Apple CEO Tim Cook touts India impact in push for deeper market access
San Francisco Apple CEO Tim Cook on Sunday highlighted the economic impact the company is having on India in a meeting with its Prime Minister as the iPhone maker seeks deeper access to the world’s third-largest smartphone market behind the United States and China.
Cook met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a business summit in Washington at a time when Apple Inc. is targeting the nascent Indian market as a revenue source after its sales in China slipped.
Apple has asked Indian government officials for a range of tax and policy changes to help build out its iPhone assembly work in the country. It is seeking permission to open its own retail stores in India where it currently sells iPhones through resellers. In his meeting with Modi, Cook disclosed that Apple expected its Indian operations to be run completely from renewable energy within the next six months, according to a person familiar with the discussion.
Cook reiterated that Apple had generated 740,000 jobs in India through its so-called “app economy” and Indian developers had created nearly 100,000 apps for the App Store, the person said.
Modi talked with Cook and other US corporate leaders ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump.
Apple, working with contract manufacturer Winstron, began assembling the iPhone SE in Bengaluru last month. Indian authorities have offered Apple tax concessions for the work with the requirement that more local components be used over time.
The company has also opened its App Accelerator at its Bengaluru centre to provide specialised support for developers. App developers in India have created close to 100,000 apps for the App Store — a growth of 57% in 2016. Sources said that Apple has trained thousands of iOS developers in its accelerator in Bengaluru.
Earlier this year, an Apple India spokesperson told IANS that developers from India are now creating amazing apps for its platform. “There are several app developers from India who are now part of the innovative community globally.
On June 1, Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice-president of worldwide marketing said the global developer community, including many from India, has earned over $70 billion since the App Store’s launch in 2008.
The company is looking to India after sales in the greater China region, once a major factor in Apple’s rise, fell 14% year over year to $10.7 billion in the most recent quarter.
Apple has not disclosed how much revenue it generates in India but said that sales grew by “strong double digits” there in the most recent quarter.
“We have a tonne of energy going into the country on a number of fronts,” Cook told analysts about Apple’s efforts in India during a recent earnings call. “We believe that the 4G infrastructure is going in the country and it’s continuing to be expanded, there is a huge opportunity for Apple there.”