Waikiki will get its own Apple Store at the Royal Hawaiian Center on Saturday with a 10 a.m. public grand opening.

It will be the third Apple retail store to open in Hawai'i since May 2003. The store will open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

An e-mail to Apple customers says that the first 1,000 visitors will get a free Apple T-shirt. The Apple Store is located next to Bebe and The Cheesecake Factory in The Royal Hawaiian Center, at 2301 Kalakaua Ave. Suite 107, Building C.

Nationwide, Apple launched its retail initiative in 2001 as a strategy to broaden its customer reach, and has built a chain of more than 180 company-owned stores typically located in high-traffic mall locations.

Stores on average took in $23.6 million in revenue during Apple's 2006 fiscal year, up from $11.5 million just three years earlier.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based computer company opened its second Hawai'i store in February of last year at Kahala Mall in the space where the Gap store had been.

Apple had developed a following since the 1970s for its Macintosh line of personal computers. The company had dominated the personal music and video player business with the phenomenal success of the iPod, now available in several models.

And the iTunes online store has become a worldwide musical force. Since last year, the company expanded into the telephone with the iPhone.

For more information about Apple's retail stores, go to www.apple.com/retail.