First Apple store in Southeast Asia open in Singapore.

Apple opened its first Southeast Asia store in Singapore today, drawing hundreds of excited fans to the swanky two-storey site in the city’s upmarket shopping district. Located on the affluent Orchard Road, the new shop –easily distinguished by its iconic glass facade is expected to be one of the most popular Apple stores in the world according to the US tech giant.

You won’t believe it until you see it with your own eyes as to how much the Southeast Asian people love this American company. Some people patiently waited in the long queue for as long as 5 or 6 hours to celebrate the opening ceremony of Apple store’s in Singapore. By the way, the first few lucky consumers got a gray T-shirt with their purchase which has a symbol of the Apple logo on it, a heart shape and a red dot which is the symbol of Singapore.

Merchandise such as the iPhone and MacBook were strategically placed on display across the spacious first floor, while the upper level acted as a classroom for customers to participate in hands-on sessions. Hundreds of shoppers camped out in anticipation of the launch, while more than a thousand thronged the store soon after the doors opened an AFP reporter observed.

"It's the first Apple store in Southeast Asia, so it's very important for Thai people," Khajorn told Mashable. "If they build an Apple Store here, it means that they're building something for us in Southeast Asia. The next market could be Thailand or Indonesia or something like that." 

Apple, which has a staggering $256.8 billion cash stockpile, celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. The Silicon Valley legend sprang out of Steve Jobs’ garage to reshape modern life with trend setting gadgets.

Most of its earnings come from the iPhone, which faces increasingly tough competition in a saturated market. The tech behemoth has almost 500 stores globally with more than a million visitors daily. Aside from Singapore, its Asia shops are located in Hong Kong, China and Japan. A regional transport, business and financial hub, Singapore attracted 16.4 million visitors last year.