If it happens once, it’s chance; but if it happens twice, can you still call it chance? Or is it a pattern? That’s the question we asked ourselves when we first heard about the Head of Apple India resigning from his position.
Maneesh Dhir joined Apple as the Country Manager in 2010. He was instrumental in the rise of the company in India. He joined at a time when Apple was still trying to find its hold in India and, during his tenure, Apple’s sales in India grew from $100 million to $1 billion.
If you recall, we had written an article about another person from Apple India’s senior management quitting. It was the company’s enterprise head Sharad Mehrotra who left earlier this month to start his own Android smartphone company Hyve Mobility.
Back when we covered the news, it didn’t seem like a big deal, but Dhir’s departure brings in a new perspective to the two events. It’s also worth noting that Mr Dhir has had a long career in tech, and boasts of having worked with companies like Sun Microsystems and AOL International.
Dhir did not respond to any questions on why he quit and it would be too premature to make a random guess. It’s best to wait until something concrete turns up. However, as they say, sometimes silence can be just as condemning as a confession!
Apple, on their part, have started to look for viable candidates to fill in the spot. And until such time as they can find a worthy successor, they will appoint an interim manager to run the day to day business.
At a time when global smartphone sales have started to decline, India remains one of the few markets that still has growth potential. It is therefore a setback to Apple (or any company for that matter) when a senior level employee decides to quit. It greatly hampers the long-term plan of the company.
In any case, back to the original question: Senior management quitting the Apple – Is that just a one-time thing? Or has a sad pattern started to emerge? Only time will tell.
