Apple CEO Tim Cook is on a tour of Asia. And guess where the second leg of this journey is going to bring him!? Right here to India! Yay!!
And what brings him to the land of Atithi Devo Bhava? Well, Tim Cook is coming to India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Cook’s visit to India follows the recent trip he took to China. Both these destinations are crucial to Apple since they are looking to do some damage control from the falling iPhone sales. And they’re bound to turn towards emerging Asian markets, such as India and China for some succour.
Note: China is not exactly an emerging market for Apple as far as the iPhone is concerned. It is already one of Apple’s biggest buyers. Cook’s visit to China this time has more to do with their recent 1 billion dollar deal with Didi.
What’s the purpose of Cook’s India visit?
Though we cannot be absolutely certain, sources say that discussions might revolve around PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign.
PM Modi has been stressing a lot on boosting manufacturing in India, especially tech manufacturing. As a result, he’s been in talks with some of the world’s biggest tech companies, like Apple, Microsoft, and Google.
Cook and Modi are, therefore, likely to talk about manufacturing Apple devices in India. If Apple can service (and trump) the Chinese market by manufacturing devices in China, they figure that similar results could be achieved in India as well.
A second source has said that Cook is also likely to meet the employees of Apple India, but this plan hasn’t been made public. Apple has also refused to give out Cook’s schedule.
India is one of the few markets where Apple saw an increase in iPhone sales in the last quarter. And given the high growth projections of the smartphone industry here, along with the market share potentially available to them, it’s easy to see why Apple is hell bent on wooing us so badly!
All we know is that we will be hearing a lot of Apple in the coming months, so keep your eyes and ears open. Varna hum to hai hi!
Quoted sources are from The Hindu.
