Tim Cook on India’s importance to Apple

How important is India to Apple? Why doesn’t Apple launch its products first in India? When will Apple Store open in India? Tim Cook today laid to rest questions like these for good. When asked about its plans for India, Cook minced no words to make it clear that India is currently not on top of his or Apple’s mind. There are many more countries with higher potential for Apple than India. Read on…
“I love India but I believe Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate time in some other countries. We have a business there and the business is growing,” said Cook during today’s quarterly earnings call. He blamed a multi-layer distribution model for “adding to the cost of products” as a factor. While Cook maintained that Apple would continue to work and address these problems, the simple fact is that countries like China, some in South East Asia and Brazil offer higher growth potential for Apple.
This is not the first time we are hearing Cook clarifying Apple’s position on India. Earlier this January, he rubbished claims of an Apple Store opening in the country. At that time, he had mentioned India to be growing as a market for Apple but did not warrant retail presence owing to a small installed base.