Apple polishes 12th Australian store

Apple will open its second Apple Store in as many months bringing to 12 the number of its shops in Australia. 

Flying in the face of flat retail sales in Australia, the Apple Store Southland, in the Melbourne suburb town of Cheltenham, opens on Saturday at 10 am AEST.

Last month the company opened its 11^th Australian shop in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith.

The Southland shop will be fitted out in the usual way to provide technical support, personal training and workshops. Visitors will have access to free support and advice at the Genius Bar along with personal services to help people set up their iPads, iPhones, iPods and Mac computers.

The success of Apple's company shops was something of an anomaly in the struggling retail sector with more than 300 operating worldwide. Most were in the US, which has 237, while in Britain there are 30. In Asia there are seven Apple stores in Japan with four in China. 

Although it was difficult to say what impact they have on Apple’s bottom line, the openings in Australia come as the company extended its share in key markets such as smartphones and tablets, while making headway beyond its traditional consumer and education patches and into the business market. 

In the smartphone market, former leaders Nokia and RIM have fallen behind leaving Apple and Google to battle it out while in tablets Apple’s only genuine rival was hit with a patent law suit.

Last month Apple obtained an injunction against Samsung Australia preventing the Korean maker from selling its Galaxy 10.1 tablet following law suits charging patent infringement of the iPad and 14 other devices. 

Samsung Australia said it expected to launch the Galaxy 10.1 in the “coming months”.