Apple’s 15-year journey to India: From iPhone 3S to Mumbai’s first store

It took Apple 15 years since it started selling its iPhone in India to have a company-run retail store in the world’s second-largest smartphone market, a market where it has faced several business challenges. .

As Apple opens its first stores, here’s a timeline of its trip to India, where the American firm’s contractors are making more and more iPhones.

August 2008: The iPhone 3G debuted in India without the mass hysteria and winding queues that marked its launch in the United States, Europe and parts of Asia.

January 2016: Apple files an application with the Indian government to set up its own stores in India.

May 2016: Apple chief Tim Cook met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi for the first time as the company considered charting an expansion strategy.

June 2016: India is easing its investment rules for foreign retailers, paving the way for giants like Apple and IKEA to open stores in the country.

May 2017: Apple, in collaboration with contract manufacturer Wistron, has started local assembly of iPhones for the first time in India in Bengaluru with its iPhone SE model.

September 2020: Apple has launched its first online store in India, coinciding with the country’s holiday season.

October 2020: India has approved incentives under a federal plan to boost domestic smartphone production to 16 companies, including major suppliers to Apple.

December 2020: Contractors from the Bangalore factory of Apple supplier Wistron ransacked the factory after a protest over unpaid wages. The factory was put on probation by Apple before resuming production two months later.

December 2021: Protests broke out at Foxconn’s factory in Tamil Nadu after more than 250 female workers who live in one of the company’s dormitories were treated for food poisoning. Apple later discovered that the facilities did not meet the required standards, and the factory was shut down for over three weeks.

December 2021: India’s competition watchdog is ordering a probe into Apple’s app fee scheme, saying it was initially of the view that the iPhone maker violated certain antitrust laws.

September 2022: Apple supplier Pegatron has inaugurated its first factory in the state of Tamil Nadu to assemble iPhones.

February 2023: Apple supplier Foxlink, which makes iPhone chargers, has temporarily halted production at its assembly plant in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after a massive fire broke out. caused part of the building to collapse.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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