Ukraine Apple of Apple Ukraine

History

2022: The Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine asks to stop Apple's deliveries to Russia and block AppStore

On February 25, 2022, the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Fedorov asked the head of Apple to stop deliveries to Russia and block the App Store.

The government official stated this demand in a letter addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Fedorov also said that Apple should support US sanctions imposed on Russia after the "invasion."

In his letter, Fedorov claims that blocking access to Apple products may encourage young people in Russia to oppose "aggression."

2021

Apple began to independently import equipment into Ukraine

In October 2021, Apple began to independently import its own electronics into Ukraine, taking a big step in the fight against gray imports. The volume of the first official batch, which included more than 8 thousand smartphones iPhone 13, amounted to $7.5 million, the Prime news agency reported, citing the press service of the State Customs Service of Ukraine.

As noted in the department, Apple's official import of products is a step in the fight against counterfeiting and the illegal import of goods. Customs expects that Apple will bring the entire line of its products to the Ukrainian market and open its own service for servicing its products.

Apple began to independently import equipment into Ukraine

Another civilized step for the development of Ukraine, "wrote Mikhail Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation of the country, in his Telegram channel.

In September 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Apple CEO Tim Cook. The Ukrainian leader during the negotiations emphasized that Ukraine is interested in expanding the presence of Apple on its territory.

Since 2017, ASBIS Ukraine has been Apple's official distributor in Ukraine. At the same time, the company only imported goods, and then it was sold by local chain stores.

In September 2021, the State Border Service of Ukraine announced that it had exposed the scheme for smuggling Apple equipment across the border under the guise of garbage. Hidden gadgets were found on a plane that flew to Boryspil, Kiev, from Dubai. Flight attendants hid iPhones in food cases, garbage bags, as well as in "design features of the aircraft cabin," Interfax wrote. According to the scheme, the cleaners had to take out the equipment "under the guise of servicing the side." 10 people participated in the criminal scheme, and the found gadgets were estimated at $100 000.^[1]

Apple opened an office in Ukraine

At the end of June 2021, it became known about the opening by Apple of a representative office in Ukraine. Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov, who reported on this news in his Telegram channel, called it "important" and noted that now the American manufacturer will directly import equipment into the country and control the stores of official dealers there.

The opening of the Apple office will strengthen our image in the international arena and in the future will help attract new investments, "Fedorov said.

Apple opened a representative office in Ukraine

Also, according to the minister, from June 29, 2021, support for Apple users in Ukrainian became available. The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the Ministry of Digital has been communicating with both the European and American offices of the company to launch new Apple services for Ukrainian users for more than a year.

Earlier in 2021, a law was introduced in Ukraine obliging all companies to conduct service in the state language and only at the request of the client to switch to another. Organizations that did not want to receive a fine began to comply with this legal requirement.

In June 2021, when calling the Apple support service, the warning about recording the call began to be reproduced in Ukrainian, before that, the company added support for the Ukrainian language on its official website.

At the end of June 2021, when communicating with the Apple support service, employees began to speak Ukrainian, before that they conducted a dialogue in Russian for residents of the CIS and English for residents of America or European countries.

True, so far in Ukrainian only the tea of the section is available. Apparently, by the end of June 2021, the company is still working on the completion of the development of the entire Ukrainian section. There is no Ukrainian-language chat on the site yet.^{[2] [3]}

2020: Company registration

At the end of May 2020, it became known about the opening of Apple's representative office in Ukraine. The American corporation registered a company called Apple Ukraine in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individuals - Entrepreneurs and Public Formations.

This LLC was registered in April 2020. Its main activity is wholesale of computers, peripheral computer equipment and software. The registration address is the IQ Business Center in Kiev. The new company was headed by Roman Gumenyuk, the founder and beneficiary of Apple Ukraine LLC is Apple's Irish subsidiary. The size of the authorized fund is 270 899 UAH (about $10 thousand).

Registration data of Apple Ukraine LLC

At the time of registration, it is indicated that the shares of the ultimate parent company Apple Inc. are in free circulation on the stock exchange.

Gumenyuk, in a conversation  with Liga.Tech, confirmed that he heads Apple's official representative office in Ukraine. He noted that plans to launch the company's business in the country were influenced by COVID-19 quarantine introduced due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Due to restrictions on flights and the movement of foreign management, it is still difficult to plan something, "said the businessman.[4] in Ukraine

As reported to the Ain.ua edition a source in the market, opening of the legal person of Apple in Ukraine unambiguously is an important event.

Most likely, they will not be engaged in product distribution themselves: this is a long complex process. But they can authorize several other suppliers of legal products to the country. Plus - run more localized services. In any case, legal presence is an important sign for the market, the source said.

According to the portal, the announcement of the start of the Apple division in Ukraine may take place in the summer of 2020. However, the company officially by the end of May did not confirm its plans to work in the Ukrainian market.

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