An early customer at Apple BKC

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Apple has marked the opening of its first-ever Apple Store in India with photographs of the crowds of buyers and fans as they get to enter Apple BKC.

Tim Cook and Deirdre O'Brien opened the new store in Mumbai early on Tuesday morning, and were met with a crowd reported to be 300-strong. The very first buyers, and the keenest Apple fans, have now been shown in a series of Apple's photographs to mark the occasion.

This is the kind of crowd you used to see for every iPhone launch, but now it's reserved for special new stores. Not only had some people pictured come to Mumbai from all over India, others had camped out overnight to be first in line.

This was Apple BKC's first customer — and so it was Apple's first-ever customer in an Indian retail store.

Many among the crowd brought old Apple devices, in some cases because they hoped to get Tim Cook to autograph them.

Of course most people were there to buy new Apple products, but there was also a performance by a local band to enjoy.

Once you'd bought your new Apple device, there were plenty of opportunities to take selfies.

If it looks like the entire crowd spent time taking selfies of their smiling faces, there's nothing wrong with that. But there was at least one person who Apple decided to photograph from the back.

Apple's first-ever store in India will be followed later this week by its second, Apple Saket, in New Delhi.

William Gallagher

William Gallagher is a writer, editor, and Deputy Chair of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. Outside of AppleInsider, he's best known for writing Doctor Who radio dramas for BBC/Big Finish, and for producing the 58keys YouTube channel for writers who use Macs, iPhones and iPads.