Good news for Apple fans in Israel: The tech giant will open its first official licensed store in the Duty Free at Ben Gurion International Airport.
The Apple store will be opened as a small concept store inside electronics shop A.L.M. already in two weeks’ time, with the goal of opening before the launch of iPhone 6 in Israel at the end of the month.
Apple will have its own store salesperson, however, since the approval is for a single employee, A.L.M employees will man the station the rest of the time.
Apple will sell all its products in the shop: iPhones imported by C-Data, and MacBooks imported by iDigital.
As far as Apple in concerned, the Duty Free is neutral territory in which it can market its products. The reason Apple chose to open a concept store within another store instead of opening its own store is that A.L.M. has franchise agreements allowing it to operate electronics stores in the Duty Free.
The story was originally reported by Geekster.
Official representation
A few weeks ago it was reported that Apple is opening an official marketing and sales office in Israel. Nir Ayalon, who has been handling Apple's business in Israel from the company's London headquarters, will manage the office. Ayalon also worked off and on in the company's offices in Herzliya.
The new office is expected to boost Apple's business, mainly in sales of its mobile computers, which have not had much success in Israel. Samsung, LG, Asus, and Toshiba have opened offices in Israel in recent years. Some of these companies replaced their importers, invested more in marketing, and managed to launch their products simultaneously with their global launch. In addition, opening an official office is likely to improve the connection with the company headquarters.
Apple regards the Israeli market as important, mainly for research and development. The company has 600 employees in its offices in Ra'anana, Herzliya, and Haifa. Apple will soon open new offices in Herzliya Pituah, where most of its employees will work. The company's new marketing and sales office will also be in Herzliya.
Apple has been making Hebrew-language versions of its products for a long time. In addition to its operating system for computers, smart phones, and tablets, it has also launched a word processor in Hebrew (Pages). It is also the only company with a special store with music and movies for Israeli customers.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 6, 2014
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