Tim Cook Congratulates PM Modi, Thanks Him for Supporting Innovation

New Delhi — Apple CEO Tim Cook congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday on becoming India’s longest-serving elected prime minister and thanked him for supporting innovation.

“Congratulations on becoming the longest serving prime minister elected in India’s history, and thank you for supporting innovation that enriches people’s lives,” Cook posted on X.

PM Modi said on X that he was deeply touched by the good wishes he had received from people from all walks of life over the past few days.

“While I may not have been able to respond to each message individually, I cherish every greeting conveyed. I consider it a privilege to have the opportunity to serve Bharat and contribute to our nation’s development journey,” Modi said.

“Over the years, the people of India have repeatedly voted for stability, good governance and development. Their trust has been my greatest source of strength. I remain fully committed to working with even greater dedication to realise the vision of a Viksit Bharat and fulfil the aspirations of 140 crore Indians,” the prime minister added.

Cook’s message comes as Apple continues to expand its presence in India, one of the company’s fastest-growing emerging markets.

Last month, Cook said Apple achieved March-quarter revenue records and recorded double-digit growth in nearly every emerging market, including India.

“We set March quarter revenue records and grew double digits in every geographic segment including strong double-digit growth in Greater China and the rest of Asia-Pacific,” Cook said during an analysts’ call after the company posted results for the January-March quarter.

“We also achieved March quarter revenue records in both developed and emerging markets and saw double-digit growth in nearly every emerging market we track, including India,” he said.

Cook also highlighted Apple’s retail expansion in the country.

“We were also thrilled to open the doors to our sixth store in India,” he said. “It has been wonderful to see how we’ve continued to grow in India in recent years, part of our larger efforts to connect with even more customers and emerging markets all over the world.”

Asked about India’s growing iPhone user base and rising middle class, Cook said the country presents a major opportunity for Apple.

“I think it’s a huge opportunity for us,” he said.

“We’ve been focused on this for a while. It’s the second largest smartphone market in the world and the third-largest PC market, and despite doing extremely well there for quite some time we still have a modest share. And so I think that really speaks to the opportunity that we have,” Cook said.

“There are a lot of people moving into the middle class there, and we’ve got some great products for them both currently and coming. And if you look at the majority of customers in all of our categories from the iPhone to the Mac to the iPad to the Watch, are new to that product there. And so it speaks very well to growing the installed base there. Net-net, I’m over the moon excited about India,” he added. (Source: IANS)