India got its first Apple retail store on Tuesday as chief executive Tim Cook opened its doors to hundreds who gathered outside at a mall in the Bandra Kurla Complex business district.
Ever since the US-based company announced the store opening, anticipation was high among Apple aficionados in India. Cook's presence added to the excitement as he personally welcomed guests into the store amid loud cheering by the 100-odd staff members.
The Mumbai store is spread over two levels and 20,000 square feet and will offer all Apple products, accessories and services under one roof, the second store will come up in New Delhi's Saket on Thursday.
Purav Mehta, 30, is one of the hundreds who waited to get his favourite Apple product directly from the store, despite it being available online. "The fanboy inside me would not listen," Mehta told Reuters.
"The vibe here is just different," Reuters quoted 23-year old Aan Shah, who travelled from Ahmedabad for the launch. "It's not like buying from some normal store. There's just no comparison. It's so exciting," Shah added.
Though Apple's store opened online in 2020, opening a physical retail store in India came with a lot of hurdles, including the country's regulatory restrictions around single-brand retail.
In India, Apple phones are affordable for only a few and accounts for just a three per cent of the market share. It also leads the premium smartphone segment (in the above Rs 30,000 and Rs 45,000 segments) in the country.
Apple grew 16 per cent year-on-year in 2022, with the iPhone 13 emerging as the top-selling model, as per Counterpoint. In terms of value, Apple's market share increased from 14 per cent in 2021 to 18 per cent in 2022, behind only Samsung, which saw its value market share rise from 19 per cent to 22 per cent, the data showed.
"We're putting a lot of emphasis on the market. There's been a lot done from financing options and trade-ins to make products more affordable and give people more options to buy. And so there's a lot going on there," Cook had said in the post-earnings conference call with investors in February 2023.
