As the coronavirus continues to spread in the United States and other countries, Apple is preparing to reopen its retail stores in mainland China. All 42 locations in the country will be open as of Friday local time, Apple confirmed to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
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Apple started shutting down select stores in China in January, and in early February, closed all stores in China. As the spread of the virus has abated in China, Apple has been reopening stores, and at the end of February, more than half of retail locations in the country were open.
Following the closure of its stores in China, Apple announced that it will not meet its March quarter revenue goals, citing both constrained iPhone supplies worldwide and lower customer demand for Apple products in China.
Government data shared earlier this week suggested Apple sold 60 percent fewer iPhones in China in February 2020 compared to February 2019.
Coronavirus infection numbers and deaths have been steadily declining in China over the course of the last few weeks, and the worst of the outbreak seems to be over.
Apple may soon be facing store closures in the United States as the coronavirus continues to spread. Large events and gatherings have been banned in many states, major sporting events have been canceled, and Disneyland has shut down for the rest of the month. There are more than 1,500 known coronavirus cases in the United States and over 30 people have died.
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There are some variables between China and the United States that make it less clear-cut than “a few months there means a few months here.” China locked people in their homes and fought hard to restrict COVID-19 to the Hubei province to the extent possible. As for the U.S., the virus is already widespread in multiple highly populated states, and good luck convincing the federal government to ever dare try locking residents in their homes. State governments, far more strapped for cash than the federal government, have been forced to take the initiative on COVID-19 in the face of a federal government that didn’t start caring until far too late.One would hope that this is a timeframe that will be followed everywhere else. China's first case was around New Year's. Now here we are, in March...and it has slowed down big time there and they can start to get back to normal. What it COULD mean...is that while this may be a rough few months for other countries...all we have to do is make it through and we could get ourselves somewhat back to normal. Let's hope, people. A few months. We can do it!!!
Given the factors unique to the U.S., I’d hazard a guess that it’ll take somewhere around 6 months at least to either fully adjust to a new normal or return to an old normal…and that could be optimistic. The disease’s spread outside densely populated areas is going to be slow but especially painful, I fear, owing to the state of rural health care in the United States.
If we were actually testing people at the rate other countries are, we’d most likely have far more confirmed cases. It’s a shame that the federal government is more concerned with controlling the narrative than gathering accurate information.Meanwhile, we have a fraction of cases but everything is shutting down.. People are climbing over each other at Costco for hand sanitizer, water, and toilet paper. 'Merica.
The Ohio Department of Health estimates that as many as 100,000 Ohioans could be carrying the virus.
It’s a business decision. Nothing elseI'm trying to work out what this means. Is Apple being premature in reopening stores because it doesn't want to miss out on profits? Or does it now believe the virus has got to everyone in the country and susceptible people will have died or developed an immunity?