South Africa Apple stores this year, Paris store in 2007 (UPDATEx2)

According to IfoAppleStore, Apple plans to open retail stores in South Africa before the end of the year. Three Apple owned retail stores will open in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria.

There are also unconfirmed reports that an Apple store in Paris is planned in 2007. According to the french Mac-centric site MacPlus, a visitor who went to the Regent Street, UK, Apple Store on Tuesday saw Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive. After congratulating Steve for the UK store, he asked him when Apple plans to open its store in Paris. Jobs then answered that it’s coming in 2007.

However, we have not seen anywhere else confirmation that Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive have visited the UK store so this information remains unconfirmed. If you have seen any other report about that or if you were at the UK store at that moment, don't hesitate to drop us a mail.

UPDATE: It looks like MacWorld has further confirmation that Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive were indeed in London last Tuesday and are still there. Actually, they stay in London this week to attend the D&AD Awards at Old Billingsgate.

UPDATE 2: Apple has won two D&AD Awards yesterday. MacWorld UK provides more details.