Apple customers located in Turkey are now being turned away at retail stores by staff themselves following the pause of its online product sales within the country. The exact same reason for the in-store sales pause is currently unclear.
Apple Stops Selling In Turkey After Drop in Currency
According to the story by macReports, the halt is actually due to the unexpected and rapid currency fluctuations that the main currency of Turkey, the lira, has seen in the last few days. The Turkish lira has seen a significant drop in value over the past few days, and store staff is telling customers that their normal sale operations will, later on, improve once the Turkish economy finally stabilizes.
There have been claims made by other Turkish sources that the stores have actually been selling products today, and that particular-halt is simply due to the stores running out of any stock to sell to users. This is a supply chain situation that has been going on for some time now and has regularly resulted in certain Apple stores limiting sales in-store.
Certain images were shared by MacRumors showing customers waiting outside two different Apple Stores located in Istanbul, the country’s largest city. As per the report, customers that have service appointments are being attended to, and customers that are looking to purchase new products are being turned away.
Sales Stop Upon ‘Historic Economic Collapse’
Retail staff remains important for the stores to be able to tell customers that once the sales start, a price hike will then be expected for products due to the Turkish lira falling down. Apple is stopping the sale of products in Turkey following what was noted as a “historic economic collapse.”
The economic collapse resulted in the Turkish lira dropping a whopping 15%. As of the time of this writing, the Turkish lira is now worth around $0.083 USD. Reuters noted that the Lira has actually dropped by 42% this year compared to the dollar. Inflation in Turkey has risen to what is now 20%, but the central bank has just cut rates by three times in as many months as possible.
UAE Establishes $10 Billion Fund
According to the article by AlJazeera, both Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have just signed accords on tech and energy investments after talks between Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. The meeting was the first visit that took place in many years as the countries are working to mend ties after a period of regional rivalry.
The UAE said that it is now establishing a $10 billion fund in order to support mostly strategic investments in the country, which include health and energy fields, as per the state news agency WAM. An official familiar with the preparations said that the problems Turkey had with the UAE are now behind them.
Urian B., Tech Times
