Apple has named Michel Coulomb to head its Indian operation with immidiate effect as the current country head Sanjay Kaul put in his papers for unknown reasons, reports The Economic Times. The publication said that the development was announced at Apple India’s annual sales conference in Goa.
Coulomb will report to Hugues Asseman, who heads the company’s emerging markets business, adds ET report. Coulomb is Managing Director of South Asia at Apple, and has been with the company since 2003. In last 14 years, he has worked on various senior postions in the company including heading retail channel business for Europe, Middle East, India, and Africa.
Apple India
India is one of the key markets for Apple Inc. Apple’s revenue from India doubled year-on-year (YoY) for the quarter ended September 30, 2017 (Q4 2017). It said that it sold 46.7 million iPhones during the quarter, up 3% YoY, and that the sales of iPhones in several emerging markets such as mainland China, India, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, and Mexico increased by double digits.
Apple has been concentrating on the Indian market since early 2016, when the government had relaxed mandatory 30% local sourcing norms for foreign companies looking to open single-brand retail in India. The exemption was however given only to what the government termed as “state-of-art and cutting edge” technology products. In June this year, Apple confirmed that it is manufacturing iPhone SE models domestically through a tie up with Wistron, a Taiwan based Orginal Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).
