Apple expects to start reopening more of its stores in May, after shutting down locations outside of China due to the coronavirus pandemic. Stores in Australia and Austria could reopen in the next two weeks, Apple CEO Tim Cook told Bloomberg. “A few” stores could reopen in the US in the first half of May as well, Cook added, but “not a large number.”
The decisions will be made location by location, “depending on the circumstances in that particular place,” Cook said. Apple has 458 stores outside of China, according to Bloomberg.
Although it’s not clear which locations might reopen first, O’Brien is said to have previously told employees that she thought some US stores would reopen in early May. In the meantime, Apple retail staff have been carrying out training and meetings remotely.
CEO Tim Cook told employees in an all-company meeting earlier this month that when stores do reopen they will likely implement social distancing measures and temperature checks, as well as possible coronavirus testing.
In March Apple reopened all 42 of its brick-and-mortar stores in China after they were shut for a month due to coronavirus.
Meanwhile, its corporate staff not yet back in the office are battling possible delays to the mass production and release of the iPhone 12. Apple usually likes to mass-produce its new iPhones in early summer in preparation for a September launch, but that schedule looks likely to be delayed by a month.
