Here’s everything you need to know about Ashish Chowdhary, Apple’s new India head

Nov 14, 2018, 13:54 IST

^{(Photo source: IANS)}

Apple India has appointed a new country head for India, Ashish Chowdhary, who will be in charge of Apple’s sales strategy in India starting January next year.
His appointment comes after numerous reports of a ‘restructuring process’ which led to the departure of many top executives of Apple India.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has reiterated that India is an important market for the company and the problems it’s facing are only ‘speeds bumps along a very long journey’.

Smartphone competition in India continues to be red hot and Apple’s been struggling to make its mark in the country. Now, it’s hoping to turn things around with the appointment of their new Country Manager for India, Ashish Chowdhary.

After Sanjay Kaul stepped down last year, Michel Coulomb, an Apple veteran, was brought on board to oversee Indian sales operations. Chowdhary, who was previously the Chief Customer Operations Officer (CCOO) at Nokia, will take over the helm come January 2019.

Earlier reports have spoken of Apple India undergoing a ‘restructuring process’ that led to the resignation of top Apple executives in the face of iPhone sales struggling in the country. In fact, Apple was only able to sell 3.2 million iPhones in India during 2017.

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Here’s everything you need to know about Apple’s new Country Manager for India:

Chowdhary, born in 1965, is from Delhi and got his graduate degree from Delhi University in Mathematics.

He even has master's degrees in Computer Science from Emory University and Business Administration from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in the United States.

Prior to coming on board with Apple, Chowdhary joined Nokia in 2003, where he was in-charge of the Nokia Networks’ India operations till 2007.

After 2007, he was promoted to the Head of Managed Services for Nokia Siemens Networks before finally being the Chief Customer Operations Officer (CCOO) for Asia, the Middle East and Africa at Nokia Networks.

Currently, Apple India is headed by Michel Coulomb who took over as country head for Apple India on December 2017.

Chowdary’s appointment comes after a tough year for Apple when its sales in India haven’t been impressive. Even Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has acknowledged that the company has a ‘long term focus on the market’ in India and that the company’s problems are only ‘speed bumps’ on the long road ahead.

While Chowdary’s appointment is confirmed, he’ll only be taking over operations next year in January.

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