Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed that the company’s AI platform, Apple Intelligence, will launch in localized English for India in April, along with several other languages. These include French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and simplified Chinese. Cook also highlighted the importance of India to Apple’s strategy, noting that the country and Singapore are being given particular attention.
India is a significant market for Apple, and Cook mentioned that the iPhone’s active installed base has hit an all-time high around the world with good sales in markets like the US, China, India, the UK, France, Australia, and Japan. Reflecting its growing presence, India has set a record in the December quarter with the iPhone being the top-selling model.
To further consolidate its position, Apple is going to open four new stores in India. India ranks as the second-largest smartphone market and also has the third largest for PCs and tablets. At this stage, Apple’s market share is still modest, which means that growth potential is very high.
The company’s CFO, Kevan Parekh, said that the company has performed well in emerging markets, including India. Parekh said the adoption of Apple products by enterprises is increasing. For instance, he said, thousands of Macs are used across Zomato’s workforce. Parekh was optimistic about Apple’s future performance in emerging markets, confident that strong revenue and margins put the company on the right path, especially in India.
The obvious bet of Apple is to put all its hopes on the large market in India with the new expansion plans and the release of Apple Intelligence. According to Cook and Parekh, “India is an important opportunity in the long term and the company has focused on momentum building”.