Apple's Cook dismisses Indian phone market concerns, says company 'focused on best, not most'
The iPhone may have a small marketshare in India, but the company isn't worried about that and is instead holding out for the long-term, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview published on Friday.
"We are in India for the next thousand years," he told The Hindu. "Our horizon is very long. We are focused on best, not most. So it doesn't bother me that we don't have top market share."
In stark contrast with many countries, the iPhone has just a 2 percent share of the Indian market, where companies like Samsung and Micromax are dominant. While Cook has suggested this could improve when new 4G networks come online this year, the overriding issue is typically believed to be pricing, since new iPhones are often vastly more expensive than other options available in India.
Cook reiterated his position, referring to his talks with various Indian telecoms firms.
"I see a great technical collaboration between Apple and main carriers in India and to make sure the iPhone works incredible on those networks. The feedback I have thus far is very positive on that," he commented. "We push really hard, in some ways they think we are crazy, but they love it as well that someone is pushing them hard to work together to solve the most difficult problem."
On the topic of the Indian government declining Apple's application to import used iPhones -- a way around cost issues -- Cook said the company would continue to push for an agreement, and would offer new warranties if it does sell used phones, much like it does on refurbished products elsewhere.
The executive declined to say for certain whether some iPhones might eventually be manufactured in India, but stated that new development-oriented facilities in Bengaluru and Hyderabad would be just the beginning of Apple's local footprint.
Cook is in the final stretch of his first business trip to India as CEO, which began earlier in the week. On Saturday he's expected to meet with the country's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
"We are in India for the next thousand years," he told The Hindu. "Our horizon is very long. We are focused on best, not most. So it doesn't bother me that we don't have top market share."
In stark contrast with many countries, the iPhone has just a 2 percent share of the Indian market, where companies like Samsung and Micromax are dominant. While Cook has suggested this could improve when new 4G networks come online this year, the overriding issue is typically believed to be pricing, since new iPhones are often vastly more expensive than other options available in India.
Cook reiterated his position, referring to his talks with various Indian telecoms firms.
"I see a great technical collaboration between Apple and main carriers in India and to make sure the iPhone works incredible on those networks. The feedback I have thus far is very positive on that," he commented. "We push really hard, in some ways they think we are crazy, but they love it as well that someone is pushing them hard to work together to solve the most difficult problem."
On the topic of the Indian government declining Apple's application to import used iPhones -- a way around cost issues -- Cook said the company would continue to push for an agreement, and would offer new warranties if it does sell used phones, much like it does on refurbished products elsewhere.
The executive declined to say for certain whether some iPhones might eventually be manufactured in India, but stated that new development-oriented facilities in Bengaluru and Hyderabad would be just the beginning of Apple's local footprint.
Cook is in the final stretch of his first business trip to India as CEO, which began earlier in the week. On Saturday he's expected to meet with the country's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Comments
Who the hell gives a crap about most?
Look at all of those other manufacturers, selling their cheap junk for little or no profit.
It's best that counts. Always has been, and always will be.
Apple selling a hundred iPhones per year, is better than <<replace with your favorite crappy Android manufacturer>> selling a million disposable phones per year. Garbage multiplied by a million is merely a million pieces of garbage. Ironically, most of those Android phones will most likely be ending up in a landfill pretty soon.
Apple is in it for the long haul, and Apple should just make the best products that they can.
The bitching about the Chinese market and the god damn Gartner report is case and point.
Remember the blah blah about Apple needing to release a cheap phone to get into the Indian market... That's just a fracking year ago.
There is no strawman, it's a standing argument against Apple.
smh
Apple makes the most compelling consumer item on the planet, one that everyone needs (or wants). They have the endgame for the forseeable future. And I predict the trajectory of the watch will follo the phone after a few more generations as these plus sized phones are just too big to take out of our pockets and purses for every little thing.
I suggest Tim stays at home and focuses on the products, they will sell themselves if he does his job properly. The next 5 years will be very interesting.
This is not Apple's home turf, either you play the game how they want it or you stay home.
How would a good product stand on its own if its 5 times the price (because of all sort of tariffs) or can't be sold at all!
yeah dude. hes a total fuck up. no idea what he's doing. unlike, say, an anonymous guy named "salty zip" on a rumor site. uh huh.
There are a lot of very old, 500 year+, Breweries, hotels, restaurants, pubs, confectioneries, Wineries and pharmacies around.
Outside those industries,
A few very old companies that still exist and are now large $100M+ companies,
the biggest ones are often conglomerates now. So, I guess Google got a head start on that...
Of the independent single entities, Merck is the largest.
----- Sampling of some of the biggest pre 1700 companies, there many more of them in Japan (200+), most would not be on that list though
1590 Sumitomo Group (Mining initially) Japan (forefather of a huge Japanese Keiretsu) $50B+
- All those are parts of the NIKEI 225: Mazda, NEC, Simitomo Electric, Heavy Industries, Mining, Financial, Cement, Realty
1665 Saint Gobain (Mirrors initially, now Conglomerate) France $42.025 billion
1668 Merck (Pharmaceutical) 1668 Germany $15B
1498 Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (Banking) Italy (third largest bank in Italy with $160B in assets)
1500 Takenaka Construction (Construction) Japan $9B
1669 Tongrentang (Pharmaceutical) China $5B+
1670 Hudson's Bay Company (Retailing) Canada $4B
1654 Orkla (Mining now Conglomerate) Norwegian $4B
1689 Gjensidige (Insurance) Norway $3B
1689 Husqvarna Group (Guns initially now Conglomerate) Sweden $3B
1624 Marui (Cloth) Japan $2.8B
1526 Beretta (Firearms) Italy $1.1B
1649 Fiskars (Blades) Germany $800M
1530 William Prym (Metalwork) Germany 360M Euros
1466 Gallet (Timekeeping) Swiss About 300M
1534 Cambridge University (Press) UK 270M
----
None of past firms though that firms though have had the multinational reach of modern firms so who knows how long those companies will last.
There were very few that lasted that long in the past, but these days seemingly some companies have staying power, most Oil companies are derived from their forerunners like Standard Oil, Chemical companies tend to be very long lasting (Merck being the longest lasting).
GE has existed for more than hundred years already and is still amongst the largest companies in the world.
- Barclays at $23B in annual revenues and Lloyd or London (1688)
Berenberg bank (1590) and Coutts (1690) are also probably also above $100M.
In Switzerland I forgot
Hauert (1663) (Fertilizers)
In Japan, other industries ripe with long lived, if smallish companies are : sake producers, specialty paper producers
Other almost certainly $100M+ private companies in Japan (think that's pretty much it I think)
Moriroku Chemicals Co. (1666) (Chemicals)
Miki & Co. (1674) (Chemical products trading)
Matsumoto Trading Co (1663) (conglomerate in Chemicals, Pharmaceutical, Cosmetics)
Ohki healthcare holdings (1658) (Pharmaceutical, now conglomerate of healthcare companioes)
Mitsukoshi (1673) (Retailing) (own Isetan department store chain)
Usui (1662) (retaiing) (department store chain)
Maruei (1615) (retailing) (department store chain)
Kikkoman 1634 (Food transformation, distribution)
With Apple opening iOS development centers in India, their image and profile will be even greater. And once Apple Pay and other services are brought here, Apple will be a hugely sought after brand. Apple will never win the market share game, but that's because they're not playing. They're interested in building products that they are proud of, not cheap crap just to boost sales numbers or gain market share.
If Apple sells only 5 million iPhones a year in India, that's still worth the effort, I think. It would get even better if Apple would release products in India at the same time they released them in the US.