Apple’s Cook meets Airtel’s Sunil Mittal, Hike’s Kavin

Apple Inc chief executive Tim Cook met Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of India's largest telecoms operator Bharti Airtel, and discussed matters like 4G roll out in the country and growth in the Indian telecom space.

Cook, who is on his maiden visit to India, has already met Vodafone India chief executive Sunil Sood in Mumbai.

Other top leaders from Bharti Airtel including chief executive of India and South Asia Gopal Vittal were also present in the meeting that lasted nearly a hour.

According to PTI, Hike Messenger founder and chief executive Kavin Bharti Mittal was also present and he made a presentation to the head of the Cupertino-based company about the growth seen by the instant messaging app.

Hike competes with Facebook-owned WhatsApp, and others like Line and Viber.

The discussions revolved around forging alliances to help the US-based firm expand its retail presence in the country. ''It was a great meeting. Airtel and Apple go a long way back. Given the lead of Airtel in 4G, this relationship is going to grow stronger,'' PTI cited sources as saying.

Besides, he has also met leaders from India Inc including ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar, Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry and Tata Consultancy Services chief executive N Chandrasekaran. He also had a chance meeting with Mukesh Ambani's younger son Anant when he visited Siddhivinayak temple earlier this week.

Cook has said he believes it is ''exactly the right time'' to be in India as telecoms firms roll out 4G high speed internet services. Cook has said earlier that 4G is essential to experience the full features of the iPhone.

Apple, which is seeing declining sales elsewhere in the world, is betting big on India for growth as sales here saw an impressive 56 per cent growth in January-March.

Apple had entered the Indian market in 2008 in partnership with Bharti Airtel. In the following years, the US-based firm has expanded partnerships with players like Vodafone and distribution firms like Ingram Micro and Redington.

In the US, iPhones are often carrier-locked to make them more affordable. However, under Indian rules that is not possible.

Analysts have attributed high cost of Apples devices to be a major deterrent to sales of iPhones, which compete with Android-based smartphones.

Apple is also pushing for introducing refurbished phones in the country that may help in making its smartphones more affordable. Cook, who is to meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, is expected to take up the issue.
(Also see: Apple is in India for next 1,000 years: Tim Cook)