New York: The company reported it’s first-ever decline in iPhone sales and its first revenue drop in 13 years.
The company’s sales dropped by more than a quarter in China, its most important market after the United States, and it also forecast another disappointing quarter for global revenues.
The fall in these countries made Apple take note of the growing importance of India for the company. Here’s all that Apple CEO Tim Cook said about the company’s plans in India and more.
1. Tim Cook revealed during that despite the company’s first global sales decline in 13 years, iPhone sales in India grew by 56% on a yearly basis. “On emerging markets, if you take a look at India we grew by 56%. We are placing increasing emphasis in these areas, where it’s clear there will be disproportionate growth versus the more developed areas,” Cook said.
2. CEO Cook indicated that India is going play a key role in growing the sales of iPhones. Talking about the importance of emerging markets as smartphone market becomes more saturated, Cook said “We’re placing increasing emphasis in these areas, where it’s clear there will be disproportionate growth versus the more developed areas.”
3. Cook said that he believes that India is currently at a point where China was about seven to ten years ago in terms of network and market economics and they have a “really great opportunity” in the country.
“We’ve been working in India now for a couple of years or more, but we’ve been working with great energy over the last 18 months or so, and I’m encouraged by the results that we’re beginning to see there, and believe there’s a lot, lot more there,” Apple CEO added.
4. Speaking about challenges in the country, Cook said “One of the major constraints the company has faced in India is poor network infrastructure”. However, he says that this can be sorted out with LTE rollout in the country. Cook said, “We’ll begin to see some really good networks coming on in India. That will unleash the power and capability of the iPhone in a way that an older network, a 2.5G or even some 3G networks, would not do.”
5. Over the last few months, Apple has also increased the pace of its retail distribution expansion in the country. Talking about the importance of distribution channel in India, Cook said, “Unlike the US, as an example, where the carriers in the US sell the vast majority of phones that are sold in the United States, in India the carriers in general sell virtually no phones. And so it’s out in retail, and retail is many, many different small shops.”