Apple CEO Tim Cook Confirms Plans To Launch First Retail Store In India, Likely To Open By March 2023

India has been a significant market for Apple, the world's first company to hit a $3 trillion market cap. Last month, iPhone maker Apple became the first company to export smartphones worth $1 billion (?8,100 crore) in a single month from India, meeting the milestone in December 2022.

December was also a record month for the industry, with mobile phone exports of over ?10,000 crore.

And now, the recent announcement by its CEO has further indicated that the tech giant has been increasing its emphasis on the Indian market.

Tim Cook Confirms Apple Retail Store In India

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One key aspect of Apple¡¯s overall strategy that was missing in India was an Apple retail store.

While the news about Apple planning to open a store in India has been doing the rounds for quite some time, now Apple CEO Tim Cook has confirmed it. He has confirmed that Apple is working on opening its first retail store in India, as per the TOI report.

During the investors' call after the announcement of its quarterly results yesterday, Cook was asked about how Apple is doing in India. Replying to the question, Cook said that Apple will "soon bring Apple Retail," which confirms that India¡¯s first Apple Store will come up soon.

As per a Financial Times report, the first Apple retail store in India could open by March 2023.

Also Read: iPhone Maker Apple Becomes First Company To Export Phones Worth $1 Billion In A Month From India

Apple Stores in Mumbai, New Delhi?

AP

It has been rumoured for a while that Apple will open two stores in India ¡ª in New Delhi and Mumbai, as per the TOI report. Speculation suggests that the Apple Store in Mumbai will be a ¡°flagship¡± store, whereas New Delhi could get a smaller store. As mentioned above, prior to Cook¡¯s comments, Apple had never officially commented on the opening of an Apple Store in India.

The Apple CEO also said that the company had done fairly well during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. "We actually did fairly well through COVID in India, and I¡¯m even more bullish now, hopefully on the other side of it. That¡¯s the reason why we are investing there by bringing retail there, bringing the online store there, and putting out a significant amount of energy there," he said.

Apple Already Hiring For Retail Store In India

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Apple has already been hiring for its retail arm in India for the last several months. There were job listings for Apple Retail for "several locations," which indicates that there will be more than one Apple Store coming to India. In fact, it was expected that the first Apple Store would have come earlier, but the COVID-19 pandemic put a spanner in the works.

CEO Tim Cook also reportedly said that Apple has seen a big impact from the Apple Online Store in India. Apple's Online Store in India launched in 2020 and provides certain benefits to customers who purchase directly from the platform.

It is expected that the first Apple Store will further give Apple more opportunities and scope to expand and grow its market share in India.

Also Read: Explained: How Apple Has So Far Avoided Mass Layoffs

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