Apple is, as most of you know, the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, only Samsung is currently trumping Apple in terms of sheer market share. The two companies have been battling it out for quite some time now, and India has become a really appealing market for various smartphone manufacturers. This Asian country is the second largest smartphone market in the world, only Chinese market trumps it, and India is constantly growing. Tons of smartphone manufacturers started offering their products in India in the last couple of years, and the country’s Prime Minister launched ‘Make in India’ program in order to award OEMs who manufacture their devices in the country.
That being said, a rather interesting report popped up regarding Sharad Mehrotra, Apple’s (now former) enterprise mobility head in India. Mr. Mehrotra has joined the Cupertino giant back in 2007, the same year the company launched the original iPhone. He has been a worthy asset for quite some time now, but he decided to quit his job, and now has a rather interesting new position. Mr. Mehrotra co-founded Hyve Mobility, and will basically manufacture smartphones which will be released in the Indian smartphone market. Interesting enough, these devices will be powered by Android. Now, first smartphones are due to arrive by March, and Mr. Mehrotra’s business partner is Aditya Agarwal, a man who is in charge of Euphoria and 4 Genius Minds. These two companies are, interestingly enough, Apple’s fastest growing retail partners in India. This sounds interesting, doesn’t it?
“In the current Android scenario, no brand enjoys customer loyalty and we want to bring the change with our path-breaking products portfolio and service offerings,” said Aditya Agarwal. In addition to all this, it is worth noting that Apple’s iPhone sales have slowed down in the country, which might be the reason these two entrepreneurs decided to partner up and sell Android devices. India loves affordable devices, and Apple’s iPhones are a lot of things, but certainly not affordable. There you have it, an ex-Apple employee and the owner of Apple’s fastest growing retail partners in India are going to sell Android devices, go figure.