Exodus as Apple’s India market share plunges to 2 per cent: report
16 Jul 2018
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Three of Apple’s top sales executives are reportedly leaving the company as the iPhone maker struggles with its sales in its once top market. With its market share plummeting to just 2 per cent, Apple is reported to be overhauling its distribution system in India.
Three senior sales executives — Rahul Puri who heads national sales and distribution, Jayant Gupta who heads operator business and iPhone sales, and Manish Sharma who was the national sales head of telecom are quitting, according to a report in The Economic Times.
The executives have decided to leave following the overhaul of the distribution system brought in by the company’s new head of India operations Michel Coulomb, who took over after Sanjay Kaul quit as Apple India sales head.
The new director has cut the number of distributors to just two from five, retaining only Ingram Micro and Redington. The services of the three other distributors, Brightstar, Rashi Peripherals and HCL Infosystems will be discontinued from March next year, according to the report.
The changes at the senior level are expected to filter down to mid and junior levels, resulting in a major rejig of the management team.
Meanwhile, a Bloomberg report citing Counterpoint research said Apple now accounts for two per cent market share in the country and has managed to sell about 3.2 million iPhones in 2017. This numbers has come down further this year.
The new head, Michel Coulomb has also been reported to be struggling with his new job in making business relationships in the market.
Apple is trying to expand business in India by starting manufacture of its mid-range iPhone SE and iPhone 6S models in India. The new distribution strategy also aims at large retailer and online retailers for sales directly. The company’s new distribution activities will be carried out from its new distribution center setup near Mumbai.
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