New Delhi : “I am looking at India holistically and we are here for the next thousand years,” Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasised on Friday as the 55-year-old chief of Cupertino-based tech giant entered the final leg of his highly “encrypted” four-day India tour.
In an interview given to the news channel NDTV, Cook said: “India is much more strategic. We are thinking about a really long innings in the country. We are here for next thousand years. We are not making the most but the best. We will never make a product that we are not proud of.” “Apple has a bright future for retail in India. We will sell pre-owned phones with new warranty. We want India to have best Apple products,” he stressed, adding that he instantly feels like he belongs here in India.
When asked about China, Cook said: “India is different than China,” adding that the announcements about Apps development facility in Bengaluru and Maps Development Centre in Hyderabad were just the beginning.
Prasad lauds Apple
At an event in the capital, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “I complement Apple chief executive for a public commitment of one thousand years in India. We are ready to work together.”
Cook meets Mittal
Cook later met Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel and discussed matters like 4G roll out in the country. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, the only operators with pan-India 4G spectrum in 2,300 MHz, will lead this opportunity. “We are also planning to bring Apple Pay to India,” Cook told NDTV. Apple Pay is a mobile payment and digital wallet service that lets users make payments through Apple devices.
Apple’s business plan
Apple is exploring opportunity to sell refurbished phones in the country but has faced resistance for its plan. According to sources, the company intends to get into manufacturing after it gets enough volume.
The government officials, however, want the other way round and sounded the company that it should start manufacturing first and the refurbished phone sale should be limited to handsets that have been produced in India.
