[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4bQxN-bXFQ]
After a long build up, Apple’s first Eastern Europe/Asia Minor store opened up today in Istanbul at the Zorlu Center. As with some other flagship stores, it is mostly subterranean with a glass upward protrusion. This one has four large panes of glass covered by a white roof with a darker Apple logo surrounded by a fountain as pictured below.
Apple yesterday held a press event attended by one of the Apple Store leads Steve Cano. Tim Cook took to Twitter to announce the opening:
[tweet https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/452417592544608256]
More images and videos below:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6l_jQqXky8]
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiBlSAYd82M]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbqscMB3XKs
https://twitter.com/kerem_sayin/status/452363507141709824
Apple Istanbul Grand Opening … @9to5mac pic.twitter.com/zLoU0XEBMI
— Bora ŞAHİNOĞLU (@borasahinoglu) April 5, 2014
https://twitter.com/mertdumenci/status/452333532434939904
https://twitter.com/kerem_sayin/status/452318761568444416
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
I suppose Apple’s critics will claim this was a poor turnout as supposedly fewer and fewer consumers are buying Apple products. Or the critics will say those consumers only turned out for the free T-shirts.
Pitiful turnout. You could have done better by opening the first Apple Store in Montana.
Looking at the 3rd image from the top which shows a large group of people in a contained open air space circumambulating about an abstract cubic object.
Especially in a predominantly muslim country like Turkey, does this strike anyone else like a rather (perhaps blasphemous?) secular analog to the Masjid al-Haram with this new Apple store playing the role of the Kaaba?
http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/57245/mecca_-_ksa.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masjid_al-Haram