Apple's India focus to remain on maps centre in Hyderabad and app accelerator in Bengaluru

While speculations were on about how Apple CEO Tim Cook’s visit would focus on the probable plan of making phones in India via Foxconn, Cook has told The Hindu that making phones in India would be looked at a later stage. Apple’s main agenda for the CEO’s visit this time was the setting up of the maps centre in Hyderabad and the iOS app accelerator in Bengaluru. Cook said that Apple plans to add in close to 4,000 employees to its India operations over the next few quarters. Apple wants to look at India as a partner and boost the entrepreneurial spirit among the app developers via its app accelerator in India. Cook touched upon the state of 4G in India and said that he was quite bullish about the way the Indian network providers were going about setting up the infrastructure for 4G rollout. “What I sense is great technical collaboration between Apple and the main carriers in India and to make sure the iPhone works incredible on those networks. The feedback I have thus far is very positive on that,” he said. While his visit to Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s home may seem strange to some, Cook clarified that his whole plan was to learn about people, the culture, about how business is done and what are the catalysts for change. According to him, Apple has been a supporter of entertainment and artists and he met up with film-making groups to see how Apple products are being used by them. On being asked why Apple has had an indifferent attitude towards India in the past, Cook mentioned that in the initial stages Apple was all about survival and building a momentum around its products. He said that with the push towards 4G, it is a great time to scale up in India. Cook does not look at India as just another market to sell Apple products, but wants to actively engage Indian talent in developing products and in effect a whole ecosystem around Apple. “We have hundreds and thousands of developers in India but that number should be in millions. If we do the right thing in accelerating this and help them become entrepreneurs and then the selling can be done through the app store. India is also home to content creation, back to Apple’s reason for being. It’s all coming together now,” said Cook. Cook assured that the refurbished iPhones which Apple wants to sell in India, but cannot due to government regulations, will come with Apple warranty. He hopes to articulate the idea around refurbished phones more clearly with the higher ups.