New Delhi: Apple Inc chief Executive Officer Tim Cook will likely be in India next week to personally open the iphone maker’s first two stores in the country, a report said.
Apple has announced that its first flagship retail store will open in Mumbai in a mall in Bandra Kurla Complex on 18 April, and the second will start in a Saket mall in Delhi on 20 April.
The company said Tuesday: “Today Apple announced it will open its doors to customers at two new retail locations in India: Apple BKC in Mumbai on April 18, and Apple Saket in Delhi on April 20.”
Cook is likely to “preside over the opening of the twin outlets in India’s financial and political capital”, Bloomberg reported, quoting people familiar with the matter.
The trip comes seven years after Cook’s maiden visit in 2016 when he arrived for a country tour.
India sales of iPhones have since then reached an all-time high and annual iPhone exports from the country have also hit billions of dollars. “Apple is betting on India to diversify its assembly operations beyond China amid strained Beijing-Washington relations,” the Bloomberg report said.
Bloomberg also said that in between opening the two stores, Apple has also sought an appointment for Cook with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “PM Modi’s government has been pushing for electronics manufacturing and has offered billions of dollars in incentives to attract Apple’s manufacturing partners like Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron Corp,” the report said.
Both stores have been in the making for long as India does not allow global brands from opening their own outlets unless they source significant amounts of the raw material from within the country.
At the new Apple Stores, ThePrint previously reported, customers will not be subjected to long payment queues as executives will be equipped with mobile payment terminals. “Additionally, these Apple Stores will host ‘Today at Apple’ sessions, led by professionals such as musicians, graphic artists, developers, photographers, and filmmakers. The sessions will include intimate concerts, live performances, and masterclasses, putting Apple’s products front and centre,” the report said.
Tim Cook had said in February that he was very bullish on India. “Looking at the business in India, we set a quarterly revenue record and grew very strong double digits year over year and so we feel very good about how we performed. That’s despite the headwinds that we talked about,” Cook said while answering analyst questions on India during the Q1 ’23 earnings call on 3 February.
Also read: How the launch of Mumbai’s Apple Store completes the puzzle of Tim Cook’s India strategy