‘India Manufacturing, Retail Top Priority’, Says Tim Cook

Cupertino (California): Reiterating that India is an important market for Apple, CEO Tim Cook said the current iPhone manufacturing will see maximum growth in days to come amid the renewed push to open its branded retail stores in the country.

In an earnings call with analysts after declaring its Q2 results late Tuesday, Cook said the company has made some “adjustments in India and have seen preliminary some better results there”. “India is a very important market in the long-term. It’s a challenging market in the short-term. But we’re learning a lot. “We have started manufacturing there which is very important to be able to serve the market in a reasonable way. And we’re growing that capability there,” said the Apple CEO.

Giving an impetus to its India manufacturing plans, Apple has started the assembling of iPhone 7 at its supplier Wistron’s facility in Bengaluru. Taiwanese industrial major Wistron already assembles iPhone 6S in the country. Tim Cook also emphasized on the company’s plans to open its branded stores in India. “We would like to place retail stores there. And we’re working with the government to seek approval to do that. And so, we plan on going in there with sort of all of our might,” said Tim Cook.

Apple is slowly but steadily strategising its plans to make deeper inroads in a country where over 450 million people use smartphones, mostly Android and from China. “We’ve opened a developer, accelerator there, which we’re very happy with some of the things coming out of there. It’s a long-term play. It’s not something that’s going to be on overnight huge business. But I think the growth potential is phenomenal,” Cook told the analysts as Apple posted a revenue of $58 billion for its second quarter of 2019.

In India, price is a key factor when it comes to buying a smartphone. According to Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint Research, this is like a fresh start for Apple in India once it localizes assembly operations. (IANS)

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