Apple on Tuesday opened its first own retail store in India at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), in Mumbai. The store was opened amid enthusiastic and exciting staff and customers.
Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the gates to India's first Apple store at Mumbai's BKC and welcomed customers, and employees amid an energetic atmosphere.
Taking to Twitter, Tim Cook wrote, "The energy, creativity, and passion in Mumbai is incredible! We are so excited to open Apple BKC — our first store in India."
As everyone was celebrating the opening of Apple's first store in India, a customer brought his old 1984 Macintosh Classic machine which he presented to Tim Cook.
One among them, a designer from Mumbai, carried his nearly four-decade-old Mac, a product which revolutionised personal computing and established Apple as a strong brand with a design focus, with him.
"I brought this just to show Apple's journey from 1984. This is the first Mac SE which was launched in 1984. I have been using Apple products since 1984. Long journey it has been," said the designer from suburban Goregaon, who had joined the queue at 6 am on Tuesday and got more than just selfies and simple pleasantries with the Apple top executives.
"I have been here since last night 8 pm, been camping outside the Apple store for about 15 hours now. I haven't had breakfast, haven't had a shower and you can see us all drenched in sweat. But yeah, we are super excited," said the first customer to go in, who wished to buy an Apple watch.
Tim Cook was left totally surprised at seeing a customer bringing his old Macintosh Classic machine.
At present Apple accounts for just 3 per cent share in the highly competitive smartphone market dominated by Chinese and Korean brands, but has lately seen high growth in sales, which establishes India's importance.
The company is also keen to expand the sourcing of products or components from the country, as it looks to diversify its supply chain beyond China. The company employs 2,500 people in the country and has indirectly helped create 10 lakh jobs through its app ecosystem.
Excitement around the store had started to build since Apple announced the launch of two stores in India over a week ago.
It had opened the Mumbai store – whose theme is inspired by the city's iconic kaali-peeli or black and yellow taxis – for a media preview on the eve of the launch.
(With inputs from PTI)
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