Apple closed all stores in the world but reopened in China

Prior to the unpredictable events of the Covid-19 pandemic, Apple will close all retail stores around the world outside of China.

The information was confirmed by CEO Tim Cook on March 13. Accordingly, all Apple stores around the world will be closed from now until March 27 to prevent the spread of the virus. This is the first time Apple has made such a large-scale store closure.

The move comes just a day after Apple reopened its entire store in China after a month of closure.

Apple CEO said in the press release that the "lesson" to prevent effective translation from China is to reduce the gathering in crowded places, maximizing the gap between individuals.

While the Covid-19 epidemic in China has been somewhat stable, European countries and the US are becoming new epidemics as the number of infections and deaths increases sharply day by day. Apple has closed stores in Italy and Spain, and now every store in the world.

"Until now, all Apple stores in China have been operating again. I would like to thank the management, the partners for their continuous efforts to restore the supply chain. The lessons learned have helped them." We offer the best way to respond to global problems, "Tim Cook said.

"One of them is an effective response to reduce the risk of virus infection, reduce the concentration of people and minimize the distance between individuals," Apple CEO added.

During the time the retail store is closed, users can still make purchases on Apple's official website or the Apple Store app on iOS. Customers who need support will contact via Apple's website.

In addition, employees at stores are still paid hourly, maintaining a leave policy that is consistent with the personal and family health situation as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic, including recovery from illness, take care of sick, isolated or children relatives.

The outbreak of Covid-19 has affected all aspects of Apple, including personnel, supply chain, sales, product launch plans ...

On the morning of March 14 (Vietnam time), Apple officially confirmed that the WWDC 2020 Global Developer Conference in June will be reported live to millions of developers around the world. In addition, the launch event of iPhone 9 and iPad Pro 2020 scheduled to be held in late March is also delayed.

Data from the Chinese government shows that Apple sold only 494,000 iPhones in February, down 60% from the same period last year (1.27 million) and less than a quarter of pre-Tet sales.

Apple forecasts first-quarter revenue of 2020 will reach $ 63-67 billion thanks to the best-selling iPhone 11 line during the holiday season at the end of 2019. However, Apple acknowledges that it cannot reach that target due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 outbreak. .