Banner unfurled at Sydney Apple store site but it's not yet open

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 26 May 2008 04:54

Opinion and Analysis

It’s here that Steve Jobs is expected to announce the 3G iPhone, along with plenty of information on Mac OS X Leopard, OS X for iPhone, third party application development and the iPhone App Store, the iPhone 2.0 firmware and plenty more – and might even give hints or even announce a Mac Tablet.

Given that telecommunications companies around the world have announced they are set to sell the iPhone, with some countries having, for the first time, more than one official iPhone telco, all rumours point to global 3G iPhone sales starting on, or soon after, June 9 US time.

Of course, 3G iPhone sales may only start in the US and Canada first, with Europe, Australia and other territories to come ‘soon after’.

Rumours also suggested that Steve Jobs himself may be travelling to Australia to officially open his first Australian store and the Australian iPhone, but obviously this would not happen until after the WWDC, and perhaps not until stocks of the 3G iPhone arrive down under – if they are not already here.

So, now that a banner has been unfurled, covering all three levels of the Australian Apple store, the true countdown to its opening can begin.

Whether Steve Jobs makes it to Australia or not, Apple’s authorised reseller partners, of which there are at least two, if not more, in the Sydney CBD, must now be wondering how successful their stores will be given the intense attraction a “real” Apple store will hold over the Apple loving and/or curious public.

Indeed, the only people in Australia who are likely to be unhappy about Apple’s Australian retail entry would be authorised resellers.

So, if you live in Sydney, you’ll definitely want to check out the store when it opens. A second store in the Sydney suburb of Chatswood is due to open later this year, as is a store in Melbourne’s CBD, Australia’s second largest city.

We asked Apple Australia for a photograph of the new banner around their first Sydney store but none is available as yet. If and when it comes, we'll publish it at iTWire.