Why Apple is betting big on India
The intricate timber roof-tiles were assembled in Delhi, the bright stone walls sourced from Rajasthan. But the man who opened the door of Apple’s gleaming new Mumbai outlet on April 18th had been flown in from California. Tim Cook, Apple’s boss, dispensed high-fives and namastes as he opened that shop and, two days later, an equally ritzy outlet in Delhi, the first Apple stores in India.
Soon to become the world’s most populous country, India has a new strategic importance for the world’s most valuable firm. As the crowds at Apple’s stores demonstrated, India is a growing consumer of pricey tech gadgetry. And as the humming factories outside Chennai show, the country is also increasingly a maker of them. With political and logistical difficulties mounting in China, Apple is putting down roots in a new Asian market.
Take consumers first. India will shortly have more of them than any country, as its population of 1.4bn edges past that of China this year. Apple products are beyond the means of most Indians. Whereas Apple accounts for more than half the phones sold in America, its market share in India last year was 4.5%, according to Counterpoint, a research firm. But as they get richer, Indians are upgrading their handsets. In the year to March, Apple’s revenues in India were almost $6bn, an increase of nearly 50% on a year earlier, according to Bloomberg. Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, an investment firm, forecasts that its Indian revenues could reach $20bn in 2025. “India is a hugely exciting market for us,” Mr Cook told investors in February. “We are, in essence, taking what we learned in China years ago…and bringing that to bear.”
2023-04-20 10:11:14
Original from www.economist.com
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