Last week, Apple closed the Apple Store located in the commercial center of Bergamo, in Italy, following the instructions of the Italian government, thus becoming the first Apple Store to close its doors due to the coronavirus outside of China. It has been the first, but it will not be the only one, since this weekend, all the Apple Store located in Italian territory, will suffer the same fate.
Italy is one of the European countries where the coronavirus is hitting the strongest. The government is doing everything possible to prevent the number of infected from increasing every day and has decided to completely isolate the country, a measure that affects all businesses, including the 17 stores that Apple has in Italy.
All Today sessions at Apple have been canceled, although for now it is possible to make an appointment at the Genius Bar, between Apple Stores that are working reduced hours. The number of deaths in Italy amounts to 631, 183 of which have been reported in the last 24 hours, so for now, it seems that the epidemic is far from being controlled. The number of infected reaches 10.000 people and a number that has increased in the last three days by 1.000 new cases.
In mid-February, Apple announced that it was forced to review the revenue forecast for the first quarter of 2020, a downward revision, which will probably be much lower than the one predicted in the announcement, since it was not until the end of February, when the Apple Store in China has reopened its doors.
According to various analysts, Apple has stopped selling around 500.000 iPhones in China alone during the past month of February, figures that will be a serious blow for the company.
