Apple names Michel Coulomb as India head

Apple has named Michel Coulomb as its new India head, replacing Sanjay Kaul, who quit the company abruptly over weak sales growth of its flagship iPhone in the country. Coulomb, who has been with the US technology giant for over 15 years, will relocate from Singapore to India, which Apple CEO Tim Cook has pegged as the next big market that is similar to what China was over a decade ago.

Apple has named Michel Coulomb as its new India head, replacing Sanjay Kaul, who quit the company abruptly over weak sales growth of its flagship iPhone in the country.

Coulomb, who has been with the US technology giant for over 15 years, will relocate from Singapore to India, which Apple CEO Tim Cook has pegged as the next big market that is similar to what China was over a decade ago. An Apple spokesperson confirmed the development.

Over the past two years, Apple has been aggressive about winning in India. It has expanded its network of distributors, is looking to set up Apple stores in the country, and is even assembling its previous generation iPhone SE locally to tap consumers to experience its famed ecosystem at lower price points. Yet, the pace of growth has been slow. In the financial year 2016-17, Apple’s India revenues grew 17 per cent to ~11,619 crore, regulatory filings show.

Apple has around 3 per cent share in volumes in India’s smartphone market, which is dominated by Google’s Android phones. It faces competition from entrenched players such as China’s Xiaomi and Korea’s Samsung, which dominate the market with smartphones at lower price points and features similar to that of Apple.

Coulomb now has the task of growing sales to keep up the promise of India being the next big market. A veteran who led sales in West Asia and France, he has to expand the product reach to customers and also tap more consumers who buy midrange phones and upgrade into the Apple ecosystem.

In November, Apple said the company’s revenues from India doubled on a year-on-year basis in the September quarter, which analysts had attributed to higher sales of the iPhone on e-commerce platforms such as Flipkart, Amazon and Paytm.

“Revenue from emerging markets outside of greater China was up 40 per cent, with great momentum in India, where revenue doubled year over year,” Tim Cook said in a call with analysts, while not giving separate revenue figures for the country.

He also said the sales of iPad tablets and Mac computers by enterprise and educational customers in India grew in double digits, while iPad sales on a whole were up 39 per cent. The iPhone continues to dominate in terms of earnings here, but increasing sales of other Apple devices points to a trickle effect where customers buy into the whole ecosystem.

According to Counterpoint Research, Apple’s revenues grew 142 per cent year-on-year during the quarter ended September.

Coulomb now has the task of growing sales to keep up the promise of India being the next big market. A veteran who led sales in West Asia and France, he has to expand the product reach to customers