Where is the Apple of India?

During my conversation with a veteran technologist entrepreneur recently, I was talking about the lack of ground-breaking innovation happening in India, citing the lack of Apples and SONYs in India. He had a different interesting perspective on the topic.

His argument was that Indian companies are still technically and technologically competitive but lack the marketing prowess or the inclination. Perhaps we get overwhelmed by the US marketing giants.

The theory is that an Infosys can indeed make similar innovative products but they refrain from it assuming the market is still the US or Japan or Europe. After all, Steve Jobs is more of a marketer than a technologist.

Additionally our country with its population offers a huge market by itself that we do not need to depend elsewhere.

Generally, Indians have a tendency to play down their achievements as opposed to say, Americans. In fact, most of us were taught to be modest and humble right from childhood and we took it to our heart. I think it reflects itself in our marketing capabilities and the ability to think big. Of course, there are exceptions like Reliance and Tatas.

I hope we will see the next wave of Apples and Googles from India. We do have the manpower and a local market to thrive on. I think its the mindset that needs to change.  

So, where is the Google going to come from, in India?