Dubai: The Middle East’s first Apple stores officially opened in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
In Dubai and Abu Dhabi, residents and tourists flocked to the Apple stores in Mall of the Emirates and Yas Mall.
Crowds queued at the doors for hours waiting for the grand opening to get a hold of everything from the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to the Apple Watch and Beats headphones.
Angela Ahrendts, senior vice-president of retail and online stores at Apple, attended the Dubai store’s opening.
The outlets feature more than 150 products including Apple Watches, iPhones, MacBook Pros, Beats headphones, iPads, iMacs, Apple TVs and select third-party accessories.
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Live Blog
Gulf News brings you live updates from the openings of Apple stores in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Reporting by Sarah Algethami, Sarah Gamal and Scott Shuey
8.30pm: The store is packed with Apple aficionados -- and there's a serpentine queue of people outside the outlet waiting for their turn to get inside.
7.34pm: The iWatch seems to be getting more attention, with many customers trying on different designs.
7.30pm: The first customer in line has made the first purchase at the Apple store -- an iPhone 6s in gold.
7.17pm: The Apple store is already bustling with customers, but so many more are customers are waiting outside.
7.00pm: People cheer as Apple store opens at Yas Mall, Abu Dhabi. First customer in line is 14-year-old Albert Jokelin who has been waiting in line for six hours.
6.40 pm: There's an air of excitement as people form a beeline to the entrance of the Apple store in Abu Dhabi's Yas Mall prior to the 7pm opening.
This is the second Apple store to open in the UAE in a single day. The first outlet, at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, opened at 4pm.
Here's the scene outside #Apple store I'm #AbuDhabi's #YasMall pic.twitter.com/EaNJKXJT22— Gulf News (@gulf_news) October 29, 2015
People and Apple store staff cheer as the outlet opens in Abu Dhabi.
5.46pm: Opening of the Apple Store in Dubai wraps up
The opening of the Apple Store in Dubai's Mall of the Emirates has been wrapped up.
It is one of two of Apple's first stores in the Middle East. The other store is set to open in Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi on Thursday at 7pm.
The opening of the Dubai Apple Store seems to have been successful. Hundreds of people were in the store viewing a range of products from the iPhones and iPads to Macbook Pros and Beats headphones.
Many people are still queuing outside the store.
Gulf News will cover the opening of the Abu Dhabi store here.
4.15pm: Apple employees are still welcoming customers into the store 15 minutes after the official opening.
The #Apple welcome. #AppleStoreUAE live pic.twitter.com/UbKu1v5GBM— Gulf News (@gulf_news) October 29, 2015
4pm: At 4pm exactly, Apple employees, lead Angela Ahrendts and chanting 'Dubai team!', opened the new store. The first customer was carried through on the employee's shoulders. And it's open!
3.58pm: Apple's Angela Ahrendts, global head of Apple retail and online sales, is here for the opening. We can't see her, but we can hear the chants of Angela! An-Gel-a!
3.55pm: The lucky customer who is first in line for the store opening, below.
3.41pm: It is wall-to-wall Apple fans in Mall of the Emirates' centre atrium. Crowds are made up of people here for the opening and those just looking on.
Apple Store employees are rallying crowds in advance of the store opening with cheering and chanting to get people fired up.
You can here their chants throughout the atrium.
3.18pm: Massive crowds have gathered in front of the Apple Store in Mall of the Emirates ahead of its 4pm launch.
Young and old form a beeline to the Apple store prior to the 4pm opening, Thursday. Picture: Zarina Fernandez
Dubai: Apple will open its first retail stores in the Middle East in Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates and Abu Dhabi’s Yas Mall today.
Ahmed bin Saeed opens world’s biggest Apple store and the first in the Middle East in #Dubai at Mall of the Emirates pic.twitter.com/WrYB2ofTPK— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) October 29, 2015
The Apple store in Dubai will open at 4pm, while the Abu Dhabi store will open at 7pm. Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of retail and online stores, is expected to attend the opening of the store in Dubai.
Love being back in the UAE, where we will open our first Apple stores in Dubai and Abu Dhabi tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/yP8havtxRe— Angela Ahrendts (@AngelaAhrendts) October 28, 2015
The Dubai store offers more than 150 products including Apple Watches, iPhones, iMacs, Beats headphones, iPads, Apple TVs and select third-party accessories. It offers services offered by Apple worldwide, including free daily workshops, special events and year-round programmes for children.
(Blog entries by Gulf News business reportera)
