Sanjay Kaul elevated to the new Apple India head says report

Apple has named company executive Sanjay Kaul, according to at least two people familiar with the matter, says a report in The Economic Times. There has been no response from Apple regarding the same according to the paper. Apple, which along with Lenovo, emerged as the fastest growing smartphone vendor in India - with a 56 percent jump in smartphone shipments, is certainly looking at India much more seriously now. This also comes at a time when Tim Cook himself has expressed the fact that he sees huge potential in India. Sanjay Kaul who is currently the country sales director will take over as the India head after Apple’s current India head Maneesh Dhir will quit the company for other opportunities. Kaul has been associated with Apple since 2011 when he was tasked with the responsibility of heading Apple’s iPhone business in India. Before Apple, Kaul worked for three years at BlackBerry where he headed the company’s sales channels. According to ET, Apple is generating close to $1.3 billion in revenues from India. Though in eighth place overall in terms of smartphone sales, Apple continued to climb in India, increasing shipments by 56 percent to make it the second fastest-growing vendor in the top 10, despite the fact that global iPhone sales took a hit this quarter. “Apple is outperforming the overall market in India, and still has great growth potential,” said Canalys Mobility Analyst Wilmer Ang. It is seriously challenging Samsung’s dominance of the premium segment. For devices priced over $300 (Rs 20,000), Samsung’s market share fell from 66 percent in Q1 2015 to 41 percent in Q1 2016, while Apple grew its market share from 11 percent to 29 percent. Successive price cuts to the iPhone 5s made it the most popular Apple device on the market, despite its smaller screen and outdated hardware.