New West Lake Apple Store is christened in China as large crowd gathers

A couple of days ago, we showed you a video released by Apple to promote the new West Lake Apple Store in Hangzhou, China. The video showed Wang Dongling, an artist who specializes in calligraphy, decorating the company's new retail location. Saturday morning, the store had its grand opening and a huge throng appeared to get in on the festivities.

Apple CEO Tim Cook took to his Twitter account and tapped out a rare tweet saying "Starting Something New in Hangzhou, China!" As you would expect, the latest addition to Apple's retail portfolio includes a Genius Bar and space to hold workshops on devices like the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad. Four more stores in China will open before the Chinese New Year commences on February 19th. Angela Ahrendts, Apple Senior Vice President of Retail, said that the company will open 25 new Apple Stores in the country before the end of next year.

Apple has been picking up market share in China, and is third behind Xiaomi and Lenovo with 12% of the Chinese smartphone market at last report. The larger screen sizes of the Apple iPhone 6 and Apple iPhone 6 Plus have helped Apple better compete in a country where low cost, large screened Android models have been the rage.


source: @tim_cook, AppleInsider