First Apple Store and Tim Cook spark euphoria in New Delhi

Long lines of people formed this Thursday in a shopping center in the south of New Delhi, one of the wealthy areas of the Indian capital, to see the opening of the first physical Apple store in the city and see its executive director live. , Tim Cook.

The opening of this new store comes two days after Cook himself was also in charge of inaugurating the first location of the Cupertino giant in western Bombay, an event that, like today, was attended by thousands of followers.

The opening of the New Delhi and Mumbai stores is in line with the growing presence that the company is trying to have in the world’s second largest mobile phone market in number of users.

“I’ve been here since eight in the morning, there’s a long line but it’s Tim Cook, we have to meet him and see him in person“Aayush Jain, one of the many fans who went to the shopping center where the venue is located, told EFE before its opening hours, at 10:00 a.m., loaded with various”jewelry” from Apple.

“I think I am the biggest fan of the products here in Delhi, I have a huge collection here, this is the iBook g3, from the year 1999, the first laptop that came with wifi connectivity. I have the first generation iPhone, the first generation iPad and the hidden gem, the Apple Watch series 0, still sealed”, he added.

Cook’s arrival to inaugurate the store, among great security measures, sparked jubilation among users and evidenced the importance that Apple attaches to its landing in India, where until this week it sold its products through its website or through vendors. certified like Amazon.

cooking He had a meeting yesterday with the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modito whom he underscored Apple’s commitment to grow and increase its investments in India.

This visit, the second visit by Apple’s CEO to India since he succeeded Steve Jobs, commemorates the more than 25 years that the brand with the bitten apple has been present in this Asian country.

The opening of its physical stores will provide Manzana with a greater operational capacity than it has had up to now in India, from the manufacturing process in the various plants that it has throughout the country, to direct sales to customers.

In addition, it continues with its line of growth in this country, a strategy with which the technology giant intends to reduce its dependence on neighboring China.

Beyond the direct sale of its products, Apple is present in India with several projects such as a training center for developers of mobile applications for its iOS operating system, located in the southern city of Bangalore, or the assembly of its smartphones. in plants in the country, which generate almost 900,000 jobs.

Apple tripled its iPhone manufacturing in the last fiscal year, according to a report published by Bloomberg that cited sources familiar with the matter.

Although the high price of most of its products keeps it out of the five most popular phone companies in the country, Apple dominates the “luxury” sector with a 60% market share in 2022, according to the International Data Corporation. (IDC).

Source: EFE