Apple CEO Tim Cook has inaugurated Apple’s Official Store in Mumbai, India. This marks a significant milestone in the tech giant’s efforts to expand its offline presence in the world’s second-largest smartphone market.
The new store, located at the Jio World Drive mall in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), was greeted with great enthusiasm by over 5,000 tech enthusiasts who had gathered outside the store, some of whom had been waiting since early in the morning.
The store is designed to offer a unique shopping experience to customers and is designed to be sustainable, with Apple claiming that it will be carbon-neutral and operate on 100% renewable energy.
The store’s design is largely similar to that of other Apple stores worldwide, but the company has added some Indian touches to it, including a triangular, handcrafted timber ceiling sourced from Delhi, two grey stone walls, and mosaic flooring.
The store will sell all of Apple’s currently available products in India, including iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, watches, Apple Arcade, Apple HomePod, Apple Music, and Apple TV+. The store also has a Genius Bar to assist visitors.
The opening of the store is a significant step forward for Apple, which has been working to strengthen its presence in India over the last few years. India has emerged as a major manufacturing hub, and Apple has been diversifying its manufacturing outside China amid ongoing US-China tensions. Apple has been manufacturing older iPhone models in India since 2017 and started assembling the latest iPhone models last year.
The opening of the Mumbai store is the first of two Apple stores planned for India. The second store is scheduled to open in the capital, New Delhi, on April 20th,2023.
ADDRESS OF APPLE OFFICIAL STORES IN INDIA
Delhi
New Delhi, SaketF-11, Select CITYWALK
District Centre, Saket
New Delhi, Delhi, 110017
000800 040 4503
Maharashtra
Mumbai, BKCG1-G2, Jio World Drive
Bandra Kurla Complex
Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400051
000800 040 4504
The opening of Apple‘s first physical store in India is seen as a major boost for the company, which has long tried to gain a foothold in the country. Until now, Apple products have been sold in India through a network of resellers or online. With the new stores, Apple is hoping to deepen its retail push in India, the world’s second-largest smartphone market.
Experts believe that the opening of Apple’s stores is an important branding strategy that will help the company tap into India’s growing “premium smartphone” market. These are mobiles that cost 40,000 rupees ($558) or more. While the iPhone is still an aspirational product in the price-sensitive Indian market, the opening of the new stores is expected to pull more people into the Apple ecosystem.
The new stores come at a time when India is emerging as a manufacturing base for the iPhone. India now accounts for 5% of total iPhone production as Apple diversifies its supply chains away from China amid ongoing US-China tensions. Apple has also been working to meet the Indian government’s local sourcing requirements, which require foreign companies to manufacture a certain percentage of their products in India.
The opening of the Mumbai store was attended by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was greeted with cheers from thousands of Apple fans and tech enthusiasts. Cook had also attended the opening of a second store in New Delhi on Thursday. During his visit, Cook is expected to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government officials.
In a tweet, Cook said he “can’t wait to welcome” customers to the new stores in India. The Mumbai store is located in an upscale neighborhood of the city and has a unique design inspired by the black-and-yellow taxis that are ubiquitous in Mumbai. The store is also one of the most sustainable stores and will be carbon-neutral and work on 100 percent renewable energy.
The opening of Apple’s stores is a major milestone for the company, which has been working to increase its presence in India for years. With the world’s second-largest population and a growing middle class, India presents a huge opportunity for Apple to expand its customer base and tap into a new market.
