“iPhone 4 sales have trebled during the last five days over the preceding week, surpassing the demand for the iPhone 5 in India, as customers rushed to avail of the recently launched buyback scheme, said four large handset and electronics retailers,” Writankar Mukherjee reports for The Times of India. “Apple is offering a discount of at least Rs 7,000 on the iPhone 4 in exchange for any smartphone.”
“A senior official of a leading Apple premium reseller said the Cupertino-based company has decided to aggressively push the older model in India because it wants to position the two-year-old phone in the sub- Rs 20,000 segment, where brands like Samsung Galaxy, Sony Xperia, Nokia Lumia and BlackBerry are jostling for dominance,” Mukherjee reports. “The iPhone 4 costs Rs 26,500 in India, and the exchange scheme allows an existing smartphone user to buy the Apple model for less than Rs 20,000.”
Mukherjee reports, “This is how the scheme works. The customer will get a minimum discount of Rs 7,000, but if the value of his phone in the second hand market is more, his discount will be higher. For instance, if his model is fetching Rs 8,500 in the used phone market, he will get the entire amount as a markdown on his iPhone 4 purchase. The retailer, in turn, is getting reimbursed by Apple’s distributors through a Rs 5,000 credit note. In addition, the retailer will pocket the money earned from selling the customer’s old phone in the second-hand market.”
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