Dubai: Apple is on a hiring spree as it gears up to open its UAE store, which could be in the near future, although the company has not confirmed an opening date or the exact location.
The tech giant on Monday posted a number of job positions for a UAE retail store on its website, including business specialist, creative, inventory specialist, Apple store leader program, business manager, business leader, market leader, specialist, store leader, manager, expert and genius.
It did not, however, state the salaries for the jobs, nor divulge where the store would be located.
The company is reportedly preparing to open its largest store globally in Dubai or Abu Dhabi this year. Rumours about the store surfaced in February last year when chief executive Tim Cook was in Dubai to meet His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The new store would be the first for the company in the Middle East. In 2011, it launched the Apple Online Store UAE, which offers a range of products, such as iPhones, iPads, iPods and MacBooks.
Apple products are also sold by different authorised retailers in the UAE, such as Virgin Megastore and iStyle, which is a premium reseller.
“The Apple store would increase the visibility of Apple products. We believe that it will not only help the brand, but it will also help multi-branded retailers to increase their [Apple product] sales,” Mahesh Chotrani, assistant vice-president at consumer electronics retailer, Jacky’s, told Gulf News by phone.
He said that Apple’s iPhones represent between 8 and 10 per cent of the retailer’s smartphone sales.
Apple posted positive results for the first quarter of 2015, with a revenue of $74.6 billion (Dh274 billion) and a net profit of $18 billion, compared to the $57.6 billion in revenue and a net profit of $13.1 billion during the same period last year.
It expects its revenue to be between $52 billion and $55 billion, and operating expenses to be between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion in the second quarter of the year.
Apple’s retail stores are found in 16 countries worldwide.
