Mumbai: Apple Inc. opened Tuesday its first store in India in the financial capital of the country. The much-awaited event completed with pomp and gaiety; the company’s chief executive officer, Tim Cook, saw a massive response from the public in Mumbai. Surprisingly, one person, later identified as Sajid, turned up with a Macintosh SE that was designed, manufactured, and old by Apple from 1987 to 1990.
Sajid came to get his treasured possession autographed by Tim Cook. And he got it done by Apple CEO Tim Cook and Deirdre O’Brien, the Senior Vice President of Retail and People at Apple Inc. Sajid claims to have been a hardcore fan of Apple products. He said, “Desktops, laptops, iMacs, colour candy ones, the entire range from Apple I have been using that. It is a great pleasure to work on Apple products. There is no other product that gives you that joy, when you are designing. I am designer myself, I was a print designer now I am moved to UI/UX, I do digital design now.”
“I am very happy and proud that Apple is opening a store here finally. It is a big moment for Apple users in India and we can look forward to coming to this store and exploring all the latest Apple products,” he added while speaking to reporters outside the store.
Apple Inc. has been operating in India for more than 25 years, selling its product through authorized retailers and the website it launched a few years ago. But the Coronavirus pandemic and India’s regulatory hurdles delayed Apple’s plans to open a flagship store.
The opening of two new company-operated stores in India is a clean sign from the Cupertino tech giant to invest in India, the second-largest smartphone market in the world, where iPhone sales have been picking up steadily in the last few years.
As per Counterpoint Research, only 600 million of India’s 1.4 billion people use smartphones. Counterpoint’s Neil Shah, the vice president of research at technology market, said “the (Indian smartphone) market is still under-penetrated and the growth prospect is huge.”
Apple gained some ground in Indian smartphone arena between 2020 and 2022 going from just 2 per cent to 6 per cent, as per Counterpoint data. However, the hefty price tag on an iPhone makes a considerable chunk of the Indian population not go for one.
Even though the pricing issue stands, according to Counterpoint data, Apple has captured 65 per cent of the “premium” smartphone market, where prices range up from 30,000 rupees.
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