
沒有留言:
張貼留言