Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down for an extended interview with NDTV while in India this week and in it discusses the latest on Apple Pay negotiations, bringing Apple retail to India, and discussions with carriers and government officials while visiting the country.
While noting several large investments Apple is announcing in India, including the opening of a new development office that will create 4,000 jobs and a new accelerator program for app developers, Cook also confirmed talks with Indian banks for Apple Pay and much more:
Cook commented that he sees “a future for Apple retail in India,” something we heard just this week that Apple is working on behind the scenes.
“In terms of Apple Pay, we’re looking at what to do there. We want to bring Apple Pay to India. We met with some of the banks to understand their perspective on mobile payments… I’ve been very encouraged with what I’ve heard… we want to bring every service that we do to India…”
On competing with low cost Android devices in the market, Cook said Apple is “not going to play in some of these other price points.”
“We’re taking a step back on India and taking a look at India holistically… for us that means getting the developer community moving on iOS. We’ve announced an accelerator which will help do that… We’re also looking at India from a number of other points of view like Apple Retail… we see a future for Apple retail in India.”
Another big topic of conversation throughout the interview was that of “certified pre-owned” devices. After recent reports that India officials rejected Apple’s plans to sell refurbished iPhones in the country, Cook noted Apple still has ambitions to do so. “It’s certified pre-owned… it’s like a new phone because it has a warranty for a new phone.. yes we would like to do that here.. we do in the US, we do it in Japan, we do it in many different countries around the world.”
“I don’t want to be in those markets. I want the consumer in India to buy at a price that looks like the US price.”
Cook was spotted visiting film sets and a cricket game while on his trip this week, while Apple’s VP of environment, policy and social initiatives Lisa Jackson is also visiting the country.
Below is an edited 18-minute clip of the interview, and NDTV has a full 38 minute segment on its website.
