After a five-day lengthy visit, Apple CEO Tim Cook left India with a be aware that he cannot wait to return to the nation.
Photograph: ANI Photo
The visit of Cook coincided with 25 years of the iPhone maker’s presence in India.
Cook arrived in India on Monday.
The visit began with the launch of the primary official Apple retailer in Mumbai on April 18 adopted by a second within the nationwide capital on April 20.
“What an unbelievable week in India! Thanks to our groups throughout the nation. I am unable to wait to return,” Cook tweeted.
The firm has been promoting merchandise in India by unique Apple Premium Reseller (APR) shops, giant format retail chains like Reliance Digital, Croma and so forth, multi-brand retail shops and thru e-commerce platforms.
Apple has over 100 APR shops in India.
One of the APR shops was situated within the Select CityWalk Mall which had to shift to a close-by mall to pave the way in which for the Apple Store.
Apple began making iPhones in India in 2017 after Cook’s last visit in 2016 with low-cost iPhone SE to go well with the necessities of the native market.
The firm now exports “Made in India” iPhones.
Industry sources estimate that Apple exported iPhones within the vary of $5-5.5 billion within the just-ended monetary 12 months 2022-23.
On his last day of the visit to India, Apple CEO met Bharti Group founder and chairman Sunil Mittal and each of them reaffirmed their dedication to work extra intently in India and Africa, Bharti Group mentioned on Friday.
“Tim Cook and Sunil Bharti Mittal had an hour-long assembly this morning.
“While expressing their satisfaction on the continued lengthy relationship that Apple and Airtel have had, (they) reaffirmed their dedication to work extra intently within the Indian and African market,” Bharti Group mentioned in a press release.
On Day 1, Cook visited the richest Indian Mukesh Ambani’s home Antilla for a enterprise assembly and is claimed to have met different prime industrialists, together with Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran.
After opening the primary official retailer in Mumbai, Cook arrived within the nationwide capital on the second leg of the visit on Wednesday.
Ahead of the opening of the Apple retailer at Saket, he visited the mesmerising inventive lanes of Lodhi Art District.
“Delhi’s Lodhi Art District is a exceptional public house.
“Congratulations to the St+artwork India Foundation and so many wonderful artists for capturing Indian life so powerfully.
“And thanks to Dattaraj Naik for displaying me the way you design your murals on iPad,” 62-year-old Cook tweeted.
The partitions of buildings lined up in the whole space don stunning murals that town is legendary for.
During his Delhi journey, Cook met Prime Minister Narendra Modi because the iPhone producer is wanting to make investments extra on the planet’s second-largest smartphone market.
According to authorities sources, the iPhone maker is probably going to double the employment base at its contract producers in India to round 2 lakh quickly.
Looking to replicate what China did to Apple’s enterprise within the last 15 years, the tech large is eyeing India’s large market with an increasing center class to energy gross sales development, and doubtlessly make it a house base for the manufacturing of hundreds of thousands of Apple gadgets.
Cook throughout his visit met Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
As per the sources, Cook has sought authorities help to widen its elements provider base in India.
Apple CEO is learnt to have additionally mentioned manufacturing amenities and app design and improvement accelerator in Bengaluru with each ministers.
Like in 2016, Cook once more took out time to watch an IPL cricket match.
He spent his night in Delhi watching an IPL cricket match with Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla and others.
Cook had watched an IPL cricket match with Shukla in Kanpur throughout his earlier visit.
“Thank you a lot for an unforgettable night!” Cook retweeted Ahuja’s tweet wherein she shared his photograph.
On the last day of his journey, Cook visited some app builders to expertise their know-how.
“It’s nice to see so many builders throughout India pursuing their ardour and sharing their concepts with customers world wide.
“I had the pleasure of assembly Hitwicket, India’s top-rated cricket app, Prayoga, an AR-based yoga app, and LookUp, an easy-to-use dictionary app,” Cook tweeted.
He additionally shared his expertise of “rangoli and kolam designs” made of flower petals, rice, and colored sand that have been captured on the iPhone.