According to sources familiar with the situation, Apple Inc. is reorganising the management of its overseas operations to concentrate more on India, a reflection of the country’s rising prominence.
The change would represent the first time that Apple will have its own sales zone in India, which has experienced a boom in demand. Insiders, who asked not to be named because the move hasn’t been made public yet, said that this would give the Asian country more importance in the computer giant.
Hugues Asseman, Apple’s vice president in charge of India, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, East Europe, and Africa, just resigned. Upon his departure, Apple promoted its head of India, who reported to Asseman. Ashish Chowdhary, the executive in question, will now report directly to Michael Fenger, Apple’s head of product sales.
A spokeswoman for the corporation refused to comment.
Last quarter, the business reported record revenue in India, despite a 5% drop in overall sales. Apple has set up an online shop for the area and plans to launch its first physical stores in the nation later this year. During the business’s most recent earnings conference, CEO Tim Cook said that the company is placing “a lot of attention on the market” and likened the present status of its efforts in India to its early years in China.
“We are, in essence, taking what we learned in China years ago and how we scaled it to China and bringing that to bear,” he said. China presently provides over $75 billion in revenue for Apple each year, making it the company’s third-largest sales area after the Americas and Europe.
India is becoming more important to Apple’s product development and sales.According to Bloomberg News, Apple is working with manufacturing partner Hon Hai Precision Industries Co., popularly known as Foxconn, to establish additional iPhone production facilities in the nation.
Recent changes will change how Apple organises its management, but they won’t change how it reports regional sales in its public financial statements.The corporation included India in its Europe area, along with the Middle East and Africa, in those disclosures. It also divides the world into four regions: the Americas, Greater China, Japan, and the rest of Asia-Pacific.
Asseman’s resignation is part of a recent wave of management departures from the organisation. Apple’s vice president of subscription services stepped down earlier this year, and the company’s cloud chief is set to leave next month. Top executives responsible for industrial design, procurement, portions of software and hardware engineering, privacy, information systems, and the online shop all announced their departures last year.
Asseman has worked for Apple for more than twenty years, and he splits his time between the offices in London and Cupertino, California.He began his career as a marketing manager for the Mac and iPod brands. Afterwards, he oversaw retail teams before taking over as Apple’s iPhone sales leader for Europe and other overseas regions in 2011. Asseman began his most recent position in 2015 and retired at the conclusion of the year.
Fenger and his fellow vice president, Doug Beck, are in charge of Apple’s sales and foreign teams. Fenger is in charge of worldwide hardware, services, and enterprise sales, while Beck is in charge of health, education, and government. Both executives report to Cook, yet neither is listed on Apple’s website with the CEO’s other immediate subordinates.
