Apple is making efforts to target India. Following a plan to establish a new production base in India, Apple has knocked on the Indian market with abundant growth potential through reorganization and offline store entry.
Bloomberg reported on the 8th (local time) that Apple’s Vice President Hugues Aseman, who was in charge of India, the Middle East, the Mediterranean Sea, Eastern Europe, and Africa, recently retired, and Apple began reorganizing to focus more on India. According to reports, after Vice President Aseman left, Apple promoted Ashi Cho Woodhari, an Indian manager under him, to report directly to Michael Penger, Apple’s product sales manager. Bloomberg evaluated that India, which was tied to other regions, was classified separately and indirectly revealed the importance of India. However, India is expected to be tied up with the Middle East and Africa as before in the sales tally.
It is also known that Apple decided to operate its own store in India and started hiring employees to open an offline Apple store this year. Apple opened an online Apple store in India in 2020, but offline retailers have been operated by partners.
Apple CEO Tim Cook compared his work in India to the early days of entering China, saying in his last earnings announcement, “We are putting a lot of emphasis on the Indian market.” “We are using what we learned in China years ago and how to expand our business in China,” he added. India is the world’s second-largest smartphone market after China, but iPhones account for only 5%. As Apple’s product share in India has recently increased, it is interpreted as an opportunity.
As the U.S.-China conflict intensified, Apple also joined hands with India in terms of manufacturing. Bloomberg said India will play a more important role in Apple’s product development. Foxconn, Apple’s largest consignment producer, is reportedly planning to invest $700 million to build a new plant in India. Foxconn Chairman Liu Yang-wei made the decision after visiting India last month to discuss investment cooperation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bloomberg explained that this is the largest single investment by Foxconn, showing that the de-Chinaization of production facilities in China could proceed faster than expected.
