Editorial Summary

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is expected to announce two directly operated Beijing retail stores along with its list of new Asia store openings at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) being held in San Francisco from June 9 to 13, reports CCW.com.cn. According to an unnamed insider, Apple has already completed training for its first group of employees, and is hiring senior sales employees to sell Apple products in Gome (0493.HK) stores.

Apple China deleted a list of authorized distributor introductions from the purchasing information channel of its website and replaced it with a phone service hotline on April 20, reports CCW.com.cn. According to the report, Apple has outsourced the call service to Shanghai-based telephone software provider Vision-X. Information on Apple China distributors is still available on the site through search options.