India / Apple to open its first physical retail store in India in 2021: CEO Tim Cook

Apple has some great news for its loyal customers as the company is planning to open a retail store in India next year. Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed the company’s plan while answering a question from investors on Apple’s roadmap in India. The store will be Apple’s first branded physical store in India. Opening a retail store had been in Tim Cook’s mind for a very long time. He had said that the company was working with the government to seek approval for setting up retail stores in India while discussing Apple’s Q2 2019 results. He had added that Apple will come to India with sort of all of their might.

The Union government’s move to ease local-sourcing norms for single-brand retailers in August 2019 may have proved shot in the arms for apple. The earlier existing norms were deal-breaker for foreign firms. Subsequently, it was widely believed that the easing of norms would eventually pave way for Apple setting up its retail stores in India.

Apple had shown its eagerness to serve Indian customers as well as thanked the Narendra Modi government post the reforms brought in by them for single-brand retailers. Apple is growing at an unprecedented rate in the Indian market. The Cupertino-based giant made iPhone registered double-digit growth in sales in India. There were higher demands for Apple-made iPads as well in the Q3 of the financial year 2019-20. Apple had posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue at USD 91.8 billion, with an increase of 9 per cent from the corresponding quarter of the last financial. Apple net profit also jumped to an all-time high of USD 22 billion.

With new models coming at regular intervals of time with supreme features and at a price comparable to other premium smartphones, Apple seems to have finally cracked the India code.