First official Apple Store in China opens in Beijing

Two customers check out the latest line of iPods at Beijing's Apple Store that opened on the weekend July 19, 2008. The computer maker's line of products is on display throughout the store so consumers can 'play-before-they-buy'. [Photo: chinadaily.com.cn]

The popular iPod TV commercials play on a huge video screen in the square facing the Apple Store in Sanlitun, Beijing July 19, 2008. Apple plans to open more stores in China over the next 12 months.[Photo: chinadaily.com.cn]

Hundreds of Apple Computer fans turned out for the opening of China's first Apple Store in Beijing at the weekend July 19, 2008. The two-storey retail outlet in Sanlitun has Apple's entire product line on display plus accessories to 'personalise' the purchases. [Photo: chinadaily.com.cn]

The luminescent Apple logo glows above China's first official Apple Store that opened at The Village shopping quarter in Sanlitun, Beijing, on the weekend July 19, 2008. The store is the first of two opening in the capital this year. [Photo: chinadaily.com.cn]

Staff chat with a consumer at the opening of Apple's first retail store in Sanlitun, Beijing on the weekend. Two dozen staff were at hand assisting people with 'everything Apple'. [Photo: chinadaily.com.cn]