It took Apple Inc 15 years from the time it first started selling its iPhone in India to now have a company-run retail store in the world’s second-largest smartphone market, where it has faced a number of business challenges.
As Apple opens its first store, here’s a timeline of its journey in India, where the US firm’s contract manufacturers are increasingly making iPhones.
August 2008: The iPhone 3G makes its debut in India without the mass hysteria and winding queues that had marked its debut in the US, Europe and parts of Asia.
January 2016: Apple filed an application with the Indian government to set up its store in India.
May 2016: Apple chief Tim Cook meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi for the first time, as the company prepares an expansion strategy.
June 2016: India eases its investment rules for foreign retailers, paving the way for giants like Apple and IKEA to set up stores in the country.
May 2017: Apple, working with contract manufacturer Wistron, begins local assembly of the iPhone in India for the first time in Bengaluru with the iPhone SE model.
September 2020: Apple Inc launches its first online store in India to coincide with the country’s holiday season.
October 2020: India approves incentives to 16 companies, including top Apple suppliers, under a federal scheme to boost domestic smartphone production.
December 2020: Contract workers at Apple supplier Wistron’s Bengaluru factory ransacked the factory after protesting unpaid wages. The factory was put on probation by Apple before resuming production two months later.
December 2021: Protests erupt at Foxconn’s Tamil Nadu plant after over 250 women employees living in a company hostel were treated for food poisoning. Apple later found that the facilities did not meet the required standards and the factory was shut down for more than three weeks.
December 2021: India’s competition watchdog orders a probe into Apple’s in-app fee system, saying it was of preliminary view that the iPhone maker violated certain antitrust laws.
September 2022: Apple supplier Pegatron inaugurates its first plant in the state of Tamil Nadu to assemble iPhones.
February 2023: Apple supplier Foxlink, which makes iPhone chargers, temporarily halted production at its assembly facility in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after a fire caused part of the building to collapse.
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This news is auto-generated through an RSS feed. We don’t have any command over it. News source: Multiple Agencies: hindustantimes, techrepublic, computerweekly,
