Apple recruiting workers in six Chinese cities

San Francisco

APPLE Inc, aiming to more than double its stores in China, is advertising openings for retail workers in six cities where it currently doesn't have any shops.

The Cupertino, California-based company is recruiting store workers in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Tianjin, Nanjing and Dalian, advertisements posted on Thursday on the company's website showed. Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment beyond saying: "We haven't announced stores in those areas."

The push is part of Apple's efforts to move beyond Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, where the company already has the bulk of its China stores. Chief executive officer Tim Cook has said he expects China will eventually overtake the US to become its largest market. The company doubled iPhone unit sales in mainland China in the final three months of last year.

"When I look at China, I see an enormous market where there are more people graduating into the middle class than any nation on earth in history, and just an incredible market where people want the latest technology and products that we're providing," Mr Cook told analysts during an October conference call. "And so we're investing like crazy in the market."

Apple has said it plans to open 25 more stores in Greater China by mid-2016, including five before the Chinese New Year holiday in February. Apple ended last year with 15 stores in mainland China and Hong Kong, according to its website.

Two new ones have since opened in Zhengzhou and Hangzhou, and a second Chongqing location is set to open on Saturday.

While Apple hasn't said where the final two stores will be located, it began looking for store managers for Tianjin and Shenyang in June. Bloomberg