The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus were introduced by Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller during a Special Event in 2015. (Photo : Getty Images/Stephen Lam)
Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook is of the view that there is a huge market potential for the products and services of his company in India, as the country begins to roll out high-speed wireless network this year.
India is a huge country with 50 percent of its population aged below 25 years or still younger. This makes the country very young and people there really want smartphones, CNBC quoted Cook saying in an interview with its "Squawk Box."
According to Cook, LTE (wireless) penetration is currently "zero" in emerging markets like India, but the dynamics in the country will change when LTE begins to roll out later this year. Responding to a query on the market for iPhone in India, Apple CEO said, "And so that's changing. Huge market potential."
Elaborating, Cook said that currently people are selling smartphones in countries like India without any LTE penetration, but when they enter the market, they will be selling iPhone there. Arguably customers cannot obtain the full value from smartphones, he said, adding that retailers operating in emerging markets like India are not "huge national kind of retailers.
On the other hand, the Apple CEO said his company has got "great innovation" in the works and the new iPhones will entice people in markets like India, PTI reported. At the same time, Cook pointed out that the mobile service providers in India currently do not sell phones and, hence, there is plenty of work to be done.
As far as Apple's sales in China are concerned, it was the company's second-largest market outside the United States. However, while the company's overall sales witnessed an 11 percent decline in the first quarter of 2016, iPhone sales increased by 56 percent in India compared to the shipments in 2015. The growth in Apple's sales in India as "is pretty big," Cook noted.
According to Cook, Apple is now actually focusing on India, in addition to other markets across the globe where. He noted that there are numerous people across the world that still does not enjoy the pleasure of having an iPhone. Hence, there is a huge market potential for the company's products and services in different regions of the world, he added.
Watch the video on "Apple Watch marketing strategy (India)" below:
