My first ever Apple product, was an iPod Mini, bought in the year 2004, at London’s Heathrow Airport. Coming home to India, this innocuous digital audio player became the talk of the town among my 20 something friends – the ultimate expression of being cool. If Californian pop stars on MTV were widely seen toting their iPods on their evening run or daily commute, we, in Mumbai, were aspiring to be part of that ‘lifestyle’. My iPod Mini, as it were, became a cultural expression. What I didn’t know is I’d be ‘Apple hooked’ for life, and that I was joining a larger cultural force that would come to India a few years later. 

Though Macbooks were available in India, often for a hefty price from the third party distributer, in the late 1990s, the iPhone 3G was the first product officially launched in India, in August 2008, through Airtel and Vodafone. Despite being priced at between ₹31,000–₹36,000, depending on carrier plans, (which, at the time, was expensive for a phone) it drew loyalists, and moved from a niche presence to a mainstream, aspirational brand.

Cut to 2010, the very first iPad — no one had ever seen a device quite like that - a flat, touchscreen device, which was not phone, not laptop, not television, but which could be used for tasks like work, entertainment or education. On the launch day, I happened to be in New York City on work, as a young journalist. Having queued outside the iconic Fifth Avenue store for two hours, only to see a ‘sold out’ sign on the iPad, I hopped on a cross-country bus, two hours away, into a corner of New Jersey, where a hidden-away mall still stocked a couple of the new iPads.

I got one — I have purchased every single iPad iteration that has ever been released since then: for eleven generations.

In 2010 brandishing an iPad in India, although widely available here, was an unadulterated flex, long before Instagram took over the way we perceive the world. I was two Apple products in — iPod and iPad — and had not yet switched over to the iPhone, which I would do in 2012.

Slowly, I had become part of an aspirational set of creatives, globally exposed Indians, flashing an Apple device. It came to represent a certain sensibility, a cultural awareness, and a love for minimalist design.

In the wake of Steve Jobs death in 2011, there was a sense of uncertainty: would the brand be able to evolve, and what direction would it take.

For me, post-Jobs Apple started to open up to the world. More than innovation, I saw the proliferation of a lifestyle as iPhones, MacBooks and Apple Watches started becoming everyday essentials for many, optimising life tasks. It started a silent repositioning from niche to aspirational luxury. 

Apple’s appeal has always been as much about design as function — a clean, intuitive system that keeps people inside its world. A first timer switching to MacBook may find himself disoriented with the new operating system, but the visual and sensorial pleasure of navigating the OS, and even feeling the textures of these devices makes the transition more compelling.

Apple is regularly criticised for gatekeeping the eco-system and not being compatible with other brands. Till recently, it complicated to transfer data between Apple and non-Apple devices. AirDrop could only work between Apple devices. Downloads and saving were often faced with compatibility issues. 

Nevertheless, purists remained committed to being part of this ‘clique’. 

In September 2022, I was invited to Apple Park Cupertino for the iconic annual Apple Event, a dream come true for any fanboy. I snuck my way through the crowds a couple of thousand global media to catch a quick chat with Tim Cook, spoke about the India journey briefly and casually asked him for a selfie! During our brief chat, Jobs expressed interest and appreciation for the Indian market, highlighting to me India’s importance in the tech scheme of things. 

An Evolution of Positioning 

The annual September keynote launching the year’s iPhone model, has become a talking point around the world, and Indian audiences wait eagerly for each new drop. There is also an inevitable flood of Instagram stories about the September keynote as it unfolds at 1030pm Indian standard time. (On that note, ‘FaceTime me’ or ‘AirDrop me’ have become normalised verbs in our everyday life.) 

And while the Apple Watch may not cost the same as a Rolex or Patek, it is often spotted on the wrists of some of India’s wealthiest celebrities and industrialists. A top end Apple Watch costs about ₹80,000, while a Rolex averages ₹12-14 lakh - a difference that is stark. Could it potentially represent a new-wave of non-branded, minimalistic luxury?

In recent years, Apple’s meaning has changed. It is no longer that ‘too cool to be true’ brand, but has instead begun to peg itself as a default. The India focus is evident – from opening standalone stores and making iPhones in India, to Tim Cook posting Diwali and Holi #shotoniphone posts. iPhones can now be used in multiple Indian languages, local musicians and artists constantly partner with the brand to create hyper-local cultural content. It’s a shift that is hard to ignore. The California giant has gone desi.