Apple Inc. Going Deep into Samsung Territory with First Retail Store in S. Korea

Apple to open first store in South Korea

If Apple is a powerful company in the United States, Samsung holds a much more esteemed position in its home country of South Korea. It is one of the few family-owned businesses that has such a wide global reach and an equally wide product portfolio. Its chief smartphone rival, Apple Inc., has now taken the big leap and decided to open an Apple store in South Korea.

Earlier this week Reuters reported that Apple had posted openings for 15 jobs in Seoul, and a local news agency had published a report about construction being underway on Boulevard Road, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The source, South Korean media company Yonhap News Agency, said the work would be completed by November 2017.

It’s not clear why Apple waited so many years to enter Samsung’s home market. Logically speaking, they should have entered it as soon as Samsung made it to Apple’s own shores with its first smartphone models. Granted, it’s not an apples to apples comparison, but it would have been a statement of sorts for Apple.

Besides, even as early as 2015, Apple had a 33% of South Korea’s smartphone market. Moreover, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus caused an unprecedented frenzy in October when it was first made available in South Korea, with the largest stores seeing lines with 200 or more people.

Unfortunately, even the new store might not be ready in time for iPhone 8 launch in September, but they could push for an early opening considering South Korea is not exactly a minuscule market for smartphones, and there’s bound to be massive demand for next year’s 10th anniversary iPhone, the Apple “Ferrari” iPhone 8.

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