Apple Expands Online Store to Czech Republic, UAE, Others

Apple has announced that the web-based Apple store is coming to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates. Apple posted the announcement on each of the country’s store address with a cheerful banner full of confetti that bears the colors of each flag.

The Apple Store (available by directing any web browser to store.apple.com) carries all of Apple’s product line, as well as select brands of accessories.

Owned and operated by Apple in Cupertino, California, the store also allows customers to place an order by phone (at 1-800-MY-APPLE) but only in the United States.

The first version of the Apple online store was opened less than a year after the company signed the papers to acquire NeXT in the final days of 1996.

Online as of November 10, 1997, the store was built using NeXT's WebObjects application technology that had been used by Dell to build its own online store.

Thanks to using WebObjects, Apple was able to build and deploy its online store within a year. In the first month of operation, the store reportedly received over US$12 million in orders.

An Apple Store app is now available for iPhone and iPad customers.. It allows users to buy products, find stores, and make appointments.

Hardware sold through the store includes iPhone, iPad, Macs, iPods, Apple Cinema Displays, AirPort base stations, and everything else Apple makes.

As far as software is concerned, the online store no longer carries any of the major Apple software offerings, such as Mac OS X, or Final Cut Studio. These are now distributed through the Mac App Store, a separate application similar to the iOS App Store integrated in iTunes.

All this is now available to 38 countries in total, and now also in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates.