NEW DELHI: Apple on Tuesday opened its first flagship store in India, a much-anticipated launch that highlights the tech giant’s retail push in the world’s second-largest smartphone market.
CEO Tim Cook, who inaugurated the company’s first retail shop in India’s financial capital Mumbai, was seen posing for photos with fans amid loud cheers and a festive atmosphere.
Some Apple fans had queued from the previous night outside the sprawling 20,000-square-foot store.
“The energy, creativity, and passion in Mumbai is incredible! We are so excited to open Apple BKC — our first store in India,” Cook said in a tweet.
Apple, which said it has operated in India for more than 25 years, has been selling its products in the South Asian market through authorized retailers and the online store it launched in 2020.
Tuesday’s opening of its first retail location in the country comes after delays due to regulatory hurdles and the pandemic, and will be followed by a second store opening in New Delhi on Thursday.
“The company is marking a major expansion with the opening of its first Apple Store locations in the country,” the company said in a statement.
Apple bills the Mumbai store as one of its “most energy-efficient” in the world, saying that a dedicated solar array allows the site to be operationally carbon neutral.
Apple fans from across the nation gathered for the opening, hoping to view the first official store in India.
“I have been waiting for a long time to see an Apple store in India and I am happy it has opened here,” Rishi, a Mumbai-based photographer, told Arab News.
“I love the cameras of iPhones, the details of the images it captures are beautiful.”
For Sagar Sharma, an entrepreneur also based in the city, his connection to the brand was an emotional one.
“Apple Watch helped save my grandfather. He was having a heart attack and the watch detected and alerted us so we could rush him to the hospital,” Sharma told Arab News.
“I did not want to miss the excitement of seeing an Apple store.”
Apple has assembled a number of iPhone models in India over the years, after first manufacturing its iPhone SE from the country in 2017. In September, the company announced it would start making its iPhone 14 in India.
The new retail stores reflect Apple’s growing commitment to expand in India, where it only accounts for an estimated 4 percent share of the market that is dominated by smartphones run on Google’s Android platform.
Apple is expected to gain a 6 percent Indian market share in fiscal year 2023-24, according to estimates by Indian technology research firm CyberMedia Research — translating to more than 8 million iPhone sales.
“The launch of the Apple flagship stores enjoy some strong tailwinds, with the premium smartphone segment in India growing in double digits, and a reinvention of the Indian consumer from cost-consciousness to value-consciousness,” Prabhu Ram, head of industry intelligence group at CMR, told Arab News.
“Supported by aggressive sales initiatives and increased domestic manufacturing, the new Apple retail stores will further fuel Apple’s growth momentum in the year ahead.”
