A new report is claiming that Apple is planning to open their first Middle East store in the U.A.E. and specifically in Dubai. According to the report, Apple has been granted an exemption from foreign ownership laws in the United Arab Emirates that will allow it 100 percent control of operations in the country, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

BloombergBusiness reports that "The dispensation was a condition for the world's largest listed company to set up in the U.A.E., the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans are private. Apple will open its first Middle East store in Dubai this year and then Abu Dhabi after securing the privileges, according to the people.

There are about 17 million active mobile subscriptions in the U.A.E. and 61 percent of them are smartphones, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority."

Dubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf and is one of the seven emirates that make up the country. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the country's legislature.

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