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Apple hangs up on India call center

Previous plans to open a new call center in Bangalore have been canceled, but no reasons are given.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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Tom Krazit
Three months after Apple Computer announced plans to set up a call center in Bangalore, India, the company has changed its mind.

An Apple spokesman confirmed that the company no longer intends to locate a call center in Bangalore, a hub for call centers in India. "We have re-evaluated our plans, and have decided to put our planned support center growth in other countries," Apple's Steve Dowling said.

The Times of India reported the move on Saturday, and said Apple had already hired about 30 people for the operation. Dowling declined to comment on what caused Apple to pull back on the Bangalore plans, or which other countries Apple is considering for the new call center.

In March, Apple announced that it would build the call center in Bangalore after experiencing a surge in growth over the past few years. Apple currently operates call centers in Sacramento, Calif., and Austin, Texas.

Apple's technical support has generally received higher ratings than its PC counterparts. An August 2005 study conducted by the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index found consumers ranked Apple ahead of other vendors, such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway.