Tim Cook in India: Top challenges Apple faces in the country

Bengaluru, being a major tech-hub of the country, garners attraction from around the world for its booming startup culture. It comes as no surprise that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has chosen Bengaluru to set up iOS app design and development accelerator. It will be set up in early 2017.

Cook is in India with an agenda ranging from local manufacturing to setting up stores in the country. HIs maiden visit to India will prove advantageous for the Indian startups and developers working on Apple’s IOS platform as the company has decided to set up a software laboratory in India. This initiative will help the developers design their apps for Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

Cook arrived in the country on Tuesday night and he is expected to visit Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi this week. Besides, he will also hold meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vodafone CEO Sunil Sood, Bharti Airtel founder Sunil Mittal, Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry and many other officials later this week.

Moreover, the Indian government’s drive to provide employment for millions of Indians joining the workforce every year will be supported with Cook’s initiative to set up production facilities in India.

Some of the challenges Apple faces in the country:

Although India ranks third in the world’s largest smartphone market, Apple’s iPhone has only two percent market share and it has a very stiff competition from Android. The Android phones dominate the Indian market with attractive offerings, cheap price and the right balance of features and specifications.

Further, various local applications and services get launched in Android and Apple lags behind. The app design and development accelerator, to be set up in Bengaluru, will help developers come up with innovative apps and services for Apple products in India.

To add to that, getting service for Apple products is a huge task. There are Apple authorized service centers, but the service experience is not uniform across them. Offline stores often do not offer service for Apple phones sold online. There was confusion on the warranty status of devices for consumers who preferred to import devices because of the lower prices. While these imported devices did have international warranty, Apple did not offer its international warranty in India.

Recently, the tech giant also faced a setback in the Indian market as telecom ministry of India rejected their application to import and sell refurbished phones in the country. Apple, in a bid to gain some market share by selling used phones at a discounted rate, approached Indian market as most of the phones sold in India are under ₹20,000 and the Apple products are priced much higher.

According to sources, the sale of refurbished devices could also be on agenda along with Apple’s participation in Modi’s Made in India initiative.