Media: First Microsoft Store opens in Iran

Baku. 17 September. REPORT.AZ/ A Microsoft Store has opened in Tehran for sales of mobile phones produced by the multinational US technology giant, Report informs, an Iranian news agency TASNIM says.

If confirmed, it will be the first US company to open a presence in Iran, coming in the wake of a landmark nuclear agreement reached in July to lift all trade sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

According to the Tasnim news agency on Thursday, “the American company of Microsoft stole a lead to open a mobile phone sales store in Iran”.

“This five-unit store has been opened by Pars Samtel, the exclusive agent of Microsoft mobile phones, at Iran Mobile Marketplace on Hafez Avenue in Tehran, with the company’s banner ad clarifying that the store is the first in Iran,” it said.

Microsoft has been long eyeing the huge Iranian market of 80 million people where over 90% of computers use a version of the company’s Windows.

Like other American companies, Microsoft wanted to sell mobile phones, software, and other communication technology to Iranians but was fearful of running foul of the US sanctions regime.