News 

The company revealed that the first store will be in Tysons Corner (pictured), a mall in one of the high-tech business centres of McLean, Virginia. McLean is part of Washington DC's greater metropolitan area and home to a number of federal government bodies including the CIA. It will be the first time that Apple in the US has sold its computers face-to-face to its customers; currently it relies on resellers such as large electronics stores and the online Apple store.

Apple has been acquiring store locations across the US in recent months and photographs and video footage of the sites have regularly appeared on the internet; New York, Chicago and the LA are can all expect to see stores announced soon.

It would appear to be no coincidence that this change in retail policy follows the 1999 appointment of Apple CEO Steve Jobs to the board of multinational retail giant Gap.