Apple to close all China mainland stores due to virus outbreak

Reuters ^ | February 1, 2020 | by Akshay Balan

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Apple Inc on Saturday said it would shut all of its official stores and corporate offices in mainland China until Feb 9. as fears over the coronavirus outbreak mounted and the death toll more than doubled to over 250 from a week ago.

“Out of an abundance of caution and based on the latest advice from leading health experts, we’re closing all our corporate offices, stores, and contact centers in mainland China through February 9,” Apple said in a statement. The company said looked forward to re-opening stores “as soon as possible”.

Earlier this week, Apple closed three stores in China due to concerns about the spread of the virus.

It’s joining a handful of overseas retailers, including Starbucks Corp and McDonald’s Corp to temporarily shut storefronts as a precautionary measure.

Many other companies, meanwhile, have called for employees in China to work from home and cease non-essential business travel in the first week of February.

Normally, businesses in China would be preparing to return to normal operations following the end of the week-long Lunar New Year Holiday.

[janetjanet998]

it’s going to be for longer then that

[Swordmaker]

Apple closes Chinese Apple Stores and offices due to Coronavirus scare. —PING!

APPLE & China Coronavirus Fear
PING!

If you want on or off the Apple/Mac/iOS Ping List, Freepmail me.

[dp0622]

You on the board? :)

[moovova]

Awaiting news of the first Chinese-made iPhone-to-human coronavirus cross-contamination.

That would be a rumor to start...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

But what about the factories? When do they close “out of an abundance of caution”?

[OrangeHoof]

What? Apple doesn’t have an iVaccine app for that? Put your finger next to the phone, click the icon and it sends out a needle to prick your arm. Surely Apple would have thought of this feature before coming up with the three-eyed camera.

[cnsmom]

Maybe they need a pass though window for shoppers.

[DCBryan1]

They know something.....

[SunkenCiv]

That $14+ dollar slide Friday was a little rough. But the virus is a short-term pucker in the life of the world.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Ping.

[roadcat]

But what about the factories? When do they close “out of an abundance of caution”?

Apple does not own any factories in China; they own stores so they can only close stores, their only employees there are store sales and support staff. Apple owns factories in the USA and Europe, possibly Brazil as well - but not Asia.

[minnesota_bound]

I hope none of the children working at the apple sites get sick....

[SunkenCiv]

An analyst at M-S has claimed that coronavirus will actually be good for Apple because more Chinese will be using their online services. Uh, that seems, uh, rather unlikely.

[GOPJ]

Many other companies, meanwhile, have called for employees in China to work from home and cease non-essential business travel in the first week of February.

Companies need to bring their Americans home. Quarantine them for a few weeks then give them jobs stateside.

Short term solutions - letting them work from home in China - will be a disaster. This disease could be the battle of a lifetiime.

[Berosus]

I remember reading a story about the Chinese building a fake Apple store in one of the provinces (Yunnan?) which looked so much like the real thing that even the employees were fooled. Will that store close, too?