From iPhone 3G to first retail store: Apple’s 15-year journey in Indiat

Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) had to wait 15 years to open a company-run retail store in India, the world’s second-largest smartphone market.

As Apple opens its first stores in India, where its contract manufacturers are creating iPhones, here is a timetable.

August 2008: iPhone 3G launched in India without the excitement and long lines seen in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

January 2016: Apple applies to India’s authorities to open stores.

May 2016: Apple CEO Tim Cook first met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi to discuss expansion.

June 2016: India eases foreign retailer investment requirements, allowing Apple and IKEA to open outlets.

May 2017: Apple and Wistron began iPhone SE assembly in Bengaluru.

September 2020: Apple Inc. opened its first online store in India during the holiday season.

October 2020: India gave 16 companies, including Apple suppliers, incentives to increase smartphone output.

December 2020: Wistron contract workers in Bengaluru rioted over unpaid salaries. Apple probationed the factory before restarting production two months later.

December 2021: Foxconn workers in Tamil Nadu protested after more than 250 women in one of the company dorms were treated for food illness. Apple shuttered the factory for three weeks after discovering facilities did not satisfy standards.

December 2021: India’s competition watchdog investigates Apple’s in-app charge structure, believing it violates antitrust laws.

September 2022: Apple supplier Pegatron (4938.TW) opened its first Tamil Nadu iPhone assembly plant.

February 2023: After a major fire collapsed part of its assembly factory in Andhra Pradesh, Apple supplier Foxlink, which makes iPhone chargers, ceased manufacturing.