As Apple's market in the United States and China, the company's second largest market worldwide, is shrinking, the Cupertino tech giant is now looking to harness the talent pool as well as the vast market for its products in India.
Hence, it is not surprising that the most valuable company in the world has announced its plans to open a new center to develop its web mapping tool, Map, in Hyderabad, India. According to CEO Tim Cook, who was in India recently, the company plans to employ roughly 4,000 people at the Hyderabad center, making it the largest outside Cupertino, Business Standard reported.
India is a very lucrative market for all global technology companies, as the country has a vast pool of high-quality talent. Moreover, Apple may find India as a potential market that will help check its plunging iPhone sales, as the country is among the foremost smartphone and telecom markets.
Senior client partner at Korn Ferry Hay Group Debabrat Mishra is of the view that Apple has selected India not only because of the large talent pool available in the country but also because the company considers it to be a potential market for its products. Thus, it is surprising why the tech giant gave this importance to the country so late, the publication quoted Mishra as saying.
During his meeting with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Cook told him that Apple has been closely watching India and found that there is a possibility of opening retail stores as well as a manufacturing center in the country. Although Apple wants to have a major slice of the market in India, currently, it faces stiff competition from Samsung and other low-cost Indian tech manufacturers like Micromax Informatics and Karbonn Mobiles, Forbes reported.
However, even it Apple succeeds in being among the top 10 finish smartphone vendors in India, it will provide a major boost to its sales. In fact, in 2015, India surpassed the United States to be the second largest smartphone market worldwide, after China.
Data published by Counterpoint Research showed that the smartphone user base in India touched 220 million in February 2016. In order to take a slice of this rapidly growing market, Apple was compelled to slash and burn prices on its expensive iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s to be able to compete with Samsung, Motorola, Micromax and Karbonn. In fact, Apple sold an estimated 2 million iPhones in India in 2015.
Watch Tim Cook visits India, meets business leaders below:
