Apple plans to reopen its retail stores in Austria and Australia sometime in the next one to two weeks, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said Thursday.
Cook told Blooomberg he believes that “just a few, not a large number” of stores in the United States will re-open in the first half of May.
Apple operates 22 stores across Australia and one store in Vienna, Austria.
Both countries have ranked among the lowest worldwide in terms of COVID-19 cases and deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Austria has had 15,452 confirmed cases and 584 deaths, while Australia has had 6,763 confirmed cases and 93 deaths.
Cult of Mac reported Tuesday that some 13 stores in the U.S. could reopen soon as Simon Property Group – the biggest mall owner in the United States – start operating 49 of its shopping centers in the next few days.
Cook said that Apple is “going to look at the data and make a decision city by city, county by county, depending on the circumstances in that particular place.”
He said he doesn’t think Apple will be the first retail storefront to reopen in any region.
Apple retail chief Deirdre O’Brien recently told staff she is targeting to reopen “many” stores in May. The company shuttered all 458 stores outside of China in March to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Apple reopened all 42 of its retail locations in China on March 13.
Cook also said all its Cupertino campus employees will remain working from home until at least early June. He said that it would open on a staggered basis with social distancing, temperature checks, and masks as standard procedure.
