Apple wants India's growing middle class to switch to iPhone

Apple wants to convince India's growing middle class to switch to iPhones as the tech giant sets another quarterly revenue record in the country.

In a conference call after the Cupertino, California-based company unveiled its March quarter earnings, chief executive officer Tim Cook said Apple grew in 'very strong' double digits in India.

"Looking at the business in India, we did set a quarterly record, grew very strong, double digits year-over-year," the Apple CEO said.

Cook said there are a lot of people coming into the middle class in India. "I really feel that India is at a tipping point, and it's great to be there," he said.

These comments come days after Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the iPhone maker's first two stores in India.

"We launched two stores just a few weeks ago, and they're off to a great start, one in Mumbai and one in Delhi," Cook said.

According to Cook, Apple has been expanding its operations in India to serve more customers. "India is an incredibly exciting market. It's a major focus for us. I was just there, and the dynamism in the market, the vibrancy is unbelievable," he said.

"We've got a number of channel partners in the country as well that we're partnering with, and we're very happy with how that's going overall. Overall, I couldn't be more delighted and excited by the enthusiasm I'm seeing for the brand there," Cook pointed out.

While responding to a question comparing Apple's business in India with that in China, Cook said that each country is different and has its own journey. "I hesitate to compare too much. But what I do see in India is a lot of people entering the middle class, and I'm hopeful that we can convince some number of them to buy an iPhone and we'll see how that works out. But right now, it's working out well," he said.

Cook believes the opportunity in India is not just for iPhones but also for services. "I think there's an opportunity across the board, including in services. Obviously, the ARPUs (average revenue per user) are lower in India for whether you're talking about TV and movie streaming or music, the ARPUs are much lower than other regions. But if you look at it over a long arc of time, I think there's a good opportunity across the board," he said.

On emerging markets, Cook said Apple is putting efforts into a number of these markets, and given the company's low market share in such geographies and the dynamics of the demographics, it is a great opportunity for Apple in those markets.

Apple's quarterly revenue fell 3% year-on-year to $94.8 billion during the January-March quarter.

The tech behemoth reported an all-time record in services and a March quarter record for iPhone despite the challenging macroeconomic environment.