The first Apple store was scheduled to open in Mumbai later this year, but has now been officially delayed because of the current Covid-19 pandemic and public health situation.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
- India’s first physical Apple store is coming to Mumbai
- Store opening has been delayed by the pandemic
- Apple has yet to announce a new date
- Apple previously opened its online store in India
Apple Mumbai delayed over COIVD-198 fears
Apple currently relies on its online store and a franchise retail network to push its products to customers in India.
After years of waiting, Apple fans in India were supposed to get their first physical Apple store in Mumbai, a 20 million people city that is the country’s second-most populous city after Delhi and the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra.
But COVID-19 fears and the current health situation in the country have prompted Apple’s leadership to delay store opening until further notice. The company did not provide a new date.
Apple has confirmed the delay to The Indian Express:
In October 2019, real estate sources told the Economic Times that Apple’s first brick-and-mortar retail store in India will be a 25,000 square foot flagship location in Mumbai’s Maker Maxity mall. A three-story store will reportedly dedicate one floor to an experience center of some kind, r floor for retailing and the top for a service center.
The Cupertino company says the Mumbai store will provide the same experience and care that Apple fans around the world have grown accustomed to. Apple has worked with the Indian government and Prime Minister Modi and his team for years on breaking down barriers to India’s first Apple retail store.
Apple has been operating its online store in India since September 20202.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in this January’s earnings call with Wall Street investors and analysts that Apple in 2020 had managed to move over a million devices in India for the first time.