Apple's India Hirings Signal Flagship Store Debut By March: FT

Apple Inc AAPL started hiring retail store workers in India with room for more as it eyed its flagship location debut in the promising smartphone market by this quarter.
Apple's career page listed openings for 12 different job functions for "various locations within India," including technical specialist, business expert, senior manager, store leader, and "genius," Financial Times reports.
Many of the job descriptions guided directly to flagship retail operations.
Also Read: Dell Eyes Reducing Dependence On China - India, Latin America Likely To Be Beneficiaries, Analysts Say
The 12 listings imply hundreds of job openings, as a typical Apple Store has at least 100 employees, and flagship locations can have up to 1,000 workers.
Some of Apple's functions, like its market leader role across Apple Stores, implied several locations are in the works beyond the widely reported 22,000 square-foot site likely to open in Mumbai by March.
Apple hired at least five employees in Mumbai and New Delhi for the yet-to-be-announced stores, their LinkedIn posts disclosed, FT noted.
Apple aimed to diversify manufacturing from China and add momentum to its nascent production operations in India.
Supply chain experts say Apple has a "silicon to storefront" ambition of controlling all aspects of the customer experience.
In 2022, about 200 million smartphones were made in India, ten times the number assembled in 2014, according to Counterpoint. Apple's market share in India proliferated and led the premium segment with two-fifths of all sales.
"Since the pandemic, the number of iPhones sold in India has almost doubled," said Counterpoint Neil Shah.
Price Action: AAPL shares traded higher by 0.56% at $130.34 in the premarket on the last check Friday.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons