In advance of the opening of Apple’s massive 50,000-square-foot retail space at the Mall of the Emirates this Thursday, Gulf Business has gotten a sneak preview of the company’s debut United Arab Emirates store — showing a leafy open-plan oasis carrying the new Jony Ive-designed Apple Store interior.
Check out more pictures below.
Photo: Gulf Business
According to the publication, the store will feature 150 products, including the new iPhone 6s and Apple Watch.
Apple was recently given permission to open the store after it was granted the necessary permit to retain 100 percent control of the retail venue, despite being a U.S. company. Normally any business operating in the United Arab Emirates must be majority owned by Emiratis.
Apple first opened its Online Store U.A.E. in 2011. Last year, Tim Cook visited the country, where he was spotted meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum to scout possible locations for brick-and-mortar Apple Stores. A second Apple Store is due to follow in Abu Dhabi, at the newly opened Yas Mall.
Source: Gulf Business
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
4 responses to “Apple’s first Dubai store is a desert oasis of tech”
All these articles about how Apple is a failing company and yet they’re constantly opening up new stores and hiring more employees. That honestly doesn’t seem like a dying company to me.
I give it six months, personally. Don’t you know that massive profits and new stores are a surefire predictor for going out of business?
The GLA of the new MoE Apple Store is 16,059 sq ft. Not the much publicised 50,000 sq ft
I don’t like those trees inside but I think it’s mainly because of those rounded flower pots, they’re so ugly :/