Follows Amsterdam store, Harrod's mini-store

Apple is in the process of expanding its presence in northern Europe, including its first Dutch store opening in Amsterdam on March 3rd and the opening of a "store within a store" at London's famous Harrods department store. Just-discovered job listings on the Apple Sweden site indicate that the company will also open its first Swedish outlet sometime this year.

A Swedish store would almost certainly be located in the country's capitol of Stockholm, home to two million -- almost a quarter of the entire population of the country. Apple products are exceptionally popular in the Scandinavian region, which includes Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and the lack of official Apple Stores in the region has always seemed a curious oversight.

Apple had filed for a license for retail sales back in November, but at present the exact location of a Swedish store remains unknown. A building previously tipped as a likely location has gone to a Japanese shoe company, Swedish Mac site Allt om Mac reports.

Job listings usually signal one of the last phases before opening a store, leading to speculation that a location has been secretly secured and necessary renovations are underway. It could still be some months before the store officially opens, however.

The Harrod's mini-store is said to be the first time Apple has exported the concept outside the United States, and is now rumored to be opening in mid-March, which may be on or soon after the unveiling of the iPad 3 in the UK. The store, which began as a grocery in 1825, occupies five acres of central London and offers more than a million square feet of floor space.

by MacNN Staff