Apple chief executive, who is on his maiden visit to India and was in Delhi on Friday, has said that Apple was looking to be in India for long run and added that he was feeling at home here.
Cook, who is on a four-day visit to the country and is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to talk about allowing the company to sell refurbished iPhones with new warranty, defied the scorching heat and began the Delhi leg of his four-day India visit with a call at his corporate office where he was greeted by Apple India employees.
He also visited two Apple resellers’ store at DLF Galleria mall in Gurgaon and is believed to have visited a multi-brand retail store at the same place.
The CEO, who’s visit is exclusively being covered by NDTV, told the channel that he was “very happy” with the stores at Galleria. “I went to one store in the morning and I was very happy with what I had seen there,” he said.
Cook has been on a Asia visit to work his charm offensive as global sales of Apple’s iPhones are slowing down. His visit to India assumes significance as India is the fastest growing smartphone in the world and has recently taken over US as the second largest smartphone market.
“I am looking at India holistically and we are here for the next thousand years,” Cook said on Friday, adding that he instantly felt like he belonged to India.
The CEO further said that Apple was rethinking India from a strategic point of view. “I came to India to learn about the people, the culture and how businesses are done, what people are interested in and what their hopes and aspirations are, I am leaving with more knowledge in all of those,” the CEO said adding that the saw a bright future for Apple retail in India.
However, asked about the challenges in the country, Cook said that India’s duties and takes are a problem. “Our profitability is materially less in India, we realise that the prices are high, we want to do things to lower that. We want the user experience to have all the services and want to make sure that if there’s something very unique in the country, we have thought that through in our product,” he said clarifying that the company would not lower the bar for quality of products.
